Transforming Trajectories for Disadvantaged Young Children

Abstract

The early years influence children's learning, wellbeing and health and continue to do so into adulthood. As a result, they constitute an effective target for intervention seeking to transform the trajectories of children affected by disadvantage. The complex, multi-faceted nature of disadvantage makes it a 'wicked problem'-one that defies simple solutions delivered through isolated initiatives or organisations. As a result the need for integrated and place-based approaches across education, health and other domains is recognised. Tasmania's Child and Family Centres exemplify such initiatives. Interviews were conducted with parents, volunteers and staff in three Centres, each located in communities affected by high levels of disadvantage. Analysis draws on cultural-historical theory to explore transformation resulting from expanding ways of making sense of the world and acting in it-i.e. learning. Evidence of significant change was found across three planes: children's engagement in activities such as play; family practices, especially in interaction with children; and the communities in which children grow up. Integration and the place-based nature of the Child and Family Centres were found to be important in accomplishing these changes. However, these in themselves are not sufficient to address the wickedness of poor outcomes for disadvantaged children. Activities, practices and communities are shaped by, and shape one another, in dialectic relationships. Redirecting children's trajectories in the early years benefits from approaches that work across each of these planes, and foster mutually enabling connections between them. The Child and Family Centres are achieving precisely this. L1 The concept of wicked problems captures the nature of this difficulty. Originally termed by Rittel and Webber (1973) in reference to urban planning, the idea is now widely used in reference to social problems including child abuse, domestic violence, obesity, and the effects of socioeconomic disadvantage. Wicked problems are complex, open-ended and subject to complex inter-dependencies between multiple causes (Rittel & Webber, 1973). They are difficult to define, unstable, and do not sit conveniently within the responsibility of any one organization or sector (APCS, 2007). This has implications for service delivery: linear processes of working from problem to solution are not sufficient, as they fail to recognise uncertainties and complexities that arise from interacting factors: L1 References Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). (2012). Personal Safety Survey. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australian Early Development Census (AEDC). (2016). Emerging trends from the AEDC. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. Australian Public Service Commission (APSC). (2007). Tackling wicked problems: a public policy perspective. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia. Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY). (2013). Report card: the wellbeing of young Australians. Australian Capital Territory: Australian Researc...