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You are here: Projects Early Learning Partnership Project ELPP - Strand 2: Evaluation

Early Learning Partnership Project Strand 2 – Evaluation

The Evaluation of the project is being carried out by a team from the educational studies department of Oxford University

The National Evaluation of the ELPP is studying the different approaches to parental involvement used by various programmes across England in order to find out more about ways of supporting parents with their child's early learning. The overall aim is to evaluate different strategies used to involve parents in their children's learning. It examines the role of trained staff or volunteers in equipping parents with the skills needed to support their children's learning at home. The study is funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and is based at the University of Oxford.

As part of the study, the Oxford Research Team has visited settings around the country which use different approaches to involving parents in their child's early learning. A researcher has been visiting the settings and carrying out interviews with the project manager and other key staff or volunteers, as well as a focus group and some interviews with parents, to hear about the exciting activities that parents, staff and volunteers are doing with children.. A second round of visits aims to capture the ways the programmes may develop over time, and the impact on families using these services.

All the information collected is treated in strict confidence. Settings will not be named as part of the research and all information will be anonymised, stored securely and then destroyed. No information is collected on individual children. The evaluation is not an inspection, nor an assessment of individual projects, teams, staff or volunteers. Instead, the aim is to gather as much information as possible on the different approaches that organisations are using to involve parents, and the ways the parents respond to them.

The study is being carried out by Dr. Maria Evangelou, Professors Kathy Sylva and Anne Edwards at the Department of Education, University of Oxford, and Teresa Smith at the Department of Social Policy and Social Work. A member of the NEELPP Research Team carries out interviews with the project manager, key staff and parents in the project. A researcher also undertake home visits at a later time. All research team members have been through enhanced Criminal Records Bureau vetting procedures.