Leaders of ECE Conference, Sweden March 2014

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

2. This presentation • 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

3. Aims of research on educational effectiveness • 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.

4. Pre-school Provision (3+ yrs) 25 nursery classes 590 children KS 1 862 sch KS2 1,128 sch KS3 739 sch KS4 700+ sch Design of EPPSE : 6 Local Authorities, 141 pre-schools, 3,000 children 34 playgroups 610 children 31 private day nurseries 520 children 20 nursery schools 520 children 24 local authority day care nurseries 430 children 7 integrated centres 190 children home 310 children

5. Sources of data, so far • 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

6. Different influences on child outcomes Child Factors 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 Family Factors Home-Learning- Environment Primary School Pre-School

7. 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

8. 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. .

9. 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 (achieved by 10% of the pilots in Wales, all maintained) 4th December, 2006

10. 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. Best Practice in the Foundation Phase 4th December, 2006

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

12. 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;

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

14. 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

15. Distribution of Home Learning Environment (HLE)

16. 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

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

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

19. Attendance & quality: emergent literacy age 5

20. 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

21. ECERS-E item: Sounds in words (Literacy)

22. 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 • better knowledge of the curriculum and child development • engaged more in ‘sustained shared thinking’ with children • 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.

23. Complex value-added model: the effect of pre-school’s quality on children’s cognitive progress * When change of centre is not in model # verging on statistical significance

24. Complex value-added model: the effect of pre-school’s quality on children’s social-behavioural development

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

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

28. Impact of quality as measured by the Caregivers Interaction Scale on cognitive and social behaviour outcomes

29. 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.

30. 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.

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

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

33. 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.

34. 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

35. 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

36. The impact of Pre-school Quality(ECER-R: Social/Care aspects)on Hyperactivity and Pro-social Behaviour Hyperactivity Pro-social • 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

37. 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.

38. For further information about EPPSE visit our website at: http://eppse.ioe.ac.uk 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)