A cluster randomised controlled trial of the effectiveness of the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) – Preschool programme on the oral language skills of pre-school children aged 3-4.

Education Endowment Foundation0 sites3,840 target enrollmentAugust 15, 2024

ConditionsThe 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.Not Applicable

Overview

Phase: N/A
Intervention: Not specified
Conditions: 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.
Sponsor: Education Endowment Foundation
Enrollment: 3840
Status: Active, Not Recruiting
Last Updated: last year

Overview Investigators Eligibility Criteria Outcomes Similar Trials

Overview

Brief Summary

No summary available.

Registry

who.int

Start Date

August 15, 2024

End Date

July 31, 2026

Last Updated

last year

Study Type

Interventional

Sex

All

Investigators

Sponsor

Education Endowment Foundation

Eligibility 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.

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.