Action research in day nurseries: evaluating programmes through staff perceptions and attitudes.

Day nurseries in deprived inner-city areas have to cope with a wide range of problems which are presented by the young children and their families. Many of the children can be delayed in some area of their development or have emotional problems which require sensitive handling. These challenges are in addition to the expected difficulties of helping young children to adjust to a new situation and the presence of unfamiliar adults and children. The staff of day nurseries tend to be young and the 2-year training has a great deal to cover on normal development. The consequence is that staff in their late teens and early twenties have to face the demands of children whose development is often far from 'normal' in terms of the average range. It was a concern about this situation in a very disadvantaged area of London and the fact that nurseries have traditionally been fairly isolated institutions that led to the planning of a 2-year exploratory project with the objective of introducing new ideas and approaches to nursery staff which would help them provide a better quality of care to socially disadvantaged under-5s.