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Current grant-funded research projects in FELL
Effective Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education, EPPSE 3-14
(DCSF, 1996-2008; TLRP Project)
The Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) project is a major European longitudinal study which investigated the effectiveness of pre-school education and care in terms of children’s development. It is an ‘educational effectiveness’ study of a national sample of randomly selected children aged 3-7 years old throughout England. The EPPE team collected a wide range of information on 3,000 children who were recruited at age 3+ and studied longitudinally until the end of Key Stage 1. Data were collected on children’s developmental profiles (at ages 3, 4/5, 6 and 7 years), background characteristics related to their parents, the child’s home learning environment, and the pre-school settings children attended. Settings (141) were drawn from a range of providers (local authority day nurseries, integrated centres, playgroups, private day nurseries, nursery schools and nursery classes). A sample of ‘home’ children, (who had no or minimal pre-school experience) were recruited to the study at entry to school for comparison with the pre-school group. In addition to investigating the effects of pre-school provision, EPPE explored the characteristics of effective practice (and the pedagogy which underpins it) through twelve intensive case studies of settings where children had positive outcomes.
For further details, please see the EPPE website at the Institute of Education:
www.ioe.ac.uk/schools/ecpe/eppe
Or download the Final Report here:
www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/SSU_FR_2004_01.pdf
National Evaluation of the Graduate Leader Fund
(DCSF, 2007-2010)
The Transformation Fund is a major strategic initiative designed to help deliver the Government’s long term commitment to transforming the quality of early years child care. The DCSF has commissioned a programme of research to evaluate the Transformation Fund, with the aim of establishing whether the Transformation Fund helps to increase the skills of the childcare workforce and childcare quality.
As part of the evaluation a ‘before and after’ Centre Profiling Study is being carried out by a team at the University of Oxford. A sample of over 300 early childhood settings in England (including a ‘funded’ and a ‘comparison' group) will be visited at two time points and quality of provision assessed using standardised observational rating scales. The results of this study will be used to assess whether the funding has made a difference to the qualifications of staff, and to the provision offered to children.
Two Year Old Pilot Evaluation
(DCSF, 2006-2009)
Following the successful introduction of part-time early years education for 3 and 4 year olds, the Two Year Old Pilot extends this government initiative to offering part time early education to 12,000 disadvantaged 2 year olds. The aim of the pilot is to improve the cognitive and social outcomes of children participating in the pilot and to increase take up of the 3 and 4 year olds early education offer.
There are many parts to the Evaluation including the implementation of the pilot scheme by local authorities and early years settings, exploring the views of parents and assessing the children’s cognitive and socio-emotional development.
The University of Oxford is working specifically on the quality assessments which are being carried out in 75 of the settings offering the free places. Standardised observational rating scales are being used to gather the information, which will feed into the understanding of the effect of the provision for different groups of families and children.
Sutton Trust Evaluation Project, STEP
(Sutton Trust, 2006-2009)
Staff: Professor Kathy Sylva, Dr Maria Evangelou, Kate Coxon
The Peers Early Education Partnership (PEEP) is a birth to 5 intervention programme that aims to improve the life chances of children from a disadvantaged area of Oxford by raising their educational achievement.
One of the most recent initiatives from PEEP is the Sutton Trust Shopping Centre Project, an innovative attempt to offer a drop-in style provision underpinned by the PEEP ethos and curriculum funded by the Sutton Trust and the Garfield Weston Foundation who have also funded the independent evaluation of the project. Based in a shop in a busy community Shopping Centre at the heart of one of the most deprived areas of the city, it aims not only to welcome and value all parents and carers, but also to extend their existing parenting practices. It is open to everyone but it is hoped that it will be of particular value to families with children whose life chances may be compromised by the circumstances in which they live and who do not access existing statutory services. Typically those who do not participate are younger, less well educated and in less stable relationships. They are sometimes referred to as ‘hard-to-reach’. Consequently, developing services that are more in sympathy with the needs of isolated families has become a primary focus of policy and a challenge for established early years interventions such as PEEP.
Building on its existing commitment to support parents and carers in promoting their children’s language, literacy, learning dispositions and self-esteem through increasingly flexible modes of delivery, PEEP opened Room to Play in April 2006. Its intention is to offer support by undermining the forms of delivery most strongly associated with a formal service in order to appeal to families who may otherwise reject such forms. The shop aims to engage parents who are often termed ‘hard to reach’ and to develop a model for a drop-in centre based in a ‘neutral’ venue that should be easier to access for more isolated families.
The evaluation is taking place in three discrete phases over the duration of the project: February – May 2006 (Year 1), February – May 2007 (Year 2) and February – May 2008 (Year 3). The main focus of the 2nd phase of the evaluation was to look at the quality of the services offered, to ‘evaluate’ the first four months of the second year and to identify any unexpected outcomes / successes / shortcomings. In addition, the evaluation aims to provide recommendations for the next 9 months of the initiative including advice on the creation of a transferable model or a drop-in centre. The data will be collected by systematic observations and the design will incorporate a number of different qualitative methodologies including diary notes (from the research officer and key staff); observations/interviews; individual and group discussions with staff and users; questionnaires to staff and users and the monitoring of participation levels.
The initial phase of the evaluation identified two challenges related to the curriculum:
· To adapt a curriculum based on a structured delivery to groups or individuals to the unstructured setting of the shop;
· To resolve the dilemma that the shop is attempting to attract a client-base which includes parents who would not choose to participate in a curriculum-oriented service alongside others who actively seek ways to support their children's learning.
For more information go to: www.peep.org.uk/temp/PRTspevaluationspsummarysp8.11.07.pdf
Other current research projects
Helping Children Achieve: an evaluation of a parenting intervention in two local authorities, 2008-2010, Professor Kathy Sylva, Fiona Roberts