The primary analysis is of NELI Preschool’s targeted intervention, for children identified as requiring additional targeted support (those with the lowest language scores at baseline) for oral language skills. Other
Conditions
Interventions
Summary:
Prior to randomisation, all settings will administer the LanguageScreen assessment. They will then be randomised into two arms, intervention and control, on a 1:1 basis. Randomisation will be
Sponsors
Education Endowment Foundation
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
3 Years to 4 Years
Inclusion criteria
Inclusion criteria: Setting inclusion criteria: 1. Settings must either be state-maintained or PVI nurseries. Settings registered as ‘childcare on domestic premises’ will also be eligible to take part in the trial, as these settings have more than four people who provide care and the settings are subject to the same requirements as nurseries for staffing ratios and staff qualification levels. 2. Settings should have a minimum of fourteen 3 to 4-year-old children attending 15 or more hours per week during the 2023-2024 academic year (starting September 2023). This criterion is a proxy for the minimum number of children required for the trial in 2024-25, i.e., minimum of 12 children per setting . 3. Settings must be willing to allocate time for a minimum of two nursery staff members to complete online NELI Preschool training, encouraging as many practitioners who work with 3 to 4-year-olds as possible to complete the online training. 4. Settings must be located within the following Local Authorities from nine SPHs: Bexley, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, Bracknell Forest, Brighton and Hove, Bromley, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cornwall, Croydon, Darlington, Derby, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Durham, Ealing, East Riding of Yorkshire, East Sussex, Gateshead, Greenwich, Hammersmith and Fulham, Hampshire, Hartlepool, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Isle of Wight, Kent, Kingston upon Hull, Kingston upon Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham, Medway, Merton, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, Newcastle upon Tyne, Norfolk, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, North Tyneside, North Yorkshire, Northumberland, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Reading, Redcar and Cleveland, Richmond upon Thames, Slough, South Tyneside, Southampton, Southwark, Stockton-on-Tees, Suffolk, Sunderland, Surrey, Sutton, Torbay, West Berkshire, West Sussex, Wandsworth, Windsor and Maidenhead, Wokingham, and York. 5. Settings are not eligible if they are participating in another SPH funded programme delivered in the 2024-2025 academic year including allocation to the control group for one of the other SPH trials (e.g., Early Talk Boost, The ONE Programme, EYCP, Concept Cat, Communication Friendly Settings). 6. Settings cannot take part if they are participating in another EEF-funded programme or early years evaluation in the in 2024-25 academic year. Although this is identified as an eligibility criterion, there is some flexibility for the OxEd team (in agreement with NFER and the EEF) to recruit settings to the trial even if they are part of an EEF evaluation. This is especially true where the programme in question is not very similar to NELI Preschool in terms of its recipients and/or aims, or it is viewed as a business as usual (BAU). 7. Settings from the efficacy trial or those taking part in the formative evaluation cannot take part in this trial. Pupil inclusion criteria: 1. All 3–4-year-old children on 31st August 2024 and those who can engage with LanguageScreen assessment (e.g., do not have complex special educational needs) will be assessed with LanguageScreen at baseline and will form part of the trial. 2. This will also include children who attend the setting for less than 15 hours a week, as some of these children may subsequently be discovered to be entitled to EYPP. Only the children with baseline LanguageScreen will be included in the trial. Settings will be asked not to assess children who were not between 3 and 4-years old on 31st August 2024 or h
Exclusion criteria
Exclusion criteria: Settings exclusion criteria: 1. Participating in another SPH funded programme delivered in the 2024-2025 academic year. 2. Participating in another EEF-funded programme or early years evaluation in the in 2024-25 academic year. 3. Took part in the previous efficacy trial or the formative evaluation. Pupil exclusion criteria: 1. No special educational needs that precludes using the LanguageScreen assessment.
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| The primary outcome measure is a latent oral language variable that will be formed from expressive and receptive subtests in LanguageScreen and the Renfrew Action Picture Tests (RAPT) 1. LanguageScreen is administered both at baseline and post intervention 2. Renfrew Action Picture Tests (RAPT) are only administered post intervention Baseline LanguageScreen assessments will be administered by setting practitioners prior to randomisation. Endline assessments (both LanguageScreen and RAPT) will be independently administered by NFER Test Administrators who will visit each participating setting after the completion of the intervention. | — |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame |
|---|---|
| These are based on the data collected for the primary outcome measure, and are the individual expressive and receptive subtests of LanguageScreen and the RAPT.LanguageScreen is administered both at baseline and post intervention. Renfrew Action Picture Tests (RAPT) are only administered post intervention. 1. LanguageScreen Expressive Vocabulary 2. LanguageScreen Listening Comprehension 3. LanguageScreen Receptive Vocabulary 4. LanguageScreen Sentence Repetition 5. RAPT information 6. RAPT grammar | — |
Countries
England, United Kingdom
Contacts
Public ContactPalak Roy
Outcome results
None listed