Leaders of ECE Conference, Sweden March 2014 What does effective learning and teaching in ECE look like for long term gains in English and Maths? Prof. Iram Siraj Institute of Education, University of London

 Intro to the EPPE/EPPSE study  Evidence from EPPE/REPEY, EPPNI and MEEIFP  Exploring quality  The short, medium and long term impact of pre-school This presentation

To compare the progress of children from a wide range of social and cultural backgrounds who have differing pre-school experiences. To separate out the effects of pre-school experience from the effects of primary school. To establish whether some pre-school centres are more effective than others in promoting children’s development. To discover the characteristics of pre-school education in those centres found to be most effective. To investigate the differences in the progress of groups of children, e.g. children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Aims of research on educational effectiveness

25 nursery classes 590 children 34 playgroups 610 children 31 private day nurseries 520 children 20 nursery schools 520 children 7 integrated centres 190 children 24 local authority day care nurseries 430 children home 310 children Design of EPPSE : 6 Local Authorities, 141 pre-schools, 3,000 children Pre-school Provision (3+ yrs) KS sch KS2 1,128 sch KS3 739 sch KS sch

● Child assessment (social/behaviour & cognitive) at 3, 4+, 6, 7, 10,11 & 14 years (first 16 outcomes in 2009) ● Family background at 3, 6 and 11 & 14 ● Interviews/questionnaires with staff ● ‘Quality’ rating scales in pre-school ● Case studies of effective pre-school settings ● Pedagogical observations in primary school ● School and classroom climate questionnaires ● Children’s views of school at age 7, 10 & 14 ● Teachers’ views on school processes and practice in Yr 5 & Yr 9 Sources of data, so far

Different influences on child outcomes Child Factors Family Factors Home- Learning- Environment Cognitive outcomes: English & maths Social/Behavioural: Self Regulation Likes to work things out for self Pro-social Considerate of others feelings Hyperactivity Restless, cannot stay still for long Anti-social Has been in trouble with the law Primary School Pre-School

Drawing on evidence from projects: EPPE/REPEY 3-7 (England) EPPNI 3-5 (Northern Ireland) MEEIFP 3-6 (Wales) If children come from disadvantaged backgrounds they are ‘at risk’ of social problems, then high quality pre-school/early years will make an important contribution to improving their social development, esp. boys. Children with no pre-school experience (the ‘home’ group) had poorer intellectual attainment, sociability and concentration when they started school, even after taking account of home background. More terms in pre-school (after the age of 2 years) is related to better cognitive and social progress (dose effect). Children who attend pre-school settings part-time develop as well as those children attending full-time

Effectiveness.  Integrated settings and nursery schools tended to do better on cognitive outcomes even after taking account of children’s backgrounds.  Integrated settings (which had fully integrated education with care) nursery schools and nursery classes are better at fostering children’s social development  Settings with higher quality provision decreased children’s anti-social/ worried behaviour.

Best Practice in the Foundation Phase (achieved by 10% of the pilots in Wales, all maintained) 4th December, 2006 The best settings in terms of implementing the FP appear to have the following common characteristics:  More detailed, focused planning.  Lead practitioners with good leadership and management skills and the ability to allocate effective roles for other adults whilst planning together for children’s learning  Guided and supported play activities with higher levels of adult-child interaction that support children’s thinking.  Clear and dynamic vision and leadership from setting heads who have a good grasp of effective early years practice and are able to communicate this effectively to FP staff.

Best Practice in the Foundation Phase 4th December, 2006  The best settings did not slavishly adhere to the FP guidance but took it seriously and built the FP into existing good practice.  A move away from over-formal practice in the basics towards a more experiential, child centred and adult guided, play based practice.  The leadership of the setting has a culture of investing in staff development.  Some well trained and qualified staff who have a good understanding of child development and pedagogy and who actively support other staff in working with children.

The short, medium and long term impact of pre-school

Supporting Early Reading: Evidence from EPPSE The presentation summarises findings related to:  the home on emergent literacy;  pre-school quality/pedagogy on emergent literacy;  the home during KS1 on reading; 12

The family  SES and mothers qualifications level significantly predict children’s decoding and vocabulary at age 5  But so do family practices 13

Early years Home Learning Environment (HLE)  being read to  painting and drawing  going to the library  playing with letters/numbers  learning activities with the alphabet  learning activities with numbers/shapes  learning activities with songs/poems/nursery rhymes

Distribution of Home Learning Environment (HLE)

 Moderate positive association between HLE and parents’ SES and qualifications (r=0.3)  Some parents with high SES and qualification provide a home environment low on the HLE  Some parents low SES and qualifications that provide a home environment high on the HLE  Gender differences exist in the HLE  Girls have higher HLE

1.Decoding (phonological awareness and letter recognition) 2. Vocabulary Emergent literacy has two components :

Pre-school Attendance and quality predicted emergent literacy (pre-reading) 18

Attendance & quality: emergent literacy age 5

ECERS-R Based on observation 7 sub-scales  Space and furnishings  Personal care routines  Language reasoning  Activities  Interaction  Programme structure  Parents and staff Harms, Clifford & Cryer (1998) ECERS-E Based on observation 4 sub-scales  Literacy  Mathematics  Science and environment  Diversity Sylva, Siraj-Blatchford & Taggart (2003) Measuring quality Care-giver Interaction Scale – 26 item scale that measures: Positive Relations, Punitiveness, Detachment and Permissiveness

ECERS-E item: Sounds in words (Literacy) InadequateMinimalGoodExcellent Few or no rhymes or poems are spoken or sung 3.1 Rhymes are often spoken or sung by adults to children 5.1 The rhyming components of songs or rhymes are brought to the attention of children 7.1 Attention is paid to syllabification of words (Ex. through clapping games, jumping) 3.2 Children are encouraged to speak and/or sing rhymes 5.2 The initial sounds in words are brought to the attention of children 7.2 Some attention is given to linking sounds to letters

Quality Settings in the state educational sector had children who make (comparatively) more progress than those in the private/voluntary sector. In the EPPE sample, nursery schools and centres that integrated education and care tended to be rated highest on quality, (e.g. ECERS and Caregiver Interaction Scale). Good quality and better cognitive outcomes for children are associated with higher quality as defined by the ECERS R and E In the most effective settings, staff had 1.better knowledge of the curriculum and child development 2.engaged more in ‘sustained shared thinking’ with children 3.Supported children in talking through and resolving conflict  Adults had warm, responsive relationships with children.  Set clear educational goals, starting with children’s interests.  Have recognised early years qualifications.  Trained teachers are amongst the staff.  Parents are supported in involvement in their children’s learning.

Complex value-added model: the effect of pre- school’s quality on children’s cognitive progress Pre- reading Early number concepts LanguageNon-verbal reasoning Spatial awarenes s ECERS-E Average totalpositive*positive Literacypositive*positive Mathspositive Science/Environmentpositive# Diversitypositive#positive ECERS-R Average total Space and furnishings Personal care Language and reasoningpositive# Activities Interactionpositive Programme structure Parents and staffpositive# * When change of centre is not in model # verging on statistical significance

Complex value-added model: the effect of pre- school’s quality on children’s social-behavioural development Independence and concentration Cooperation and Conformity Peer SociabilityAnti-social/ Worried ECERS-E Average totalpositive# Literacypositive# Maths Science/ environment positive# Diversitypositive#

Short Term impact- Aged 5 (entry to school) Reading

Short term impact – Aged 5 (entry to school) Social-behavioural

Caregiver Interaction Scale (Arnett) Positive relationships is a subscale made up of 10 items indicating warmth and enthusiasm interaction with children by the caregiver. Punitiveness is a subscale made up of 8 items indicating harsh or over-controlling behaviour in interaction with children by the caregiver. Permissiveness is a subscale made up of 4 items indicating avoidance of discipline and control of children by the caregiver. Detachment is a subscale made up of 4 items indicating lack of involvement in interaction with children by the caregiver.

Pre- reading Early number concepts Independence & Concentration Co-operation & Conformity Peer Sociability Positive relationships Punitiveness --- Permissive ---- Detachment ---- Impact of quality as measured by the Caregivers Interaction Scale on cognitive and social behaviour outcomes

Early Years HLE: de-coding skills at age 5 Impact of prior attainment, child, parent, home environment and other composition of intake measures on code- related progress over the pre-school period. FactorsEffect Size Prior Verbal Attainment.89 Prior Non-verbal Attainment.34 Gender girls vs. boys.21 Ethnicity Minority group 3 vs. White.70 No. of siblings 3+ vs. none-.15 English as an Additional Language EAL vs. English as mother tongue.34 Birth weight low vs. average/above average-.19 Free school meal eligibility eligible vs. not eligible-.12 Mother’s qualification level degree vs. no degree.25 Family SES unskilled/semi-skilled manual vs. professional non-manual-.27 HLE Item 4: Playing with letters/numbers daily vs. never.36 HLE Item 5: Learning activities with the alphabet 4-7 times per week vs never.51 Duration of pre-school.33 % of children in centre 1SD below GCA mean.19 % of children in centre with mothers who have a degree or higher.24

FactorsEffect Size Prior Verbal Attainment1.52 Prior Non-verbal Attainment.34 Ethnicity Minority group 5 vs. White-.59 No. of siblings 3+ vs. none-.17 English as an Additional Language EAL vs. English as mother tongue-.24 Mother’s qualification level degree vs. no degree.24 Family SES semi-skilled manual vs. professional non-manual-.23 lHLE Item 1: Being read to daily vs. rarely.27 HLE Item 3: Going to the library fortnightly vs. never.18 HLE Item 7: Learning activities with songs/poems/nursery rhymes 3 times per week vs. never.20 HLE Item 8: Playing with friends at home 3-7 times per week vs. never-.13 Duration of pre-school.14 % of children in centre with mothers who have a degree or higher.19 Early Years HLE : vocabulary & comprehension age 5 Impact of prior attainment, child, parent, home environment and other composition of intake measures on oral language progress over the pre-school period.

READING at key stage 1, social class and pre-school experience WRITING at key stage 1, social class and pre-school experience Medium Term Impact – Aged 7 (end of KS 1 ) - Reading and Writing

MATHEMATICS at key stage 1, social class and pre-school experience The contribution of social class and pre-school to mathematics attainment (age 7)

The impact of Pre-school Quality (ECERS-E: Educational aspects) on English and Maths Pre-school quality is associated with Key Stage 2 performance in both English and Mathematics. Also medium or high quality pre-school is associated with significantly enhanced attainment compared to no pre-school or low quality pre-school, and the effects are comparable in size to the effects of gender and FSM.

The Combined Impact of Pre-School Quality and Primary School Effectiveness (Value add) – Mathematics Reference Group: No Pre-School and Very low / low Primary School Effectiveness

Long Term impact – Aged 10 Pre-school Quality and Self Regulation Self regulation is highest in children who have attended medium or high quality pre-schools

The impact of Pre-school Quality (ECER-R: Social/Care aspects) on Hyperactivity and Pro-social Behaviour Children who attend high quality pre-school display higher pro-social behaviour and lower levels of hyperactive behaviour Home children show significantly reduced levels of positive social behaviour relative to children who attended pre-school regardless of quality, however, they also show reduced levels of Hyperactivity HyperactivityPro-social

The impact of Pre-school Quality (ECERS-R: Social/Care aspects & ECERS-E: Educational aspect) on Self-regulation and Pro-social behaviour Children who attended medium and high quality pre-schools had higher levels of ‘Self-regulation’ in Year 6 than others. ‘Home’ children were rated by teachers as having less ‘‘Pro-social’’ behaviour relative to children who had attended pre-school, although the difference is most marked for those who attended high quality.

For further information about EPPSE visit our website at: Principal Investigators: Kathy Sylva (Oxford) Edward Melhuish (Birkbeck), Pam Sammons (Oxford), Iram Siraj & Brenda Taggart (IoE) Researchers: Kati Toth, Rebecca Smees and Wesley Welcomme (all at IoE) 38