Professor of Economic Evaluation at the University of Westminster. Empirical labour market research.

Using Research Tools to Improve Language in the Early Years

[ education-and-training  randomised-trial  ]

The URLEY programme trains early years teachers to improve children’s language and social-behavioural outcomes in Nursery and Reception Year (ages 3 to 5). Teachers take part in 5 day-long professional development workshops in which they are introduced to a set of evidence-based language learning principles, taught how to use these and a range of research tools (primarily the Environment Rating Scales (ERS)) to assess their practice, and provided with strategies for refining practice. Mentors support teachers to implement the approach in their schools. The programme was evaluated using a randomised trial of 120 primary schools and tested the impact of the URLEY programme on children’s language development over two years.

Outputs

Wright, H., Carr, D., Wiese, J., Stokes, L., Runge, J., Dorsett, R., Heal, J. and Anders, J. (2020) URLEY Education Endowment Foundation evaluation report

Funder

Education Endowment Foundation