This report presents findings of an evaluation of the Early Childhood Education (ECE) Centres of Innovation (COI) programme, which ran between 2003 and 2009. The evaluation focused on centres that entered the programme between 2003 and 2006 (Rounds One to Three). The purpose of the evaluation was to determine the impact of the COI programme within COI services and in the wider ECE sector on teachers practices and children's learning outcomes.
Purpose
The overall questions the evaluators were charged with answering were:
- How, and to what extent, have teacher researchers and their teaching practices changed as a result of their participation in the programme?
- How have children’s learning outcomes changed? (effects within COI services).What difference is the COI programme, as a whole and elements within it, making to improve quality within the early childhood education (ECE) sector, and to outcomes for children? (effects in wider sector).