“Babies sleeping, enter with care” says the sign on the door. It opens to reveal soft furnishings, subdued lighting and pastel colours. The under-twos of Quarrybrae Community Nursery in Glasgow’s East End have gone home, but the atmosphere of peace remains.

The tranquillity belies the problems which have dogged Strathclyde’s community nurseries since the first two opened in 1989. As the first region in the UK to adopt a policy integrating education and social work in pre-five provision under one administration, it has struggled with funding difficulties and opposition. The 12 nurseries now in existence represent determination.

Strathclyde’s innovative policy - which controversially does not demand a teaching presence on the nursery staff - arose from concerns about the impact of poverty on children and young families. At Quarrybrae, in an area of decaying industry and high unemployment, the nursery opens with breakfast from 7.45am and remains open until 6pm. Parents can make use of all or any of that time according to their need.

In allocating the nursery’s 100 full-time places or equivalent, the region gives priority to children at risk, those with a developmental or behavioural difficulty or from families under stress. The nursery recently took in the three children of a young man who suddenly found himself caring for them alone.

The 26 staff have transformed their spartan 1940s premises into welcoming textile-softened playrooms. The quiet atmosphere and well-organised activities are testimony to their creativity and patience. They have formed long-term relationships with many of the children, providing affection and building up self-esteem.

All community nurseries work with parents as well as children. “Who is the most important educator of your child?” asks a wall display in Quarrybrae. A paper towel can be lifted to reveal a mirror.

“Some of the mums are young and a bit frightened of being mums,” says Margaret Campbell, deputy head. “We want to build their self-esteem too.” Classes for parents have included sewing, job-seeking skills and information about HIV.

The area served by Three Towns Community Nursery in Saltcoats, Ayrshire, includes pockets with more than twice the national average of single parent families. The nursery’s upper floor has become a “parent’s flat”, with a washing machine and a kitchen where cookery classes can be held. The comfortable sitting room provides a place where carers can work with parents and children.

Both nurseries have helped stabilise children who had behavioural and emotional difficulties. An independent study of the pilot nurseries conducted by Glasgow University commended the work of Three Towns. “Children on the precipice of social deviance were brought back in a short time,” Dr Eric Wilkinson of the university says.

Three Towns head, Johanna Brady, says staff prefer the work to that of a conventional nursery school. The key worker allotted to each child gains a much deeper understanding than usual of their circumstances and problems. Mary McTear, pre-five officer at Three Towns, says: “You have more contact with parents, but still have support from the head. There’s more job satisfaction. ”

Both nurseries are headed by social workers, and neither has teachers on the staff. Scotland’s largest teaching union, the EIS, has strongly opposed the decision not to make a teaching presence compulsory, but the Glasgow University researchers took the controversial step of backing the nurseries. “There was no evidence that children were any worse off than in a nursery school,” Eric Wilkinson says. “They were having their abilities developed and stretched to the same extent.”

There is a risk that the demand from priority cases for community nursery places will bring to each a huge majority of children from high-stress families. This was the initial experience at Three Towns, but now there is a better balance, thanks to the area admissions panel which distributes referred cases around all the local nurseries. A “cluster” such as this in each area, incorporating different types of provision, is Strathclyde’s vision for the future.

One key aim of community nurseries is to enable parents to work, what Keir Bloomer, depute director of education in Strathclyde, calls an “opportunity to escape from poverty”. But in Quarrybrae, few places are available for children of working parents because of the demand from those with other social needs. Eric Wilkinson is concerned about a lack of flexibility: “Casual cover for a parent to go to a job interview is not often provided, and if a single parent got a job they would not be given priority in getting a nursery place.”

Resources in general are still strained, and future developments depend increasingly on central government. Other local authorities have decided to act as funding agencies rather than actually providing the service, indicating a possible way forward.

Keir Bloomer says that in comparison with the issue of future provision, the dispute with the EIS over a teaching presence on the staff is “trivial rubbish. The sooner we get away from civil war between pre-five providers and on to providing the service, the better.”