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.

Sure Start Children's Centres were central to the last UK Labour government in improving outcomes for children and families. Yet, participation by those who ‘ought’ to attend was and remains a focus of concern. Using the work of Foucault, this paper explores parental participation in two Centres to examine how ‘government operates at a distance’, through the everyday interactions of those who inhabit these spaces. In exploring micro‐practices, the humble cup of tea can be seen, not only as a small act of caring but a site of power and struggle over what these spaces meant to parents and practitioners.

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