Learning Together Programme - Foundation PEEP 3s level
Note on provider involvement: This provider has agreed to EIF’s terms of reference, and the assessment has been conducted and published with the full cooperation of the programme provider.
The PEEP Learning Together Programme by Peeple is for parents with a child between birth and age five. PEEP for 3s is for parents with children between the ages of three and four.
The programme consists of five age-specific curricula delivered by PEEP-trained practitioners for 33 weeks during school term time. Each curriculum teaches parents age-specific skills for supporting their children’s early learning and social and emotional development.
The programme content aims to improve five strands of child development: children’s personal, social and emotional development; communication and language; early literacy development; early numeracy development; and health and physical development. All sessions include talk time, songs and rhymes, sharing books and stories, and things for families to try at home. The content of the sessions is based on the ORIM framework (developed by Peter Hannon and Cathy Nutbrown at the University of Sheffield) to support children’s early literacy.
EIF Programme Assessment
Learning Together Programme - Foundation PEEP 3s level has preliminary evidence of improving a child outcome, but we cannot be confident that the programme caused the improvement.
What does the evidence rating mean?
Level 2 indicates that the programme has evidence of improving a child outcome from a study involving at least 20 participants, representing 60% of the sample, using validated instruments.
This programme does not receive a rating of 3 as its best evidence is not from a rigorously conducted RCT or QED evaluation.
What does the plus mean?
The plus rating indicates that a programme’s best available evidence is based on an evaluation that is more rigorous than a level 2 standard but does not meet the criteria for level 3.
A rating of 1 indicates that a programme has a low cost to set up and deliver, compared with other interventions reviewed by EIF. This is equivalent to an estimated unit cost of less than £100.
Child outcomes
According to the best available evidence for this programme's impact, it can achieve the following positive outcomes for children:
Supporting children's mental health and wellbeing
Enhancing school achievement & employment
Learning Together Programme - Foundation PEEP 3s level
Key programme characteristics
Who is it for?
The best available evidence for this programme relates to the following age-groups:
- Preschool
How is it delivered?
The best available evidence for this programme relates to implementation through these delivery models:
- Group
Where is it delivered?
The best available evidence for this programme relates to its implementation in these settings:
- Children's centre or early-years setting
The programme may also be delivered in these settings:
- Home
- Community centre
How is it targeted?
The best available evidence for this programme relates to its implementation as:
- Targeted selective
Where has it been implemented?
Australia, England, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Scotland, Wales
UK provision
This programme has been implemented in the UK.
UK evaluation
This programme’s best evidence includes evaluation conducted in the UK.
Spotlight sets
EIF does not currently include this programme within any Spotlight set.
Learning Together Programme - Foundation PEEP 3s level
About the programme
What happens during delivery?
How is it delivered?
- Foundation PEEP 3s level is delivered by two early childhood professionals (QCF-3) to groups of eight families.
- Foundation PEEP 3s level is delivered in 33 sessions of one-hour duration.
What happens during the intervention?
- Foundation PEEP teaches parents age-specific skills for supporting their children’s early learning and social and emotional development. All sessions include talk time, songs and rhymes, sharing books and stories, and things for families to try at home. The content of the sessions is based on the ORIM framework (developed by Peter Hannon and Cathy Nutbrown at the University of Sheffield) to support children’s early literacy.
- Sessions two to four focus on helping children to learn – parents learn to give children opportunities and chances to do things, parents learn to recognise when children have learned something new, parents learn how to help their children learn by doing activities together, and by modelling (ie being an example).
- Sessions five to seven focus on helping parents learn to listen to children and to help children to listen carefully themselves, and say the things they want to say.
- Sessions 8 to 10 focus on numeracy by playing games together and having fun with numbers.
- Sessions 13 to 15 focus on how children feel about themselves and how it is important for learning.
- Sessions 16 to 18 focus on helping parents to learn to talk to their children in a way which helps their learning (ie thinking about what a child really wants when they ask a question).
- Sessions 19 to 21 focus on numeracy, helping parents to learn about how to talk to their child about matching one thing with another, about sizes and amounts, groups of things, and the words we use to describe the position of things.
- Sessions 24 to 26 focus on helping parents to learn how an awareness of play patterns makes a difference to children’s learning and confidence, and how to make the most of play patterns.
- Sessions 27 to 29 focus on helping parents to help children’s developing language by offering lots of opportunities for children’s talking, as well as to listen, join in, and to try to understand.
- Sessions 30 to 32 focus on numeracy, helping parents to help their children develop a sense of order, as knowing what comes next helps children feel secure and helps with their later understanding of science and maths.
What are the implementation requirements?
Who can deliver it?
- The programme is delivered by two practitioners who work with families with children under five, with QCF-3 level qualifications.
What are the training requirements?
- The practitioners have 14 hours of programme training. Booster training of practitioners is not required.
How are the practitioners supervised?
- It is not required that practitioners receive supervision.
What are the systems for maintaining fidelity?
- Training manual
- Other printed material
- Other online material
- Face-to-face training
- Accreditation or certification process
Is there a licensing requirement?
There is no licence required to run this programme.
How does it work? (Theory of Change)
How does it work?
- Foundation PEEP is based on the assumption that parental engagement and active participation in learning is important for children’s early social, emotional and cognitive development.
- During the course of Foundation PEEP parents learn age-specific skills for supporting their children’s early learning and social and emotional development; children are involved in activities which promote their development, such as listening, talking, and playing.
- In the short-term, Foundation PEEP aims to improve children’s self-esteem and their positive dispositions to learn (perseverance, curiosity, and confidence).
- In the longer-term, Foundation PEEP aims to improve children’s educational achievement (children’s literacy and numeracy development), as well as children’s pro-social behaviour.
Contact details
Sally Smith
Peeple
[email protected]
Learning Together Programme - Foundation PEEP 3s level
About the evidence
PEEP for 3s is underpinned by two quasi-experimental evaluations, conducted in the UK. One of these studies identified statistically significant positive impact on a number of child outcomes.
- These studies evaluate multiple years of PEEP with the same sample. In study two, the recruited sample was measured and compared first after the participants had attended the earlier levels of PEEP (eg Baby PEEP, PEEP for 1s, PEEP for 2s), and were then measured and compared again after attending PEEP for 3s. This programme report will only describe in detail the findings for PEEP for 3s.
- Findings which involve any given level of PEEP in conjunction with prior levels of PEEP (ie cumulative findings) are noted below, although they do not feed into the rating of any specific level of PEEP (as these findings aren’t attributable to any one level of PEEP).
- A programme receives the same rating as its most robust study, which in this case is the Evangelou & Sylva (2003) study, and so the programme receives a Level 2+ rating overall.
Study 1
| Citation: | Evangelou, M. & Sylva, K. (2003) |
|---|---|
| Design: | QED (samples drawn from matched communities) |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Sample: | 164 participants recruited from playgroups in a disadvantaged PEEP catchment area and a matched comparison area in Oxfordshire |
| Timing: | Post-test |
| Child outcomes: |
Improved self-esteem (maternal acceptance)
Improved verbal comprehension Improved vocabulary Improved writing Improved concepts about print Improved phonological awareness Improved numeracy |
| Other outcomes: | None measured |
| Study rating: | 2+ |
Evangelou, M. & Sylva, K. (2003). The effects of the Peers Early Educational Partnership (PEEP) on Children’s Developmental Progress. DfES Publications.
Study design and sample
The first study is a QED.
This study compared 73 Oxford families attending PEEP groups (for three and four year olds) to 91 families from a demographically matched community where PEEP programmes were not available.
This study was conducted in the UK, with a sample of 164 children recruited from playgroups in a disadvantaged PEEP catchment area and a matched comparison area in Oxfordshire.
Measures
Child verbal comprehension and early number concepts were measured using the British Ability Scales II (direct assessment). Child vocabulary was measured using the British Picture Vocabulary Scale (direct assessment). Child writing, concepts about print, letter recognition (upper case) were measured using Clay (direct assessment). Child phonological awareness (rhyme, alliteration) were measured using the Bryant and Bradley test (direct assessment). Child self-esteem outcomes (cognitive competence, physical competence, maternal acceptance, peer acceptance) were measured using the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence for Young Children (direct assessment). Child social-emotional development outcomes (compliance/conformity, pro-social, confidence/independence, anti-social) were measured using the Adaptive Social Behaviour Inventory (teacher report).
Findings
This study identified statistically significant positive impact on a number of child outcomes.
These include:
- Improved self-esteem (maternal acceptance)
- Improved verbal comprehension
- Improved vocabulary
- Improved concepts about print
- Improved phonological awareness
- Improved numeracy
NB: Cumulative findings - For the sample which participated in both PEEP for 3s and PEEP for 4s, improvements were observed on perceptions of cognitive competence and physical competence.
The conclusions that can be drawn from this study are limited by methodological issues pertaining to non-blind data collection, a lack of clarity in terms of intention-to-treat analysis, and the treatment and comparison groups not being generated by sufficiently robust methods, hence why a higher rating is not achieved.
Study 2
| Citation: | Evangelou, M., Brooks, G., Smith, S., & Jennings, D. (2005) |
|---|---|
| Design: | QED (propensity score matching) |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Sample: | 174 PEEP children living in four disadvantaged PEEP neighbourhoods, and 303 non-PEEP children living in a matched comparison area |
| Timing: | Over 6 years |
| Child outcomes: | |
| Other outcomes: | None measured |
Evangelou, M., Brooks, G., Smith, S., & Jennings, D. (2005). Birth to School Study: A Longitudinal Evaluation of the Peers Early Education Partnership (PEEP).
Available at
http://217.35.77.12/research/england/education/SSU2005FR017.pdf
Study design and sample
The second study is a QED.
This study compared 174 families with a child under age three who attended at least one PEEP programme in the UK, to families with a similarly aged child living in a demographically similar community where PEEP was not available. Propensity score matching was used to match PEEP families with subgroups drawn from a set of families who lived in a nearby comparison area. Children were matched on a one-to-one basis on 10 key demographic characteristics (mother’s age at recruitment; mother’s ethnicity; mother’s level of qualifications; father/partner present; benefits received; family car ownership; number of older siblings; child’s gender; child’s age in days; birth weight in grams).
Measures
Child picture similarities and early numeracy skills were measured using the British Ability Scales II (direct assessment). Child vocabulary was measured using the British Picture Vocabulary Scale (direct assessment). Child phonological awareness (rhyme, alliteration, total phonological awareness) were measured using the Bryant and Bradley test (direct assessment). Child concepts about print and understanding of books and print were measured using the Concepts About Print test (direct assessment). Child writing has been assessed using the Young Children’s Writing Test (direct assessment). Child self-esteem outcomes (maternal acceptance, peer acceptance, social acceptance, total self-esteem) were measured using the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence for Young Children (direct assessment). Child social behaviour (independence & concentration, cooperation & conformity, anti-social behaviour, confidence, peer sociability, peer empathy) were measured using the Adaptive Social Behaviour Inventory (teacher report). Child letter identification was measured using the Clay test (direct assessment).
Findings
This study did not identify statistically significant positive impact on child outcomes when examining progress over this specific year of PEEP.
NB: Cumulative findings - For the sample which participated in both PEEP for 2s and 3s, improvements were observed on vocabulary, phonological awareness, and understanding of books and print. For the sample which participated in PEEP for 2s, 3s and 4s, improvements were observed on vocabulary, phonological awareness and letter recognition and understanding.
The conclusions that can be drawn from this study are limited by methodological issues pertaining to a lack of clarity around attrition, and a lack of clarity in terms of baseline equivalence on pre-test measures of outcome, hence why a higher rating is not achieved.
Published April 2024