Education Endowment Foundation:EEF publishes new evaluation reports

EEF publishes new evaluation reports

Family literacy sessions could boost learning, but supporting parents to attend is hard
Author
EEF
EEF
Press Release •6 minutes •

Family literacy sessions could boost learning, but supporting parents to attend is hard

Offering parents family learning’ sessions that aim to give them the tools they need to aid their child’s learning at home might improve literacy, but supporting them to turn up regularly can be difficult. This is according to new research from the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) that adds to the growing evidence of how to engage parents effectively.

115 primary schools in England took part in a randomised controlled trial of Family Skills, a programme delivered by a partnership led by Learning Unlimited that aimed to improve the literacy and language of children learning English as an Additional Language (EAL)

The trial was funded by the EEF with The Bell Foundation and Unbound Philanthropy, as part of a funding round focused on raising the attainment of EAL pupils. Earlier research from Oxford University, commissioned by these organisations, found that the attainment of EAL pupils varies widely and that average attainment figures mask a huge range of outcomes for different groups of EAL pupils. The research also found there is a lack of high-quality evidence of what really boosts attainment for these disparate groups

Over the course of one term, parents of four and five year olds were offered weekly sessions with family learning tutors. The two and a half hour sessions focused on topics like reading to children, phonics, making the most of bilingualism, learning through play, and understanding primary education in England. Families were encouraged to do learning activities at home with their children, and were also given opportunities to visit a local library and take a tour of their child’s school

The independent evaluation conducted by the National Centre for Social Research found that, overall, children of parents who were offered the Family Skills intervention did not make any more progress in literacy than children of parents who were not offered it

However, the evaluation also suggests that children whose parents actually attended Family Skills sessions made greater progress in literacy than children whose parents did not. While the evaluators are cautious about this figure (noting the impact might have been between 0 and +2 months’ additional progress), this may indicate some potential if ways can be found to ensure more parents attend.

The key challenge the evaluation highlighted is that some schools struggled to get parents to turn up – only around one-third of eligible parents attended at least one session

Today’s new findings add to a growing body of research that highlights the difficulties of recruiting and retaining parents to face-to-face programmes. During previous projects, EEF studies have identified many reasons for this. These include not being able to find the time between their busy work schedules and childcare commitments, or reluctance to attend because their own experiences of school were not positive

The vast majority of schools taking part in the trial of Family Skills said that they would recommend it to other schools, highlighting that it provided a good opportunity to build home – school links and engage parents in their children’s learning. They also reported that regular reminders and personalised recruitment helped to boost attendance, and tutors reported that more time to engage parents before the programme started would have been beneficial

Previous EEF evaluations of Parenting Academy and SPOKES – two programmes designed to equip parents with the skills to support their child’s learning through intensive sessions – reported similar barriers and found that both struggled to persuade parents to attend regularly. However, the trial of Parenting Academy found that parents who were paid £30 to attend each session were more likely to attend, suggesting that financial incentives can be an effective way to engage and retain parents in programmes of this type.

On Monday, the Department for Education announced a £5m home learning environment fund, run by the EEF, to give families extra support to help with children’s early language and communication skills.

Sir Peter Lampl, Chairman of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), said:

Sir Kevan Collins, Chief Executive of the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), said: 

We have published three more evaluation reports on our website today:

  • A pilot of RETAIN, a one-year professional development programme for early career teachers (ECTs) who are teaching key stage 1 (KS1) pupils in schools in disadvantaged areas. The project was led by the Cornwall College Group and evaluated by a team from Sheffield Hallam University.
  • A pilot of Positive Action, a school-wide programme led by Lady Joanna Thornhill Primary School and evaluated by a team from Queens University Belfast, that aims to develop positive attitudes and behaviour, and improve peer relationships and engagement in learning.
  • A trial of GraphoGame Rime, a computer game designed to teach pupils to read by developing their phonological awareness and phonic skills. The game is delivered in small groups supervised by a teacher or teaching assistant, with pupils working on individual devices, as the game is designed to constantly adjust the difficulty to challenge the learner at an appropriate level. The project, delivered by the University of Cambridge and evaluated by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), was funded as part of joint initiative with Wellcome to explore how insights from neuroscience can be used to improve education.

For further information please contact Hilary Cornwell at the Education Endowment Foundation on 020 7802 1660 / 07951 447956

Notes to editors

  1. The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is a grant-making charity set up in 2011 by the Sutton Trust as lead foundation in partnership with Impetus Trust (now part of Impetus – The Private Equity Foundation), with a £125m founding grant from the Department for Education. Since its launch the EEF has awarded £96.3 million to 160 projects working with over 1,000,000 pupils in over 10,000 schools across England. The EEF and Sutton Trust are, together, the government-designated What Works Centre for Education.
  2. The Bell Foundation is a charity whose main aim is to overcome exclusion through language education by working with partners on innovation, research, training and practical interventions. Through generating and applying evidence, we aim to change practice, policy and systems for children, adults and communities in the UK disadvantaged through language.
  3. Unbound Philanthropyis a private grantmaking foundation dedicated to ensuring that migrants, refugees, and their families are treated with respect and dignity, are able to contribute fully in their new communities and can ultimately thrive in a society that is comfortable with the diversity and opportunity that immigration brings.
  4. Family Skills was funded as part of £2m fund from the EEF, Unbound Philanthropy and The Bell Foundation that builds on previous research from Oxford University, commissioned by the three funders, that looked at the academic achievement of pupils classified as having English as an Additional Language (EAL). The ground-breaking reports found that there is a massive variation in the results achieved by pupils classified as EAL. While some EAL pupils catch-up with their peers by the age of 16, average attainment figures mask a huge range of different outcomes. The report called for more research to improve outcomes for EAL pupils at particular risk of under achieving.
  5. The delivery partnership for Family Skills included 16 local delivery partners, the Campaign for Learning, and Institute of Education at UCL.
  6. The materials for the Family Skills project are listed as one of the Finalists in the British Council’s ELTons Awards 2018 Local Innovation category.
  7. The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) is a leading independent provider of rigorous research and insights in education, working to create an excellent education for all children and young people. They are a not-for-profit organisation and our robust and innovative research, assessments and other services are widely known and used by key decision-makers. Any surplus generated is reinvested in projects to support their charitable purpose. @TheNFER
  8. Wellcome exists to improve health for everyone by helping great ideas to thrive. We’re a global charitable foundation, both politically and financially independent. We support scientists and researchers, take on big problems, fuel imaginations and spark debate.