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Language is the gateway to learning, not just in English but in maths, science and the wider curriculum. It is the primary mechanism by which learning is transmitted from teacher to child.

However, children’s early language experience is very varied, with a study of young American children estimating that those with professional parents are exposed to three times more words than children in low-income families ().

Over a year, this could equate to a difference of 8 million words.

This may explain why successive governments have focused attention and resources on language development in the early years by providing increasing entitlements to language-rich preschool educational provision; first for three- and four-year-olds, and more recently extending this to even younger children.

Early language development

It is, therefore, critical that settings providing these preschool places can offer the richest possible language experience to help counteract any inequalities in the home environment and give children the best possible preparation for subsequent compulsory education.

There is growing evidence that structured language interventions can make a meaningful difference to children’s development.

Our recent evaluation of the , commissioned and funded by the Educational Endowment Foundation (EEF), is, we believe, the largest-ever UK evaluation of a preschool intervention, and it adds an important piece to the evidence base.

NELI Preschool is a 20-week language intervention programme developed by OxEd, a company founded on University of Oxford research, to complement the that has been rolled out nationally.

It provides training, materials and scripted support for practitioners to deliver structured whole-class sessions, alongside additional small-group and one-to-one sessions for children who need additional support.

Positive intervention

The sessions focus on a specially written storybook each week, which introduces four or five carefully selected words that become the focus of that week’s activities.

NFER evaluated the effectiveness of NELI Preschool in a large, randomised controlled trial with 303 early years settings and 3,298 children.

Children who received NELI Preschool made the equivalent of two additional months’ progress compared with children in the control group (children who did not receive NELI Preschool), on average.

Disadvantaged children and those with lower prior attainment receiving NELI Preschool also made two months of additional progress.

Children in private, voluntary and independent (PVI) settings made similar progress to children in maintained settings, suggesting that the intervention is effective regardless of disadvantage, prior ability or setting type.

There was also some evidence that NELI Preschool was most effective in settings where staff had not previously delivered NELI in Reception classes and in settings where staff followed the programme guidance more closely.

In addition to the effects observed for children, the intervention also increased practitioners’ confidence and motivation to support early language development.

Practitioners reported that the training provided was useful and the programme had a strong positive impact on children’s vocabulary and confidence in speaking.

Tracking the impact

This matters because strengthening practitioners’ expertise can have lasting benefits that continue beyond the life of any individual programme.

Overall, our findings suggest that NELI Preschool interventions have the potential to improve educational outcomes for all children, and help to provide strong foundations for the start of more formal education in Reception classes.

To test this further, we are currently following up these children to see whether the positive effect of NELI Preschool is still apparent in the compulsory national teacher assessments conducted at the end of Reception.

If these gains persist, they will provide further evidence that investing in children’s language before they start school can have lasting educational benefits.

Stephen Welbourne is research director at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER)

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