Can the Families Connect programme, which supports parents and children to learn together, improve children’s learning at school and in the home?

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: This study is exploring the learning and social and emotional benefits of Families Connect on school children aged 4 to 6 years, and the capacity of parents' to engage with and support their child's learning.; Not Applicable

• Registration Number: ISRCTN88158874
• Lead Sponsor: uffield Foundation

Brief Summary

2021 Funder report results in https://www.nfer.ac.uk/randomised-controlled-trial-evaluation-of-families-connect/ (added 13/09/2021)

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Results First Posted: 1900-01-01
• Study Start: 2019-01-23
• Study Completion: 2020-02-28
• Last Update Posted: 27 September 2021

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 483

Inclusion Criteria

Schools:
1. School type: primary schools in the state maintained sector
2. School year groups: Reception and Year 1 in England and Wales, Y1 and Y2 in Northern Ireland, P1 and P2 in Scotland
3. Disadvantage: school-level Free School Meal (FSM) eligibility of greater than 20% in England, greater than 25% in Wales, greater than 40% in NI, and in areas of disadvantage in Scotland based on Pupil Equity Funding
4. Geography: North of England, South of England, Wales, Northern Ireland (NI) and Scotland
5. School size: medium to large schools (more than one form entry) where possible
6. School first language: English speaking
7. Previous experience of Families Connect: schools must be new to Families Connect or have only run it once before in their school.

Practitioners:
8. These staff must be teachers, teaching assistants or family support workers from within each school
9. They must not currently teach Reception or Year 1 (in England and Wales), Y1/Y2 (in NI), P1/P2 (in Scotland)

Family:
10. Age group: families with child(ren) aged 4 to 6 years (in Reception or Year 1 in England and Wales, in Y1/Y2 in NI, in P1/P2 in Scotland)
11. Disadvantage: Families Connect is a universal programme, however it aims to work in each cycle with at least 20% of families from disadvantaged backgrounds
12. More than one child: where a family has more than one child in this age range, all eligible children can attend (especially where an additional parent/guardian can attend). Where only one child attends, this will be the eldest.
13. SEN: Children with special educational needs (SEN) are eligible
14. EAL: families and children with English as an Additional Language (EAL) are eligible. Local knowledge will be needed as to the provision of translation/interpretation services.

Exclusion Criteria

Families who have previously taken part in Families Connect with another child.

Study & Design

• Study Type: Interventional
• Study Design: Not specified

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Children's receptive vocabulary as measured by the British Pictorial Vocabulary Scale Version 3 (BPVS3; Dunn et al., 2009) at baseline (early January 2019), first follow-up (end April – early May 2019), and second follow-up (the primary outcome timepoint, mid-September to early October 2019), i.e. at baseline, immediately after the 8-week programme, and 6 months after the 8-week programme.