Core Components

Parents as First Teachers states that the programme is relevant to all parents / carers and is a universal approach but that many implementing agencies target specific populations or families with multiple high needs. Parents as First Teachers aims are to:

• Increase school readiness and school success
• Increase parent knowledge of early development and improve parenting practice
• Provide early detection of developmental delays and health issues
• Help prevent child abuse and neglect

The intervention involves a flexible, interactive and responsive series of visits (60 minutes long) with families and their young children pre-birth – 5 years old. Visits begin at the time of enrolment in the programme and can continue until the child’s third birthday. A top up programme for 3-5-year-olds is also available.

During the home visits, practitioners guide parents in being their child’s ‘first teacher’ by demonstrating strategies that promote children’s development (including language development, social-emotional development, sensory-motor development and intellectual development). Parents as First Teachers includes a homework component. A major feature of Parents as First Teachers is that it is the parent, not the project worker, who works with their child to achieve the benefits of the programme. The programme is clearly operationalised with the content of each session outlined in detail, the practitioner can choose which sessions to deliver but are expected to cover 3 core components:

• Parent Child Interaction
• Developmental Centred Parenting
• Family Wellbeing

Throughout all their contacts with families, parent educators should build rapport, discuss child development (based on the latest neurological and sociological research), acknowledge the positive strengths of the parent-child interaction, model, explain and discuss parenting practices, engage in parent-child activities (related to child’s developmental stage), encourage observations of the child’s development, build parental confidence, summarise new information and follow progress from previous visits to reinforce parent knowledge of parental strengths, newly achieved child developmental milestones, and activities to support further development. Parents as First Teachers also has a community element where parents are supported to link into community resources and regularly attend a group session.

Fidelity

Parents as First Teachers does not have any formal measures of fidelity. However, practitioners and supervisors are expected to monitor whether the key elements of Parents as First Teachers are being adhered to:

• Frequency of visits – 60-minute visits at least once a month
• Duration of intervention - at least a year (ongoing Parents as First Teachers support can be available for a 2nd year if a family requires it)
• Availability of group connections – families should be offered the opportunity to attend at least 1 group connection session a month.
• Resource Networking – parent educators should be linking families into other available resources in the local community
• Both group and individual contacts with families contain all 3 components (Parent Child Interaction, Developmental Centred Parenting, Family Wellbeing)
• Monitoring of developmental milestones

Modifiable Components

It is required that agencies implement all elements of the intervention, however, the frequency and duration of Parents as First Teachers visits is tailored to the needs of the family.

The programme can be flexibly delivered in a variety of settings. All organisations should run a minimum number of groups a year but the ratio of groups to visits may vary depending on the organisation implementing.

Parents as First Teachers can start antenatally and continue up to age 3 years. A top up programme for 3-5-year-olds is also available.

Support for Organisation / Practice

Implementation Support

Parents as Teachers (the programme developers in the USA) and Parents as First Teachers (UK) provide assistance with the implementation of the programme, predominantly via training and delivery materials, but also with regard to helping agencies make informed decisions about their readiness to deliver the intervention. They provide a Readiness Reflection Tool on the Parents as Teachers (PAT) website. This document has a series of questions including identifying prompting sites to consider the need of local community, how Parents as First Teachers fits with other services, building partnerships, organisational capacity / staffing and supervision structures. The PAT website also provides an Essential Requirements document details the 20 essential requirements for becoming and remaining a PAT affiliate.

On-going, post-training support is offered via national and regional network days as well as via phone and email support. Agencies delivering Parents as First Teachers are required to complete an annual report demonstrating that practitioners are delivering the programme with fidelity. Implementation issues are explicitly covered in the training for Parents as First Teachers practitioners, who are given an implementation module.

Prior to implementation sites are requested to complete and return an Affiliate Plan which is approved by the national office before staff are registered for the training. This document contains sections on the organisation’s plans for; funding, staffing, target population, engagement strategies, planned visit numbers, partner agencies, data collection and management plan, goals for delivery, intended outcomes, organisational structure, governance structure, budget and estimated costs, Terms of Agreement (there is a separate UK version).

Organisations are required to maintain their certification and adhere to the 20 essential requirements in order to continue as an affiliate. Additionally, affiliates take part in the Quality Endorsement and Improvement process once every five years as part of their continuous quality improvement efforts.

Decisions about who is trained as a parent educator are made locally. There is a minimum level of qualification, however, academic achievements are not the main criteria for selection, but rather that parent educators have the appropriate interpersonal skills (responsive, receptive and be able to work in a relationship-focused, strengths-based way in supporting and educating families).

PAT provides a detailed document of the expected costs of implementing Parents as teachers in the Budget Toolkit. No additional administration or technologies are required, although it is suggested that administration staff are necessary to the implementation.

Licence Requirements

A licence is required to run this programme.

Start Up Costs

• Start-up costs are detailed in the budget toolkit.
o Training costs are £1500 + VAT per practitioner for the combined Foundational and Model Implementation training; £500 + VAT for Foundational 2 training
o The annual access to curriculum fee for each practitioner is US$150 per practitioner for Foundational; $40 per practitioner for Foundational 2

Building Staff Competency

Qualification Requirements

Parent educators should be qualified to SCQF-7/8 level and it is recommended that their supervisors are qualified to SCQF-9 level. Parent educators should have at least two years’ previous supervised work experience with young children and/or parents.

Training Requirements
To be certified as a parent educator staff must complete Combined Foundational and Model Implementation trainings. Foundational Training is a 3-day course where staff learn how to use the Foundational Curriculum effectively. Model Implementation is a 2-day training and is usually completed immediately following and building on Foundational Training.

In the UK, the above trainings are invariably offered as a combined 5-day Foundational and Model Implementation training. 6 months following training parent educators receive a Reflective Day of training. Certified Parent Educators can access an additional 2-day training course, Foundational 2, which enables them to deliver the intervention to families with children aged 3-5 years.

Supervision Requirements
Supervision for the Parent Educators must be provided by the implementing service. Supervisors and Line Managers are required to attend the combined 5-day Foundational and Model Implementation training. Parent educators should receive a minimum of 2 hours of supervision a month. Supervision can be delivered in a group format. For parent educators’ certification to be renewed it is required that they attend 20 hours of professional development during the first year of delivery, 15 hours the second year, and 10 hours per year thereafter.

Supervisor activities include: reflective supervision, coordination and administrative activities. A minimum requirement of one Whole-Time Equivalent (WTE) of supervisory time should be allocated to every 12 parent educators.

Theory of Change

Parents as First Teachers is based on human ecology theory and family systems theory combined with basic principles of child development. Also contributing to the theories and constructs are; attribution theory, self-efficacy theory, and the constructs of empowerment and developmental parenting. The programme’s theory of change is based on the understanding that children’s learning and development takes place across contexts, through hands-on experience and within relationships, especially their relationship with their parents and that these relationships can be impacted by the broader environment. In addition, when parents understand the developmental context behind their child’s behaviour, they develop more empathy and tolerance for children’s behaviour and respond more effectively.

Values

Parents as First Teachers is guided by principles of empowerment and self-efficacy and is a strengths-based, relationship focused intervention.

• Does this align with the key values and priorities of your organisation?

Priorities

• Is working with parents of young children aged 3 years and under in an early intervention approach a priority for your organisation?

Existing Initiatives 

• Does your service already provide early intervention approaches aiming to improve child development, school readiness and mental health outcomes?
• Does your service already provide interventions aimed at preventing child abuse and neglect?

Workforce 

To deliver Parents as First Teachers, one practitioner is required, however, the developers recommend that more practitioners are trained. Practitioners are expected to be trained to level SCQF-7/8 and have experience working with parents and children. Practitioners are expected to visit families at home for 1 hour, at least once a month and provide at least 12 group meetings a year. 

• Do you have practitioners with the required qualifications and experience?
• Do you have at least one practitioner who would be available to deliver this home-based intervention and provide at least 12 group meetings for parents, per year?
• Is the delivery of this type of work considered to be in keeping with the core practice of these practitioners?
• Do these practitioners work in a relationship focused, strengths-based way to support families?

Practitioner supervisors are expected to have a qualification equivalent to a SCQF-9 and be trained in the Parents as Teachers model, attending all 6 days of training. They should then provide at least 2 hours of supervision a month to each practitioner

• Do you have the staff with the required qualifications and capacity to train and deliver the required supervision?

Technology Support 

• Do you have the technology to support practitioners to access the PAT website, download and print the materials they need to deliver the programme?

Administrative Support 

• Do your current administrative procedures support your practitioners to implement a programme like this?
• Do you have someone who will take the lead role to ensure that all the requirements to be a Parents as First Teachers affiliate site are in place and continue to be in place when delivering the programme?
• Do you currently have facilities that will allow the running of groups for parents and babies and young children?

Financial Supports 

• Do you have the finances to pay for practitioners to attend this training? (£1500 + VAT per practitioner for the combined Foundational and Model Implementation training; £500 + VAT for Foundational 2 training)
• Do you have the finances to pay for the printing of worksheets, leaflets and handouts for the delivery of the programme?
• Do you have the finances to pay the annual access to curriculum fee for each practitioner? (US$150 per practitioner for Foundational; $40 per practitioner for Foundational 2)

Comparable Population 

Parents as First Teachers is a universal approach but is often used as a targeted intervention to families living in disadvantaged communities. There is some evidence demonstrating that the impact of Parents as First Teachers is strongest among families with higher socioeconomic disadvantage and greater psychosocial risk.

• Are families with children aged three years or younger, who are living in disadvantaged communities, an identified population of particular concern to your organisation?

Desired Outcome

Parents as First Teachers aims to improve school readiness and school success, increase parental knowledge of early child development, increase early detection of developmental delays and health issues, improve parenting practices and prevent child abuse and neglect.

• Are these outcomes a current priority for your organisation?

• Do you have other existing initiatives that would be supportive of addressing these needs and achieving these outcomes?