Reluctant communicators becoming more confident and children using and understanding more vocabulary are just some of the outcomes reported by early years practitioners in Liverpool and Sefton who took part in a Language Leaders project.
Participants also reported they had ‘grown’ as professionals during the innovative programme, led by the North Liverpool Teaching School Partnership and funded by the DfE Strategic School Improvement Fund.
Language Leaders was based on the URLEY – Using Research tools to improve Language in the Early Years – approach developed by researchers at the University of Oxford and A+ Education. The programme aimed to improve children’s language outcomes by supporting practitioners to use evidence-based tools and research-validated practices.
‘Practitioners already do a wonderful job in supporting children with language development. URLEY supports them to fine-tune that practice using research evidence,’ explains Sandra Mathers, senior researcher at Oxford University.
The original URLEY programme was evaluated by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), which found significant improvements in quality of practice but no measurable changes for children. Language Leaders was designed to build on the EEF recommendations to make the programme more effective.
SUSTAINED CHANGE
The Language Leaders programme was based on research into effective professional development that leads to sustained change within a setting (see Further information). It involved practitioners, known as Language Leaders, from primary schools and maintained and private nurseries coming together to take part in ten half-day professional development workshops.
‘Research tells us that sustainable improvement takes time – time to reflect on learning, make changes to practice, and then come back together to discuss and reflect further,’ says Dr Mathers. Two practitioners attended from most settings so they could support each other in disseminating their learning to the team.
Workshops were delivered by experienced mentors who used a mix of direct teaching and encouraging practitioners to read and research best practice for themselves. ‘We wanted to offer a mix of theory and practice, and strong support for putting learning into practice in the setting,’ says Dr Mathers. ‘Talking about and deconstructing research evidence enhances professional knowledge but is also very empowering. The research-based observation tools and monthly “take it back” tasks provided a scaffold for making evidence-based changes to practice.’
Mentors from local nursery schools provided setting-based support for improvement and are continuing to support the sustainability of the programme.
FIRST PRINCIPLES
At the heart of the programme are three URLEY principles for supporting oral language:
- Be a magnet for communication.
- Be a language ‘radiator’.
- Be a conversationalist.
The principles summarise the evidence on how children learn language and how practitioners can best support that development. Practitioners then use a range of tools to put these principles into practice, including the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS) and Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Well-being (SSTEW) scale.
The aim is to make every interaction count, particularly for the children who need it the most, for example children who are reluctant communicators or who have delayed language development.
‘Language-supporting quality improved overall, but it was practice relating to sharing books and stories and the assessment of children’s language skills which improved the most,’ says Dr Mathers.
‘Observations before and after the programme showed improvements in language-supporting interaction as well as changes to physical provision. This is important because we know that interactions with children are the most powerful influence on children’s development.’
Language Leaders reported that the programme had helped them to support children with English as an additional language and language delay. Others commented that they are now ‘making more time to talk and not feeling guilty about it’, and ‘children are getting more valued and rich time in regards to smaller group reading/book time’.
The changes led to 87 per cent of respondents reporting a medium or large improvement in children’s language development. One Language Leader noted, ‘Invisible children are becoming more involved as practitioners are now more aware of them.’ Another said that conversations between staff and children have become ‘more meaningful’.
CASCADING LEARNING
Practitioners’ professional confidence was also monitored during the programme, using Bandura’s scale of professional self-efficacy, with a ‘large improvement’ identified for more than half of respondents.
Practitioners commented that ‘I am much more reflective in my practice and staff observations and how effectively we communicate to our children’, and ‘I have gained confidence in how to best support others’.
An aspect of the programme that some practitioners found difficult was cascading their learning to others, with 34 per cent saying it could be quite or very challenging. Despite this, three-quarters said they had engaged other staff ‘quite a lot or very much’.
A Knowledge Exchange event was held to mark the culmination of the programme and enable Language Leaders to share good practice. They were asked to bring someone from a setting that had not participated so the learning could be spread even further. While this marked the end of the programme, local hubs have been set up to ensure that the Language Leaders URLEY approach continues.
CASE STUDIES
JETS Centre, Sefton
Leaders: Danika Aindow and Paula Lamb
The initial observation highlighted that all staff needed to encourage children to use language in a more effective and meaningful way. Children also needed more encouragement to independently access the book area.
Staff identified reluctant communicators and planned more purposeful talk between peers and children and staff, with the aim of all children having meaningful conversations during every session. Data analysis has shown that this has been successful, with children being more confident to initiate conversations during play.
A focus group of children was formed to gain ideas on what they wanted in the book area. It is felt that this enabled children to take ownership of the book provision.
It was found that colleagues took time to digest feedback from the programme and observation audits, but as they saw the practice put into place they were supportive of the new measures. The impact on the children has given staff the enthusiasm to continue with the project.
Rice Lane Primary School, Liverpool
Leaders: Lauren McKee and Alex Carroll
Participating in the project led staff to focus on the reading area and make it more engaging for children. They invested in new bookshelves that enable books to be more visible and accessible to children and used funding to buy soft furnishings to make the area more comfortable and inviting.
Staff considered the range of books available and expanded it by including more non-fiction titles. They also thought about specific children’s interests and tried to select books that would appeal to them. Props, puppets and toys have been added to the reading corner so that children and staff can enhance the stories they are sharing.
Understanding that books provide a powerful context for conversation and the opportunity to model the skills of a proficient reader led staff to look at when they could make more time for shared reading during the daily routine. They decided to do this in the morning when the children tend to be more engaged and open to discussing the stories and exploring new language.
Now, before reading a story, staff familiarise themselves with it and pick out specific words and vocabulary to emphasise to the children. They may read the same story a few times during the week to enable children to become familiar with it. Staff are also encouraged to introduce the new language that they have come across during shared reading in play scenarios in order to give children the opportunity to ‘bump’ into the words and begin to use them.
Abercromby Nursery School, Liverpool
Leaders: Francesca Turner and Tamara Bennett
While adult-child interactions scored highly on the baseline observation, scores were low for the use of books. It was found that because of where books were sited, there was little spontaneous reading to children, even though staff love sharing books.
Originally, book areas were in potentially noisy multi-use areas, so it was decided to move them to quieter locations and rearrange furniture to create cosy spaces, with the addition of beanbags. Instead of storing books in baskets, it was decided to arrange them so the fronts could be seen, and also to have themed displays – such as fact and fiction books about autumn and Divali in October with linked props.
Disseminating the training has led to the awareness of possibilities for language development through books being recognised. Staff now make it a priority to share books, whether that is in the new cosy areas or on a picnic blanket outdoors. The re-audit showed that the changes had made an enormous impact. Children’s language has developed and they can confidently retell their favourite stories.
FURTHER INFORMATION
- ‘Training - The right mix’ by Sandra Mathers, Nursery World, https://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/features/article/nursery-management-training-the-right-mix
