The DCSF endorses Teens & Toddlers
The independent evaluation of Teens and Toddlers has not only shown an impact on reducing teenage pregnancies but also on increasing participants’ self esteem, aspiration and educational attainment. As such it has potential to help areas support the most vulnerable young people as part of their local teenage pregnancy strategy and the targeted youth support arrangements all areas are expected to have in place by March 2008. Teens and Toddlers is highlighted in Teenage Pregnancy: Accelerating the Strategy to 2010 and Targeted Youth Support: A guide, to reflect its relevance to both programmes.
The success of Teens and Toddlers is founded on creating an environment where at risk teenagers, both boys and girls, can experience first hand the demands of parent-child relationships and understand the implications of becoming a parent for their future life. Additionally, participating young people earn a National Award in Interpersonal Skills (NCFE) which impacts significantly on their educational attainment; and
personal development is enhanced through learning and practising interpersonal skills whilst mentoring a small child and gaining valuable work experience.
Initially developed in the USA, Teens and Toddlers is now running in nine local authorities in the UK: Southwark, Greenwich, Brent, Camden, Islington, Haringey, Hammersmith & Fulham, Northampton and NE Lincolnshire. Teens & Toddlers can be delivered as:
- a bespoke intervention of twenty week projects recruiting vulnerable teenagers in under 18 conception hot spot wards and secondary schools (£24,000)
- a one year Sustainability & Replication Programme. This ensures that projects can be transferred to local management and fully trained local staffs for boroughs who wish to mainstream this work as a on-going targeted intervention for the most vulnerable and at risk young people in the local authority. This programme costs £95,000, with up to 50% match funding from Teens & Toddlers available.
Annex A includes more details about the programme. If local areas have further questions about the evaluation or the options for local use, they can email info@teensandtoddlers.org.uk or phone Teens and Toddlers head office on 020-7089-6180.
Many thanks.
Yours sincerely,
Alison Hadley
Programme Manager
Teenage Pregnancy Unit
Annex A
What Is Teens &Toddlers? Teens & Toddlers is a well evaluated targeted intervention for at risk young people, both boys and girls. It is both a youth development programme which raises self esteem, aspiration and educational attainment and a teenage pregnancy prevention and sexual health programme. The Teens & Toddlers programme addresses the five Every Child Matters outcomes.
The Teens and Toddlers programme consists of a 20 week course – one afternoon a week, framed around three key learning elements.
1) regular one-to-one contact between each teenager and a small child, whom they mentor during the project;
2) an accredited National Award in Interpersonal Skills (NCFE Level 1) using a broad curriculum with personal development sessions focusing on: the development of healthy interpersonal skills, communication skills and emotional literacy; the impact of early pregnancy and the importance of sexual health; child development and effective parenting skills;
3) one to one life coaching sessions and counselling for participants identified as being most at risk.
Every Child Matters
Teens & Toddlers addresses the five core outcomes of Every Child Matters in the following ways
- Being Healthy: the youth development aspect of the programme provides interpersonal and relationship skills emphasising self valuing and self expression and promotes a lower teenage conception rate.
- Enjoying and Achieving: promoting educational attainment through achieving the National Award in Interpersonal Skills, earning a qualification (Level 1) building self esteem and aspiration.
- Making a Positive Contribution: mentoring small children gives, for most, a new and positive experience of themselves, which supports identity through the experience of being a responsible young adult and roles model, treated with respect by facilitators, nursery staff and small children.
- Staying Safe: developing the capacity for self expression and making individual decisions, leading to a sense of empowerment and responsibility with less need for peer conformity; and learning to be proactive for their own safety and well being with an awareness of available resources.
- Future Economic Well Being: helping teens develop new behaviours and vision for their lives through a more empowered sense of choice and providing job skills and future life planning.
The aims of the programme are to a) support vulnerable young people to develop life skills, aspiration and new positive life goals; b) to develop emotional literacy (self reflection, self management, awareness of others and social skills); c) provide the knowledge and skills of SRE and sexual responsibility to prevent conception and protect sexual health; d) educate young people about the responsibilities of caring for a child to convey the importance and value of postponing pregnancy
Evaluation of Teens & Toddlers
Retrospective Evaluation Study: a recent Retrospective Evaluation Study, done by the Dream Mill Social Research and Consultancy, tracking past participants of the Teens & Toddlers project - for pregnancy and for sustained attitude changes is summarised below.
This Quantitative study followed up young people who had undertaken the Teens and Toddlers programme in the past, with follow-up time varying between a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 4 years.
- 97.5% of the young women who participated in the Teens & Toddlers project did not become pregnant. None of the young men were involved in a pregnancy.
- Over 90% of respondents reported that the Teens and Toddlers programme had a positive effect in influencing them to increase the age at which they would like to have children
- Over 70% of respondents reported that undertaking the Teens and Toddlers programme influenced their practice of safe sex “a lot”.
- 85% of respondents felt undertaking the Teens and Toddlers programme had made a positive difference in their lives.
- Over 95% of respondents believed the ideal age to become a parent was over 20; over 85% of respondents believed the ideal age to become a parent was over 22; over 40% of respondents felt the ideal age to become a parent is over 25.
A qualitative analysis of young people’s attitudes to the Teens and Toddlers programme
This qualitative study followed up young people who had participated in the Teens & Toddlers project in the past, with follow-up time varying between a minimum of 1 year and a maximum of 4 years.
- The key features of Teens and Toddlers valued by participants are: a real life experience of childcare, practical knowledge and the opportunity to discuss relationships and the reality of parenthood.
- The main learning points reported by participants are: self expression - learning to discuss and express opinions; understanding issues from more than one point of view; making choices - specifically thinking about when to have a baby; what you want for yourself and planning for the future; thinking about security and the benefits of having a job before having a child; understanding the responsibility of parenthood; anger management – learning positive ways to deal with difficult situations and feelings; self esteem - becoming more aware of personal ways of dealing with things and feeling good about yourself - ‘braving up’
An analysis of the effect of the Teens and Toddlers programme on nurseries and nursery children: Qualitative and Quantitative study into the effect of the Teens &Toddlers programme on the Nurseries in which it is conducted.
- Pre and Post – Teens and Toddlers assessments of nursery children on the three core early learning goals (Personal, Social and Emotional Development Skills; Communication, Language and Literacy; and, Physical Development); demonstrated statistically significant gains (quantifiable) for nursery children who had been paired with teenagers.
- Case-study assessments of nursery children who had been paired with Teenagers demonstrated strong qualitative increases in confidence, interaction and social skills.
- General impact of Teens and Toddlers on Nurseries considered very positive for all children and staff as rated by Nursery Teachers