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Susan Isaacs made a significant impression on the world of early childhood education during the first half of the twentieth century. She ranks alongside Froebel and Dewey, as one of the pioneers of child-centred education. As Jody Hall has written, "the life, work and legacy of Isaacs serve as a witness to the value of the curiosity of children." She also enjoyed respect from beyond the academic community. Between 1929 and 1936 her contributions to the magazine "The Nursery World," as "agony aunt" Ursula Wise, were much appreciated. This article describes Isaacs' life, work and legacy.

Susan Sutherland Isaacs (1885-1948) was arguably the most influential child psychologist and educator of her British generation. Her work was studied by eminent contemporary academics, psychologists, philosophers and politicians. Her influence was international. She reached across the world to a generation of teacher educators who passed on her ideas to succeeding generations of primary teachers throughout the latter half of the twentieth century. She was a thoughtful and immensely erudite woman whose deep understanding of children's thinking has been admired and discussed for nearly one hundred years. Her advice, under the pseudonym Ursula Wise, was much sought after by parents and nannies in the advice columns of the British magazine "Nursery World". Susan Isaacs synthesised the work of earlier European and American educators into a particularly English package, suited to the practical bent of the English educator. Her work pre-figures that of Piaget (whose early work she reviewed) and Vygotsky (whose work was translated from the Russian after her death). And always, at the heart of her work, lay the belief that deep observation was the key to understanding the complex and unique realities of individual children. (Contains 2 figures.)

This paper explores and questions some of the evidence used to support early childhood interventions in the UK, and reports on discussions with three rural Mini Sure Start project leaders in Devon. Sure Start funding in the UK has been repeatedly increased to provide more centres for 0-3-year-olds and their parents. It is increasingly linked to welfare to work policies designed to encourage a culture of "hardworking families" in areas of traditional deprivation. This finds resistance among parents to the idea of combining work and childcare for the under-3s. It also uncovers the complexity for key workers of trying to implement government directives in areas of rural deprivation.