Early years and parenting research

The Effective Provision of Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education (EPPE) study investigated the effects of children’s home life (known as the Home Learning Environment or HLE) and pre-school experiences on 3,000 children in England from the age of 3 through to 18. The children were from a range of family backgrounds, with a variety of pre-school/ Early Years setting experiences, including day nurseries, nursery classes, pre-schools/playgroups and no pre-school-setting experience.

When the study reported at the end of Key Stage 1, when the children were 7, it found that attending some kind of pre-school setting, particularly of a higher quality (though it didn’t matter if full or part-time), had a positive effect on children’s development.

The study also found that: 

‘What parents and carers do makes a real difference to young children’s development. The EPPE project developed an index to measure the quality of the home learning environment (HLE). There are a range of activities that parents undertake with pre-school children which have a positive effect on their development. For example, reading with the child, teaching songs and nursery rhymes, painting and drawing, playing with letters and numbers, visiting the library, teaching the alphabet and numbers, taking children on visits and creating regular opportunities for them to play with their friends at home, were all associated with higher intellectual and social/behavioural scores. [This became known as the EY-HLE index.] These activities could also be viewed as ‘protective’ factors in reducing the incidence of SEN because children whose parents engaged regularly in home learning activities were less likely to be at risk for special educational needs.

‘The home learning environment was only moderately associated with parents’ educational or occupational level and was more strongly associated with children’s intellectual and social development than either parental education or occupation. In other words what parents do with their children is more important than who parents are. Poor mothers with few qualifications can improve their children’s progress and give them a better start at school by engaging in activities at home that engage and stretch the child’s mind.’ (Sylva et al, 2004, p. v) 

‘For this reason pre-school and school settings that do not include parent support and education are missing an important element in raising achievement and enhancing social and behavioural development.‘ (ibid p57)

A parallel study took place with 850 3 – 8 year old children in Northern Ireland (Effective Pre-school Provision in Northern Ireland: EPPNI), and showed similar results.

By the end of Year 6 in Key Stage 2 (age 11) EPPE found that:

‘The Early years home learning environment (HLE) is still one of the most important predictors of later attainment in English and Mathematics in Year 6 as well as ‘Self-regulation’. Experiencing a better early years HLE shows a significant positive long term impact after controlling for other influences such as parents’ qualification levels, family socio-economic status and income.’ (p4, Sammons et al, 2008) 

The study found that when students were 16 years old, two of the main influences on their GCSE attainment were: having attended pre-school and their early years Home Learning Environment (Sylva et al, 2014).  Even when the students were 18 years old, ‘the early years Home Learning Environment shows a continued effect on overall A-level attainment’.  (Sammons et al, 2015) 

References

Sylva, K., Melhuish, E., Sammons, P., Siraj-Blatchford, I. and Taggart, B. (2004) Technical Paper 12, The final Report: effective pre-school education. London, DfES Publications and Institute of Education

Sammons P, Sylva K, Melhuish E, Siraj-Blatchford I, Taggart B, Hunt S, Jelicic H (2008) Influences on children’s cognitive and social development in year 6 , DCSF-RB048-049

Sylva, K., Melhuish, E., Sammons, P., Siraj-Blatchford, I. and Taggart, B. (2014) Effective Pre-School, Primary and Secondary Education Project (EPPSE 3–16), Influences on student’s development at age 16.  Ref: ISBN 978-1-78105-402-4, DFE-RR354

Sammons P, Katalin T, Sylva K, Melhuish E, Siraj I & Taggart B (2015)  Pre-school and home learning effects on A-level outcomes: Effective Pre-school, Primary & Secondary Education Project (EPPSE)  University of Oxford, DfE RR472A

The Growing Up in Scotland (GUS) study has followed thousands of Scottish children and their families since 2005, helping researchers understand what supports children’s development and wellbeing over time. One of its key findings is that what parents do with their children at home has a powerful influence on children’s learning and development.

GUS found that children who experience a rich home learning environment – where families regularly share books, songs, conversations, play and everyday learning activities – tend to have stronger language, cognitive and social development. These positive effects are seen across all families and can help reduce the impact of disadvantage.

The study also highlighted that parenting behaviours can be learned and strengthened.  It reported a thorough review of early interventions which concluded that, to gain the most impact, interventions should include both parent and child together, with a focus on enhancing the quality and quantity of parent/child interactions. The report concluded that “parenting behaviours are learnable, and changes in parenting are associated with improved child development”.

Why it matters for Peep

These findings reinforce the approach at the heart of Peep: building parents’ confidence and supporting everyday interactions such as talking, playing, singing, sharing books and exploring together. Small, enjoyable activities at home can make a lasting difference to children’s learning, development and wellbeing.

Melhuish, E (2010) Impact of the Home Learning Environment on child cognitive development: secondary analysis of data from ‘Growing up in Scotland’. Scottish Government Social Research

Sure Start Children’s Centres were established in England to bring together services for families with young children in one place. They are the forerunners of today’s Family Hubs, sharing the same ambition to provide joined-up support for children and parents.

Recent research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has found that children who grew up with access to a nearby Sure Start centre experienced lasting benefits. These included improved educational outcomes, better health and reduced need for SEND support later in childhood, with the greatest benefits seen for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The research also found that Sure Start represented good value for money, with long-term savings to public services outweighing much of the initial investment.

The research highlights three features that made Sure Start particularly effective:

• Reaching families early, especially those who were least likely to access support without active outreach.
• Providing high-quality parenting and early years support that strengthened parent-child relationships and children’s learning and development.
• Bringing services together, enabling health, education and family support professionals to work in partnership around families.

These findings closely reflect the principles underpinning Peep programmes: engaging families early, strengthening the home learning environment through positive parent-child interactions, and working collaboratively across services to improve outcomes for children and families.

Carneiro P et al, 2024 The short- and medium-term impacts of Sure Start on educational outcomes

‘Children’s Centres: their impact on children and families’

This earlier DfE-funded study concluded that children’s centres benefitted families in a range of ways, and that there were three particular characteristics of children’s centres that promoted better child, mother and family outcomes:

1. Offering more named programmes for families predicted better outcomes for certain child behaviours and family outcomes, including the early home learning environment.
2. Centres that were maintaining or increasing services (rather than cutting or re-structuring) had better outcomes for mothers and family.
3. Multi-agency working seemed to be beneficial for some child and family outcomes.

Sammons P et al , 2015  Children’s Centres: their impact on children and families – part of the DfE-funded Evaluation of Children’s Centres in England (ECCE) study