An evaluation of the national rollout of NELI to Reception-aged children across England shows “solid evidence” of narrowing the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children.
The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) published its final evaluation of NELI at-scale in September 2023. This analysis is the culmination of almost 20 years of rigorous trials underpinned by high-quality research. It finds that four-and five-year-olds who received the targeted oral language intervention made an additional four months’ progress in language skills, compared to those who did not receive it. Children receiving free school meals benefited the most, with a seven-month boost to their language skills.
The study, which was carried out by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), looked at data from 10,800 children in 350 schools who registered for the second year of the national rollout (2021-22).
Josh Hillman, Director of Education at the Nuffield Foundation, which funded the original development and evaluation of NELI in 2009 and has been involved in shaping and developing the programme ever since, says that the “extraordinary” results show the power of “grounding programme design in high-quality research”.
It’s a long, cumulative process to adapt, refine and implement a programme at-scale that started out as an academic study based on developmental psychological science. But it pays off to be patient and stick with a programme that has promise. It’s rare to see an intervention operating at scale with such solid evidence for narrowing the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children.Josh Hillman, Director, Education
NELI in action
NELI is a 20-week oral language intervention programme delivered to four-and-five-year-olds in Reception classes by trained teaching assistants. Children with the weakest language skills receive well-designed individual and small-group language sessions.
It was offered to all state-funded schools in England with Reception classes across three academic years (2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23) with £17 million worth of Government catch-up funding. Over 6,500 school registered to take part in the first year, while a further 4,000 signed up across the second and third years.
Evidence of its effectiveness has been acquired through rigorous randomised controlled trials – the gold standard for measuring the effectiveness of an intervention – dating back to 2010.
Sarah Tillotson, early years lead at EEF, which has funded three impact evaluations and two process evaluations of the national scale-up, says that NELI is not just an “evidence-informed intervention”, it is a programme, that through several impact evaluations has “consistently evidenced” it can improve children’s oral language skills.
As a further testament to the success of the programme, the Department for Education (DfE) has committed to a fourth year of funding for all schools that have previously registered to deliver NELI. This will allow them free access to programme resources, accredited training and support to deliver the programme for the academic year 2023-24.
On a visit to Southwark Park Primary School in south London, to showcase the latest EEF report and the findings, Children and families minister, David Johnston, says that high quality language development is “crucial” to make sure children are ready for school and to improve their life chances.
“The big impact this programme is having is clear, and I am pleased that we will now be funding it for another year,” he adds.
Challenges and rollout
The speed and scale at which NELI was rolled out is testament to the “power of collaboration”, and the “hard work of schools” who delivered the programme under the challenging conditions of Covid-19, explains professor Becky Francis CBE, chief executive of the EEF.
Referring to the latest national evaluation she says, “It’s a great example of how evidence can be successfully scaled and mobilised to address a real and pressing need.” The intervention scored a moderate to high security rating of 3 out of 5 on the EEF padlock scale. Padlock ratings are designed to give an at-a glance indication of how reliable findings are.
The Nuffield Foundation and the EEF oversaw the rollout of the first and second years of delivery of the programme, with a team based at Oxford University and other partners. “We’ve worked with the EEF to find ways to complement each other’s different approaches, to the point where it’s become an almost seamless partnership,” Josh says.
Meanwhile, NELI has consistently proven its effectiveness in boosting young children’s language development, even throughout the pandemic when absences linked to the virus “limited staff time and capacity”.
Around half of the second cohort of schools surveyed in the EEF’s March 2023 evaluation of the first two years of the NELI rollout (those that started receiving NELI in Reception in 2021-22) completed the full 20 weeks during the second year.
“It’s an intense programme,” explains Josh. “It requires around four to five hours a week of dedicated staff time and it was a huge challenge for some schools to follow the programme with fidelity during the pandemic, particularly with such high levels of staff and pupil absence. But as with all programmes that genuinely have an effect on pupil outcomes, there is no magic bullet,” he adds.
Although the research shows that the impact of NELI is greater for children who receive more programme sessions, there are still positive language outcomes for children who receive fewer sessions.
History of the project
The first academic study that informed the original design of NELI was undertaken in 2007 by Professor Margaret Snowling, Dr Claudine Bowyer-Crane and Professor Charles Hulme, who were based at the University of York at the time.
The Nuffield Foundation then commissioned a team of researchers from the Universities of Oxford, Sheffield and York to develop an evidenced-based oral language intervention for children in nursery and Reception who were at risk of experiencing difficulty with reading.
The first randomised controlled trial of a 30-week programme, which took place between 2009 and 2012, involved 15 schools and feeder nurseries across Yorkshire. It was found to improve expressive language skills, including the use of vocabulary and grammar, and improve letter-sound knowledge and spelling.
An efficacy trial, funded by the EEF in 2014, followed. It looked at the impact of two versions of the programme: a 30-week programme that started in the final term of nursery and continued in Reception, and a 20-week programme, delivered in Reception only.
Both had a “positive effect” on children’s language skills in the 350 children in 34 schools that tested them, with children in the 30-week programme making four months’ additional progress and those in the 20-week programme making two months’ progress. The evaluation also followed up children six months later and found that the gains in language skills were maintained.
Delivery of NELI
The EEF published its first independent evaluation of the 20-week version of NELI on 1,156 pupils in 193 schools in May 2020, which found that children receiving NELI made the equivalent of three additional months’ progress in language skills, on average, compared to children who did not receive NELI. This trial has high security rating of 5 out of 5 on the EEF padlock scale. It was delivered by the University of Oxford in partnership with Elklan, which delivers training in speech, language and communication.
A spin out company, OxEd and Assessment, founded by professors Hulme and Snowling, was formed to support the delivery of NELI.
Professor Hulme, co-author of NELI, says that the programme uses techniques that speech and language therapists have been using for years. “We’ve tried to systematise it, put it in a ‘can’ and give it to schools,” he explains.
More than 25,000 teachers and teaching assistants have received online training, allowing them to deliver the 20 weeks of support to those pupils needing it. Children are assessed through LanguageScreen, an app developed by OxEd, which helps identify those with the weakest language skills.
A long-term licencing arrangement is in place with the Nuffield Foundation and OxEd to roll out NELI across UK nations and internationally. A US version of LanguageScreen is due to be launched imminently. Professor Hulme and his team are also developing a “whole class” companion to NELI, which will be delivered by a teacher alongside the NELI intervention.
Benefits of educational interventions
Longer-term analysis from the EEF, undertaken by RAND Europe and published in Autumn 2022, finds that many of the benefits of taking part in NELI remain when children are six or seven. The programme added an estimated two months of progress across early word reading, reading comprehension, reading fluency and early language, the report says.
Josh says that there is “potential for further research”, particularly in terms of the longer-term effects on pupils who have been through the intervention. “It’s data rich. The pupils are identified on the national pupil database, and we know which schools took part,” he adds.
For the Nuffield Foundation, an independent charitable trust which funds research that informs social policy, NELI fits with its mission to advance educational opportunities and social wellbeing.
“Children involved in NELI are now four months ahead of where they would have been without the programme,” Josh says. “And language skills of disadvantaged pupils have been boosted by seven months. This demonstrates real, on-the-ground impact.”
This is undoubtedly cause for celebration, and the Nuffield Foundation is steadfast in its commitment to fund research that improves life chances.
We are funding other intervention projects in numeracy, literacy and social emotional development. Our hope is that over time, they will impact children’s development to the same extent as NELI, and have a positive effect on the children that need it the most.Josh Hillman, Director, Education
Projects similar to NELI
Completed:
Talking Time ©: Oral language programme involving 36 nursery and primary schools in areas of deprivation. Randomised controlled trial shows the programme had a “positive impact” on targeted expressive vocabulary.
Talking Together: Trained language development workers conduct six-week home visits to families of two-year-olds in Bradford. Programme “shows promise” in improving parent and child outcomes.
“The One” Programme: Numeracy and executive function trial shows “knowledge gains for early years practitioners” and “preliminary evidence” of improved early numeracy, particularly for disadvantaged children.
In progress:
Movement and storytelling intervention for Reception children (Nottingham Trent University and Coventry University)
Improving early mathematical skills by supporting home learning (Ulster University and Sheffield University)
Recently commissioned:
Developing a classroom intervention to improve conversation skills (Manchester University, UCL, Kent University, Sheffield University)
