25/02/21
1 min read
We welcome the government’s announcement that it will invest a further £8 million in the roll out of the Nuffield Early Language Intervention to support oral language development in the early years.
The Nuffield Early Language Intervention is already a key part of the COVID-19 catch up package for school, with over one third of primary schools signed up for this school year. The additional funding will enable more schools to benefit from the intervention, which has been proven to boost children’s early language skills.
The Nuffield Early Language Intervention was developed with funding by the Nuffield Foundation. It is a 20-week targeted programme designed to improve the oral language skills of children aged 4-5 in need of support. Participating schools receive training and resources to deliver one-to-one and small group support for five-year-olds whose spoken language skills may have suffered as a result of the pandemic.
The programme has an initial focus on expressive and receptive vocabulary, listening and narrative skills through discussion of key thematic images and the retelling, creating and summarising of stories. During the latter half of the programme, phonological awareness and letter-sound knowledge activities are also introduced as a foundation for early literacy skills.
An independent evaluation based on a large-scale randomised controlled trial by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) found that NELI boosts the language skills of four- and five-year olds by an additional three months.
The Nuffield Early Language Intervention has been proven effective at improving children’s oral language skills, which are essential for building the foundations of literacy and learning. Children in over a third of primary schools will benefit from this intervention in the current school year and we welcome the additional investment from the Department for Education, which will increase the number of schools who are able to provide additional support to children most at risk from falling behind in their learning.Josh Hillman, Director of Education
