In England, early years education services and the children and who attend them are the subject of increasing scrutiny and assessment. While these assessments offer a number of benefits in terms of tracking child development and ensuring the efficient use of public monies, they also impose restrictions to practice, limits to understandings of children and fail to engage with the wider social context of the child. Here, we argue for the need to look at alternative modes of assessment to enhance the quantitative data that are already being collected and to address the criticisms identified. Looking at methodological debates around the limits of quantitative research and the benefits of qualitative, we argue that there is scope to explore the use of more qualitative methods of assessment in early years education and the new political era that England finds itself in is the perfect opportunity to do this.

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This research was part of an arts and Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) collaboration, which placed three artists in three ECEC settings. The aim of the research was to create a 'meeting place' (Dahlberg and Lenz Taguchi 1994) for local Authority advisors, ECEC leaders and arts leaders, to explore their perceptions of the challenges and opportunities when establishing and developing an arts and ECEC collaboration. Ethical approval was granted by the University of Plymouth. Participants were informed of my dual role as researcher and as trustee of the arts organisation. Qualitative data were generated in two phases. During the first phase participants with similar roles met, identified what they viewed were the key challenges and opportunities when establishing the collaboration. The second phase provided a space for all participants to meet and discuss these and together identify actions for future practice, which could guide longer-term arts and ECEC collaborations. Implications for practice are for the organisation leaders to maintain a focus on building their partnership as well as constructing a shared vision of an arts and ECEC collaboration.

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This is the final of three articles, which have explored and discussed artist involvement in early years settings. This final article gives voices to the parents/carers, practitioners and students who share their experiences of working together and their reflections on children's learning.