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MORE SUPPORT FOR PARENTS TO GIVE CHILDREN THE BEST START IN LIFE – HODGE
20 October 2003
Young children whose parents were involved in their learning had better language skills and were more numerate than those who parents weren’t, according to new research published today by the Department for Education and Skills at the start of Parents Week.
The research found that children aged three to five whose parents participated in their early education through the Peers Early Education Partnership (PEEP) achieved systematically 5 percentage points more in language comprehension than those who didn’t. Similarly their scores on numbers were higher by 7.67 percentage points.
The research supports evidence presented in a report by Charles De Forges which shows that good parenting in the home can make over a 10% difference to children’s outcomes at school. Launching a range of new resources to provide parents with support and information, Children, Young People and Families Minister Margaret Hodge will today say:“Young children whose parents understand how to help their children’s education do better at school. They can speak and count better than those whose parents don’t. Simple things, like regularly reading to babies, make the world of difference.“The role of parents can be more important than that of the teacher. We would not be carrying out our public duties properly, if we were to ignore the clear evidence that good parenting is vital to improving children’s life chances. “The bringing together of children and family policy into one department and the creation of a new Children, Young People and Families Minister enables us to provide much better support to parents to help them give their children the best start in life.“We are putting in place extra help to support parents. The new parent centre website along with new information guides, launched today, will provide all the information parents need to help their child learn. I am also pleased to announce that we are funding Book Start, which provides a pack including high quality baby books to new parents.“Our new Children’s Green Paper sets out how we will improve the universal services that every family use and provide more targeted support to families that need it. It signals a fundamental change, making clear we expect services to be built and delivered around the needs of children and families. This will only be done by listening and consulting directly with children, young people and their parents.”
Editor's Notes
This press notice relates to England
• Margaret Hodge will be speaking at The National Family and Parenting Institute’s reception to launch their Family Friendly Campaign on Monday October 20th at the House of Commons. • The Effects of the Peers Early Education Partnership (PEEP) on children’s development progress reported on the effect was published today by the Department for Education and Skills. It followed the development of children aged three to five, whose parents were involved in their education through the PEEP programme. • The research found that children whose parents participated in PEEP made significantly greater progress than children whose parents did not participate. The gains were found in vocabulary, language comprehension, understanding about books and print and number concepts. The advantage shown in the scores of the intervention children was over and beyond any gender and age effects. Family characteristics and children’s scores prior to the intervention were also taken into account. The report is available at www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RR489.doc and the brief is available at www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/data/uploadfiles/RB489.doc• The evaluation of the PEEP programmes is supported by the finding of other research on the effects of parent’s involvement in their children’s education. The Desforges research showed that parental involvement had a significant effect on pupil achievement throughout their schooling. It is available at: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/research/programmeofresearch/projectinformation.cfm?projectId=13862&type=5&resultspage=1• A new parents website was launched today. It provides all the information parents need about the education system in England and support for parents in helping their child to learn. It is available at www.parentcentre.gov.uk • The Learning Journey guides for parents to the National Curriculum are available free from Prolog 0845 6022260. They cover the age ranges 3 – 7 ( Foundation Stage and KS1), 7 – 11 ( KS2) and 11 – 16 ( KS3 and KS4) providing information about what children learn at school, answers to commonly asked questions and learning tips for parents to do with their children at home.• A series of Leaflets for parents are also available free from Prolog. The Help Your Child to Learn series covers – Making the Most of Parents’ Evenings, Formal Meetings with Teachers, Getting the most from School reports, Making the most of time with your child and How is your child doing at school• “If this were my child – a councillor’s guide to being a good corporate parent” will be launched on October 22nd. • The Sure Start Unit, which brings together childcare, early years and family support, is committed to transform opportunities and services for children and families, particularly the most vulnerable, to give all children a sure start in life. The Sure Start budget rises to £1.5 billon by 2005-06. This includes a doubling of previous money for childcare. • The Sure Start Unit is funding Bookstart programme for the financial year 2004-5 to provide a pack including high quality baby books to all new parents. The pack is distributed by health visitors and librarians. The booklet is produced in 14 community languages. Bookstart is administered by the charity and is working in partnership with public libraries across the UK.• Sure Start local programmes are undertaking a number of activities and services to support parental involvement in children’s learning such as toy libraries, speech and language therapy groups and Book Start. A list of examples I attached.
Contact Details
Public Enquiries 0870 000 2288, info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk
Press Notice 2003/0209
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