Author Care Inspectorate

Resource Type Care Inspectorate programmes & publications

Early learning and childcare improvement programme

**We are currently updating our resources on the HUB. Keep checking this page for the updated content**

The Scottish Government has funded the ELC improvement programme to support early learning and childcare settings who offer funded places and are not currently meeting the quality criteria of the National Standard.

The overarching aim of our Early learning and childcare (ELC) improvement programme is to support funded settings across Scotland to improve the quality of ELC and meet the National Standard.

The programme focuses on providing targeted support for those settings currently, or at risk of, not meeting the National Standard through a programme of sessions and peer support opportunities. In addition to this, the programme provides a range of universal resources to support all settings with improving quality.

We have just finished cohort 11 of the programme and would like to share some feedback a participant shared with us about their experience of the ELC Improvement Programme:

"I felt that the support was great and having it over 6 weeks gave you time to digest and think about what we were going to do step by step. It was good to see that other people are on improvement journeys as well and we can all help each other. The course also helped to humanise the care inspectorate and actually put into perspective that you are here to help rather than judge/grade. I would never have thought to come to the care inspectorate for advice as I would with other services, such as fife council, P/T teacher, development officer etc, but feel I would absolutely do this now. Thank you for the opportunity to join the programme"

Programme Evaluation December 2024

We have published a yearly review of our early learning and childcare improvement programme. The programme focuses on providing targeted support for those settings currently, or at risk of, not meeting the National Standard through a programme of sessions and peer support opportunities. You can read this here.

The team would like to thank everyone who contributed to the writing of this document.

South Lanarkshire's experience with the ELC Improvement Team

Carol Wright from South Lanarkshire Council speaks to Hillary Brookes about her experience of working with ELCImprove over the years. You can watch this here.

Peer Group - Implementing and Sustaining Good Practice

Click here to watch our recent peer group session on implementing and sustaining good practice which was held for previous participants of the ELC Improvement Programme.

SIMOA keeping children safe bitesize session

This bitesize has been developed jointly by the ELC improvement team and scrutiny and assurance colleagues leading on the SIMOA keeping children safe campaign. This is designed to be used alongside the ELC keeping children safe practice notes.

You can watch this bitesize here.

Talking heads

Watch the latest in our series of talking heads interviews where Hillary talks to a manager from cohort 2 and her service inspector to find out about their experiences and the impact of the ELC improvement programme.

You can watch it here.

Peer Group - Meaningful Child Participation - Part One & Part Two

Click here to watch part one and click here to watch part two of our recent peer group session on child participation part one which was held for previous participants of the ELC Improvement Programme.

Bite size sessions

We have developed a range of bite sized sessions which are available to all services. These can be accessed by clicking the links below. If you have any feedback on these please get in touch with us via our email address. We look forward to hearing from you.

"No matter how good you get you can always get better, and that's the exciting part." - Tiger Woods

To contact us please email elcimprove@careinspectorate.gov.scot

Day care of children section

To view all our bitesize resources please click here

To view our best practice documents please click here

School age childcare section

To view our bitesize resources please click here

To view our best practice documents please click here

Childminding section

To view our bitesize resources please click here

To view our best practice documents please click here

Meet the team

Meet the team

Vicky Lamb, Senior Improvement Advisor

I have been part of the ELC improvement programme since 2019 when the team was formed. Since then we have evolved to meet the changing needs of services through the pandemic to where we are today. We are a close knit team and play to each other’s strengths. My own background is in Early Years inspection and prior to that I was a teacher for many years. My passion is in supporting people to be the very best they can be.

Hillary Brookes, Improvement Advisor

I have been part of the ELC Improvement Team since April 2021. Previously I worked as an Early Years inspector for many years. My background is in supporting families with children with additional and complex needs, and this continues to be a particular area of interest for me. I really enjoy working alongside Vicky, Linda and Lesley to support services across Scotland to improve outcomes for children and families.

Linda Ferguson, Improvement Advisor

I have been with the Care Inspectorate since 2006 and joined them with experience in Early Education, Family Work and managing School Aged Childcare services. Initially I joined as an Inspector, then moved on to be a Senior Inspector within Early Years teams. In April 2021 I was fortunate to be seconded to the Early Learning & Childcare Improvement Team. I now enjoy sharing learning and development with Early Years services throughout Scotland, helping them improve outcomes for children and their families.

Lesley Mitchell, Improvement Support Officer

I have been part of the ELC Improvement Team since December 2019. I have worked at the Care Inspectorate in various departments for 14 years. I thoroughly enjoy working in this team, and feel very passionate about the work we do to improve outcomes for children and their families.

Contact us

Vicky Lamb - Senior Improvement Advisor

Hillary Brookes - Improvement Advisor

Linda Ferguson - Improvement Advisor

Lesley Mitchell - Improvement Support Officer

To contact us, please email elcimprove@careinspectorate.gov.scot

X #ELCImprove

Archive - Bitesize session and previous ELC updates

We were requested by Scottish Government to conduct a self-evaluation of the programme to inform future funding decisions. This report highlights the impact and reach of the programme as well as recommendations for future development. You can access the report by clicking on the link below.

Early learning and childcare (ELC) improvement programme evaluation - December 2024

External evaluation - 2021/2022

The ELC improvement team were asked by Scottish Government to commission an external evaluation of their programme. The programme focuses on providing targeted support to those settings currently or at risk of, not meeting the National Standard. In addition to this, the programme provides a range of universal resources to support all settings with improving quality.

The report demonstrates that there is a continuing and potentially even growing, demand for the support provided by the team. It concludes that to support settings in driving up the quality of care for children, and to enable the programme to work with a wider spectrum of settings, additional capacity and longevity of support through an extension to the current programme will be essential.

ELC Improvement Programme -Talking heads video

The ELC improvement team have produced a talking heads recording featuring an ELC inspector and a service from cohort one of our programme. It shares the experience and impact the programme has had on the service and the evidence seen by the inspector. You can watch this here.

Bitesize Session - Scrutiny & Assurance during COVID19

In this bite size session we would like to share information about our current approach to the scrutiny of early learning and childcare services including childminders and out of school care. Information has previously been shared through our regular provider updates and we would ask you to continue to familiarise yourselves with these as they will provide you with the most recent and up-to-date information.

Bitesize Sessions - Key Question 5 self-evaluation:

Welcome to our series of four short, bitesize sessions to introduce and support services in completing their Key Question 5 self-evaluation. They share some pointers and reminders which will support you to think about the information and detail required to ensure you get the very best from your service self-evaluation. The sessions have been designed to be viewed in sequence.

To help us measure the impact of these sessions, we would be grateful if you could complete the short feedback questionnaire at the end of session four.

ELC self-evaluation: Introduction to self-evaluation (session 1)

ELC self-evaluation: How are we doing (session 2)

ELC self-evaluation: How do we know (session 3)

ELC self-evaluation: What are we going to do now (session 4)

To help us measure the impact of these sessions, please complete this short feedback questionnaire once you have watched all four sessions. Thank you.

COVID 19 Bitesize:

We have created a bitesize to share some key information and online resources which can support ELC services to operate safely as we learn to live with Covid-19. The information used as illustrations within these slides was the most up-to-date available guidance at the time of recording.

Links to any documents we reference throughout this bitesize can be found below this recording on our hub.