White, C., and Singleton, J. (2018). Incredible Beginnings Trial and Evaluation in Brinnington, UK. Presented at Incredible Years annual international Mentor Meeting 2018: Forcalquier, France.
Methods:
The Incredible Beginnings® programme was trialed across two settings in Brinnington and involved a 6 day training course (one day per month for six months) to the team of 12 staff in total.
In order to evaluate the effectiveness of the Incredible Beginnings® course participants were asked to complete standardized questionnaires on the children’s behaviour and also on their own professional practice at the beginning of the course and also after its completion. The following measures were used: Sutter-Eyberg Child Behaviour Inventory (measures child behaviour difficulties), and Incredible Years Teacher Questionnaire (measures teacher strategies).
Outcomes:
The Sutter-Eyberg is a standardized, valid and reliable measure of children’s behaviour in classroom settings. It was completed by all keyworkers on the children in their settings. The questionnaire gives two scores relating to frequency of behaviour problems (total score) and intensity/impact of behaviour problems (problem score). Both scores showed significant improvements with children moving from clinical ranges of problem behaviour to normal ranges for behaviour in their settings.
The Incredible Years Teacher Childhood Checklist is a questionnaire designed to measure changes in practice in classroom settings. The results demonstrated significant changes in participants’ practice which included increases in strategies to: improve children’s social and emotional development, improve relationships with parents and children, improve classroom transitions, and improve management of challenging behaviour.
Summary
The impact of the training was impressive with changes in participants’ practice and significant impact on children’s development and behaviour. It is worth noting that the implementation of the learning benefitted hugely from the excellent management and strategic commitment dedicated to this process. Time was protected for all participants to attend the training with the appropriate resources in place. In addition, the whole team embraced the opportunity for new learning and integrated this learning into their existing structures openly and effectively.