Education Endowment Foundation:Peep Learning Together Programme – trial

Peep Learning Together Programme – trial

Peeple
Implementation costThe cost estimates in the Toolkits are based on the average cost of delivering the intervention.
Evidence strengthThis rating provides an overall estimate of the robustness of the evidence, to help support professional decision-making in schools.
Impact (months)The impact measure shows the number of additional months of progress made, on average, by children and young people who received the intervention, compared to similar children and young people who did not.
0
months
Project info

Independent Evaluator

Queen's University Belfast logo
Queen’s University Belfast
Engaging parents in the early years
Pupils: 1447 Schools: 139 Grant: £698,059
Key Stage: EY Duration: 3 year(s) 4 month(s) Type of Trial: Efficacy level evidence
Completed February 2020

The Peep Learning Together Programme (LTP) is a parent education programme developed by the charity Peeple

The version of the programme evaluated in this trial, Peep-LTS, aims to improve parenting skills and the quality of the home learning environment in the early years (ages 3 to 4). This involves an initial home visit, then 20 weekly one-hour sessions held in the nursery setting, delivered by nursery practitioners and attended by parents and their child. The course evaluated in this trial focused on two topics: communication and language; and early literacy.

Sessions provide parents with background information about how children learn, as well as practical ideas and activities to help build on what they are already doing at home, in order to make the most of everyday learning opportunities, including listening, talking, playing, singing and sharing books and stories

Research shows that the quality of learning opportunities within the home learning environment is a predictor of positive academic and social outcomes, with parental involvement in their child’s learning a key factor that contributes towards development

Previous research on Peep LTP has examined the extent to which the programme can effectively reach target parents, raise parental awareness of how to foster child development, and demonstrate a positive and lasting impact on children’s achievements in both literacy and wellbeing domains, particularly self-esteem. Our evaluation is the first randomised controlled trial (RCT) evaluating the effectiveness of the programme in improving language and literacy in the early years, as well as exploring its impact on the home learning environment and parental skills

Our trial of the Peep-LTS Programme involved 1,447 families across 139 nursery settings. The independent evaluation found that pupils in the Peep-LTS made, on average, no additional progress in core language skills (the primary outcome), compared to children in the usual practice control group. These results have a moderate-to-high security rating: 3 out of 5 on the EEF padlock scale.

The evaluation did find that the programme had a positive effect on children’s early literacy development. Following the programme, parents also reported small improvements in the home learning environment and their confidence in enjoying and playing with their child, and moderate improvements in self-acceptance and confidence in their own parenting knowledge and learning.

In additional exploratory subgroup analysis (published 2023 as an update to the evaluation report), this study shows positive changes for EYPP pupils receiving the programme, most notably in core language skills (the primary outcome) and communication (secondary outcome) equivalent to 4 months’ additional progress, and for early literacy development (secondary outcome) equivalent to 3 months’ progress. Although these results have more uncertainty due to the smaller sample size of this subgroup, these are promising emerging findings.

  1. Pupils in the Peep-LTS Programme made, on average, no additional progress in core language skills (the primary outcome) in comparison to those in the control group, equivalent to zero months. This finding has a moderate to high security rating.
  2. The analysis of the secondary outcomes showed a positive effect of the intervention on early literacy development. Pupils in the intervention group made, on average, two months’ additional progress compared to those in the control group. This finding is less secure than the estimate for the primary outcome.
  3. Parents reported small improvements in the home learning environment and their confidence in enjoying and playing with their child, following the Programme. There were moderate improvements reported in parental self-acceptance and parents’ confidence in their own parenting knowledge and learning.
  4. Nursery settings, supported by mentors, delivered the Programme with high fidelity. Engaging parents was a key challenge for settings: 23% of parents who signed up to the intervention did not attend a single session (parents who did attend the Programme joined, on average, 70% of sessions).
  5. Although more than 90% of practitioners reported that the Peep-LTS Programme was easy to use and implement, practitioners also felt that the length of the Programme — 20 weekly sessions — may have been a barrier to commitment for parents.
  6. Exploratory subgroup analysis showed that children eligible for Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) in the Peep-LTS Programme made progress in core language skills (the primary outcome) and communication (secondary outcome) equivalent to 4 months’ additional progress for each outcome, and for early literacy development (secondary outcome) equivalent to 3 months’ additional progress, in comparison to children eligible for EYPP in the control group. The sample sizes were small in these subgroup analyses, and so these effects have lower security than overall findings.
  7. Parents of children eligible for EYPP reported improvements in their self-acceptance following the programme. Parents of children for whom English is an additional language reported lower scores on the TOPSE play and enjoyment scale, regardless of whether they were in the intervention or control group. The sample sizes were small in these subgroup analyses, and so these effects have lower security than overall findings.
Outcome/​Group
ImpactThe size of the difference between pupils in this trial and other pupils
SecurityHow confident are we in this result?
Language skills
0
Months' progress
Early literacy development
+2
Months' progress
N/A