Ideas of community : assembling new governance in early childhood education

In this chapter we ask: 'How does a community-based multi-agency approach to early childhood education improve the education and health outcomes of young children in need?' There is a substantial body of literature which considers the establishment and implementation of multi-agency sites of support for children and families inter-nationally and in Australia (Moor, 2008; Sims et al, 2008; Lee-Hammond, 2013). The focus of such research has primarily been to evaluate their effectiveness in terms of: children's preparedness for engaging with a primary school curriculum (Lewis, 2011); cognitive development (Krieg et al, 2015); and addressing the achievement gap experienced by children from disadvantaged locations (Haig, 2014). Overall, the conclusion in the literature is that such models hold significant potential, yet in practice pose multiple professional challenges for success. To discuss how this community-based multi-agency approach to early childhood education is improving the education and health outcomes of young children in need, we use the theoretical lens of institutional ethnography, described in detail later in the chapter, after description of the model.