Today, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has published a new report that provides more evidence of the benefits on young children’s learning and development of providing structured professional development and support to staff working in early years settings.
The independent evaluation of Maths Champions, delivered by the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) and undertaken by a team from the University of York and Durham University, aimed to find out if the programme which focused on professional development for staff could improve young children’s (three – four-year-olds) maths skills.
The evaluation used a randomised controlled trial (RCT) design as a fair test to explore the effectiveness of the programme by comparing outcomes from nurseries which implemented the programme with outcomes from nurseries in a control group.
The evaluators found that children who took part in the Maths Champions programme made, on average, three months’ additional progress in both maths and language development compared to a similar group of children who didn’t take part in the programme. These findings have a high degree of security, meaning we can be confident in the results.
Further analysis included in the report also suggests that the programme shows potential in closing the attainment gap between children from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers. Children eligible for the Early Years Pupil Premium who received the programme made, on average, up to six month’s additional progress in maths. However, this finding should be interpreted with caution as fewer children were included in this analysis.
The one-year programme, developed and delivered by NDNA, supports early years providers to improve their maths provision by nominating a senior member of existing staff as a “Maths Champion” to undertake training and support colleagues to develop their maths teaching practice. A “Deputy Maths Champion” is also selected to assist with this work.
The training provided covers areas such as early years maths theory, how to support fellow members of staff, and auditing current practice. It also offers support with developing a maths action plan and tracking children’s progress.
Costing just over £7 per child per year, the programme offers inexpensive, evidence-informed support for nurseries looking to boost mathematical development in their early years setting.
The proven impact of Maths Champions is an indicator of the sizeable gains that can be made – at low cost – by supporting early years staff through high quality professional development.
Over 1,300 children from 134 early years settings (both Private, Voluntary and Independent and school-based nursery settings) took part in this trial, which ran from September 2021 to July 2022. Children’s development was measured using the Assessment Profile on Entry for Children and Toddlers (ASPECTS) maths score.
The publication of this report comes as the EEF expands its work to support early years educators and remedy the lack of evidence-based interventions available to the sector. Earlier this year, the EEF Early Years Toolkit and Evidence Store were launched to provide insights and exemplification from the research base. Further information around how to support young children’s mathematical development is soon to be added to the Evidence Store, in a brand-new category focussing on early numeracy.
The EEF is also currently supporting the Department for Education’s Stronger Practice Hubs as Evidence Partner.
The EEF has also published evaluation reports from another project today:
- SMART spaces: A programme that utilises spaced learning to support GCSE pupils’ revision.
Professor Becky Francis CBE, Chief Executive of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), said:
Purnima Tanuku OBE, Chief Executive of National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA), said:
Dr Lyn Robinson-Smith, Assistant Professor at York Trials Unit, University of York and Principal Investigator of the Maths Champions evaluation said:
Caroline Fairhurst, Senior Statistician at York Trials Unit, University of York and co-Investigator and co-author of the report said:
Professor Carole Torgerson, Department of Education at the University of York (co-author of the report and lead on the process evaluation) said: