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Theme(s): Inclusion, Early Years
Can Instructional and Emotional support in the Key Stage 1 classroom
make a difference for children at risk of school failure?
Authors:
Hamre, B. K. and Pianta, R. C. (2005) University of Virginia
Publisher:
Child Development 76 (5), pp. 949-967
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How can teachers effectively support pupils who are at risk of school failure?
Previous research has found that:
 pupils considered to be at risk of failing to start school behind their peers and
the gap increases by the time they are aged 7; and
 pupils identified as having higher risk of difficulties with attention, behaviour,
social skills and academic competence showed higher levels of conflict with
their teachers at age 7.
This study examined the ways in which everyday classroom processes may help
alter the trajectories for pupils considered to be at risk of failing by considering a
group of 910 pupils taken from 747 primary schools across the United States of
America.
The researchers found that pupils identified as being at risk of school failure were
more likely than other pupils to benefit from placement in classrooms offering high
levels of teaching and emotional support, and that placement in high quality
classrooms helped close the gap between these pupils and their low risk peers,
particularly in the early grades. The consistency of good teaching and emotional
support was found to be critical to the success of the pupils.
Keywords:
USA; Key stage 1; Primary schools; Pupils; Classroom environment; Classroom
management; Social skills; Individual needs; Inclusion; Whole class teaching.
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Contents
How were pupils identified as being at risk of school failure?
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What difference can instructional and emotional support make for pupils who
are at risk of school failure?
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What took place in supportive classrooms?
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How was the study designed?
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What are the implications?
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Where can I find out more?
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How were pupils identified as being at risk of school failure?
The researchers identified pupils as being at risk of school failure if they showed one
or both of two types of risk:


demographic risk; and/or
functional risk.
Demographic risk was defined prior to a child entering school and was based on
family and other demographic factors thought to place pupils at a risk of school
failure. The researchers identified low maternal education as one of the most robust
indicators of this risk as pupils were less likely to have been exposed to frequent and
rich language and literacy stimulation in the home. For the purpose of this study
pupils were placed in the high demographic risk if their mother’s level of education
was less than a four year college degree (equivalent to A-levels in England).
Functional risk was recognised in pupils who demonstrated early difficulties with
attention, behaviour, social skills and academic competence and was measured in
the following ways:
 sustained attention was measured by getting pupils to push a button every
time a target stimulus, such as the letter X, appeared and recording the
number of errors, measured when the pupils were 54 months of age;
 behaviour was measured by asking teachers (of pupils aged four to six years)
to rate a list of 100 problem behaviours relating to aggression, attention and
classroom disruption, as not true, somewhat true or very true for each child;
 academic competence was measured by asking teachers (of pupils aged four
to six years) to judge specific learning behaviours such as overall academic
performance and motivation against a five point scale; and
 social skills were measured by teachers (of pupils aged four to six years)
considering pupils’ cooperation, self assertion and self control.
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What difference can instructional and emotional support make for pupils who
are at risk of school failure?
The researchers found that pupils identified as being at risk of school failure at ages
five and six on average displayed lower levels of achievement at age seven when
compared with their low risk peers.
Researchers found that the achievement gap between pupils identified as being at
risk of school failure and their peers reduced when:
 pupils whose mothers had lower levels of education, were placed in
classrooms offering high levels of instructional support in their first year of
school; and
 pupils who demonstrated difficulties with attention, behaviour, social skills and
academic competence at age five were placed in classrooms offering high
levels of emotional support in their first year of school.
The study found that pupils who were identified as having a high functional risk at
ages five and six were more likely to develop poor relationships with their teachers
and experience conflict than their peers by the time they were seven. However
when these pupils were part of a classroom which offered high levels of emotional
support their experience of conflict was similar to that of their peers.
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What took place in supportive classrooms?
School based prevention and intervention strategies increasingly aim to improve the
social and emotional climate of classrooms in order to enhance pupils’ social and
behavioural development.
Classrooms were considered to offer high quality instructional support when:
 teachers made frequent and effective use of literacy instruction including
reading, phonics and comprehension;
 there was a high quality of verbal feedback focused on pupils’ learning,
development of understanding and personal improvement; and
 pupils were taking increased responsibility for their own learning by, for
example, offering solutions, and managing resources.
Classrooms were considered to offer high emotional support when teachers:
 were aware of and responsive to individual pupils’ needs, moods, interests
and capabilities;
 set clear expectations in the classroom and developed routines which
children understood; and
 created a positive classroom climate in which teachers and pupils enjoyed
each other and their time in the classroom.
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How was the study designed?
This study followed pupils who had been identified at ages five and six as being at
risk of school failure. The researchers examined whether the classroom environment
to which they were exposed had made any difference to these risks by the time the
children reached the age of seven.
Researchers examined the following outcomes:
 pupils’ achievement - measured through a series of tests which included long
term and short term memory, auditory processing (the ability to identify
incomplete words presented orally such as ba_e as baby), and
comprehensive knowledge and skills, including reading and maths.
 student teacher relationships - assessed by asking teachers to rate how they
perceived their relationship with a particular pupil, focussing on the degree of
negative emotions and interactions between them; and
 classroom process - measured through classroom observations carried out
for each pupil in their second year of school which were rated for emotional
climate, effective classroom management, literacy instruction, use of
evaluative feedback, and instructional conversation.
The sample was a part of the National Institute for Health and Human Development
(NICHD) Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. The pupils’ mothers
were recruited from hospitals during their pregnancy, and a random subgroup, of
1364 families, was selected to be involved in this study. 910 pupils for whom there
was a complete set of data were included in the final sample and were spread across
747 different schools. The pupils in the sample were predominantly white, equally
divided between girls and boys and did not come from economically deprived
backgrounds. Of the sample:
 27% of these pupils had mothers with less than a four year college degree or
less than English A-Levels and were identified as high demographic risk; and
 11% of pupils had difficulties with attention, behaviour, social skills and
academic competence and were identified as high functional risk.
In order to provide a robust test the researchers adjusted the data to take into
account children’s scores at age 4 ½.
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Implications
In completing this digest the authors began to ask the following questions about
implications for practitioners:

the study reported that the achievement gap between pupils from families
with low maternal education and their peers was significantly reduced when
these pupils were in classrooms with high instructional or teaching support:
Implication for teachers:
o how do you ensure that the feedback offered to pupils focuses on their
specific areas of need? How could you develop strategies to ensure
that you are focusing on their understanding in addition to their factual
knowledge?
Implication for school leaders:
o how do you ensure that your school identifies pupils at risk of failure or
behavioural dysfunction early on in their education? What additional
support do you provide to help staff to develop their skills in
recognising these pupils so that they can offer them the appropriate
support to succeed?

the study found that pupils who were identified as having difficulties with their
attention, behaviour, social skills and academic competence were more likely
to develop poor relationships with their teachers:
Implication for teachers:
o how could you ensure that these pupils receive the amount of
emotional support they need in order to develop their social skills, and
develop more positive relationships with their teachers? Would pupils
benefit from lessons that focussed on specific social skills like
communication?
Implication for school leaders:
o could you work with teachers in your school to share the strategies
used to offer emotional support within the classroom? Could peer
coaching for both teachers and pupils help you to develop these
strategies further through the use of observation and reflection?
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Where can I find out more?
A digest which considers how the long-term contribution of early childhood education
to children's performance:
http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/research/themes/early_years/WedMar2412011020
04/
A digest which considers whether schools counteract early performance differences
between children from different social backgrounds:
http://www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/research/themes/early_years/ThuApr22102048200
4/
For a more detailed summary of research that investigated the impact of pre-school
provision in England on children’s intellectual, social and behavioural development at
ages five and seven:
http://www.gtce.org.uk/PolicyAndResearch/research/ROMtopics/childrens_schooling/
The Sure Start website offers practitioners links to resources and research about
early years education. http://www.surestart.gov.uk/
Pianta, R. C. et al. (2002) The relation of kindergarten classroom environment to
teacher, family and school characteristics and chid outcomes. Elementary School
Journal 102, 225-238.