Brief No: RB489
October 2003
ISBN 1 84478 118 6
THE EFFECTS OF THE PEERS EARLY EDUCATION PARTNERSHIP
(PEEP) ON CHILDREN’S DEVELOPMENTAL PROGRESS
Maria Evangelou and Kathy Sylva
Department of Educational Studies, University of Oxford
Introduction
This Briefing reports on an evaluation of the Peers Early Education Partnership (PEEP), a programme for parents
of three and four-year old children which is now known as Foundation PEEP.
The first part of the study reported here was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC),
which took place from 1998 to 2000, and followed the children’s development from age 3 to age 4. The second
part of the study was funded by the Department for Education and Employment (now the Department for
Education and Skills, DfES). It took place from 2000 to 2001 and followed the same children’s development
from age 4 to age 5.
Key Findings
Children whose parents participated in PEEP made significantly greater progress in their learning than children
whose parents did not participate. These gains were found in the 3-5 years age range in the following areas of
intellectual development:




vocabulary
language comprehension
understanding about books and print
number concepts
In addition, children whose parents participated in PEEP had higher self esteem than comparable children whose
parents did not participate. The areas of self esteem influenced by parental participation in the programme
were:


feelings relating to cognitive competence
feelings relating to physical competence
Introduction to PEEP
There are now many types of programmes for parents: home-visiting, mother-toddler clubs, child behaviour
management, and the latest on stress management in families. Most aim to bring about some change in parenting
which will lead to better developmental outcomes for their children. PEEP is one such programme for parents
and their children aged 0-5, initially developed in an economically deprived area of Oxford but now expanding
throughout Britain. (For a short description of PEEP see www.peep.org.uk). PEEP is available to all parents of
children aged 0-5 in the PEEP area. There is a structured curriculum for each age-group which is based on
specific curricular areas such as ‘listening’, ‘talking’,
‘numeracy’ and ‘self-esteem’.
Each week the
curriculum for parents includes specific books,
rhymes, songs and activities. The activities are
implemented in group sessions for parents and
children led by a PEEP Leader and Assistant;
sessions include talk time for just parents and PEEP
leaders. Groups usually take place in pre-school
settings. Parents are given a curriculum folder with
suggestions for activities at home, and can borrow
books and activity packs between sessions.
The research which is summarised here focused on
the developmental progress of a group of children
aged 3 to age 5 whose parents participated in PEEP
compared to that of matched children whose
parents lived in a similar disadvantaged community
in which PEEP was not available. The main research
question was: Do the children whose parents have
participated in the PEEP programme make greater
developmental progress than matched children
whose parents have not participated in PEEP?
Methods
Design: This evaluation was based on a quasiexperimental design. A quasi-experiment is a study
in which two or more groups of individuals are
compared to investigate the effect of an
intervention (or treatment) on the individual. When
the design is quasi rather than pure experiment the
individuals are not assigned randomly to groups but
are matched on characteristics thought to be
related to the outcomes. Children and families were
recruited in two comparable areas of economic
deprivation in Oxfordshire. The only difference
between the two groups of children was that the
parents of one group (the intervention group) had
participated in PEEP (weekly group meetings,
colourful books, games and tapes to use at home)
while the other group (the comparison group) had no
intervention.
The children in each group were similar in age and
other characteristics including their language and
thinking skills. This is an important feature because
the group without the intervention acts as a
‘control’ on what the PEEP children might have been
like if their parents had not participated.
Sample: At the start, 159 children and families
were recruited into the study when the children
were three years old. When the children started
school two years later aged 5 years 149 children
remained (4% attrition).
Almost every family
invited to join the study did so, ensuring that the
children and their families in the two groups were
similar to others in their communities.
Child Assessments: When children entered the
study (N [number] = 73 in the intervention group
and N = 86 in the comparison group) they were
assessed on a number of measures:
Verbal
Comprehension; Vocabulary; Non-verbal Skills;
Writing Sample and Social-emotional development.
This was the ‘pre-test’ which sets a baseline for
measuring development from age 3 to age 5.
At the mid-point of the evaluation, age 4, all
children were assessed on similar measures. When
children entered school at age 5 (N= 64 in the
intervention group and N = 85 in the comparison
group), they were assessed on the following
measures: Phonological Awareness (Rhyme and
Alliteration);
Verbal
Comprehension;
Writing
Sample; Vocabulary; Letter Knowledge (Upper and
lower case); Concepts about Print; Early Number
Concepts; Social-emotional development, and Selfesteem (Cognitive and Physical Competence,
Maternal and Peer Acceptance).
Procedures: All children were assessed by a trained
researcher in their pre-school or school. The
measures were well known for their reliability and
validity (Sylva, 1999). Parents gave written consent
for their children to participate in the study and all
agreed to be interviewed about their home
circumstances, their parenting, and the child’s
health and family history.
To ensure that children in the two communities
were receiving pre-school education of similar
quality, interviews with the children’s pre-school
leaders were carried out to investigate the
qualifications, staff-child ratios, pedagogy and
resources of the pre-schools attended by both the
‘intervention’ and also the ‘comparison’ children. No
differences were found in quality. The quality of
playgroups and nursery classes was compared in the
PEEP and comparison area, in order to investigate
whether differences in pre-school quality could
account for any developmental differences found
between the two groups.
Results
Discussion
This study was designed to find the ‘value added’ to
children’s
development
by
their
parents
participating in a programme aimed at enhancing
their skills and knowledge as first educators, and
their own confidence as parents.
This evaluation study has shown that parental
participation in PEEP when their children were 3-5
years
old
was
associated
with
greater
developmental progress for their children. This
progress related not only to aspects of their
literacy and numeracy, but also to their self esteem.
PEEP children felt more competent – cognitively and
physically – than the comparison group. Given that
the children in the intervention and comparison
groups were closely matched and had comparable
levels of development when aged 3 at the start of
the study, and that the quality of pre-schools was
similar in both areas, we can conclude that it is very
likely that the differences between the two groups
of children at the end of the study can be
attributed to the PEEP programme.
Statistical analysis:
As it had not been possible to randomly assign the
children and families to either the comparison or
intervention groups at the start of the study, any
background variables on which the two groups had
varied at the outset were entered into the analysis
as co-variates.
No differences were found in
attainment between the two groups of children at
the beginning of the study. Thus, any differences
between groups of children at the end of the study
could be attributed to PEEP, and their parents’
participation in PEEP.
Effect of PEEP on children:
After one year of parental participation in the PEEP
programme for the 3-year-olds, children in the
PEEP group had made significantly greater gains in
the following areas of development: Language and
Literacy
(Verbal
Comprehension,
Vocabulary,
Phonological Awareness, Concepts about Print,
Writing), Numeracy (Early Number Concepts) and
Self-esteem (Maternal Acceptance).
After two years of parental participation, children
in the PEEP group were ahead of their matched
(non-PEEP) peers in the following areas: Language
and Literacy (Verbal Comprehension, Vocabulary and
Concepts about print); Numeracy (Early Number
Concepts) and Self-esteem (Cognitive and Physical
Competence).
Finally, the effect of PEEP was still apparent in
children’s development two years after parents had
started participating in the programme. The gains
were: Language and Literacy (Verbal Comprehension,
Vocabulary and knowledge of upper case letters)
and
Self-esteem
(Cognitive
and
Physical
Competence).
For a detailed description of the analysis and
results please see the full report published by the
DfES (Evangelou & Sylva, 2003).
What are the aspects of the PEEP programme which
might explain the greater progress of children
whose parents attended it? Some of the ways
parents learn to support their children with literacy
are described below.
During the weekly group sessions the leaders model
for parents different ways of sharing books with
their three and four year old children. Parents
learn to pay particular attention to: varying the
tone of voice, reading the title of the story and the
names of the authors and illustrators, following the
text with their finger, asking questions about the
storyline, linking the book to the child’s first-hand
experience, and linking the book to songs or games.
Approximately 70 songs and rhymes are offered in
the PEEP curriculum for three year olds; and
parents and children discover together the pleasure
of sounds in language. As well as relating to
children’s literacy outcome, these aspects of the
PEEP programme are also among those which
contribute to children’s understanding of their own
competence.
Two extracts follow from PEEP’s “Learning
Together With Threes” curriculum, which emphasise
the contribution of everyday talk to children’s
development.
From the Spring season, “Talking with children”:
“One way children learn to think about things and
find out more about the world is through talking.
Children are full of questions (although they may
not always ask them). At times, they really need an
answer from us, but often they can find out their
own answers. When a child asks a question, it can
help to think about what he/she really wants.
Sometimes a child might need attention or help,
rather than an answer to the question. Talking with
children can really help their learning.”
15 Norham Gardens
Oxford OX2 6PY
From the Summer season, “Things to Talk About”:
“Parents and carers can offer lots of opportunities
for children’s talking. Children get better and
better at talking, when they have lots of things to
talk about. They need someone to talk with who
listens, joins in and tries to understand. Going out,
having picnics and making books together are three
good opportunities to encourage talking.”
Additional Information
Using a quasi-experimental design, this evaluation
has shown the positive impact of PEEP on children’s
literacy, numeracy and self esteem.
It has
demonstrated through rigorous evaluation that
supporting parents as first educators through the
PEEP programme has significant developmental
outcomes for their children. Further research
studies are now needed to tease out which
components of the PEEP programme are responsible
for these impacts on different aspects of children’s
development.
References
Evangelou, M. and Sylva K. (2003). The Effects of
the Peers Early Education Partnership (PEEP) on
Children’s Developmental Progress. London: DfES
Evangelou, M (2001). Evaluation of the Effects of
Pre-school Intervention on Literacy Development in
Children D.Phil thesis, University of Oxford
Sylva et al (1999). An Introduction to the EPPE
project London, DfEE and Institute of Education,
University of London
Author contact information and web sites for
PEEP and FELL Research Group
Dr Maria Evangelou
maria.evangelou@edstud.ox.ac.uk
Professor Kathy Sylva
kathy.sylva@edstud.ox.ac.uk
University of Oxford
Department of Educational Studies
http://www.peep.org.uk/
http://www.edstud.ox.ac.uk/FELL/FELL.htm
Copies of the full report (RR489) - priced £4.95 are available by writing to DfES Publications, PO
Box 5050, Sherwood Park, Annesley, Nottingham
NG15 0DJ.
Cheques should be made payable to “DfES Priced
Publications”.
Copies of this Research Brief (RB489) are available
free of charge from the above address (tel: 0845
60 222 60). Research Briefs and Research Reports
can also be accessed at www.dfes.gov.uk/research/
Further information about this research can be
obtained from Gail Windrass, L2, DfES, Caxton
House, Tothill Street, London SW1H 9NA.
Email gail.windrass@dfes.gsi.gov.uk
The views expressed in this report are the authors’
and do not necessarily reflect those of the
Department for Education and Skills