Early Learning Abilities Promoting Success in Education (ELAPSE): Findings from the Millennium Cohort Study and directions of a new longitudinal study
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Department Name: Faculty of Education
Abstract
Despite the wide acknowledgment that adverse early life conditions negatively influence cognitive development (e.g. longitudinal UK data Feinstein, 2003; Jerrim & Vignoles, 2013; Schoon, Hope, Ross, & Duckworth, 2010), little is known about how this influence operates and changes over time (Shonkoff & Levitt, 2010). The aim of the proposal is to investigate quantitatively the developmental mechanisms by which children's early learning skills and life conditions result in different later educational outcomes. It has two research strands. The first strand's purpose is conducting secondary analyses of the longitudinal Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) data in order to distinguish children's profiles, examine developmental trajectories, and estimate models of early child development asking specifically how early learning abilities influence school readiness and later educational success. The second strand's goal is undertaking a systematic review and organising a panel of experts in order to inform a feasibility evaluation for a future longitudinal study of early development, with a significant emphasis on the role of self-regulation and play. The intention would be to develop a proposal for an enhancement for the new ESRC birth cohort study, the Life Study.
These two strands will take a child-centred developmental approach and consider children's characteristics across socio-economic backgrounds. The project will inform policy aimed at promoting children's school readiness to reduce later educational disadvantage. Consequently, the proposal targets two of the ESRC's strategic priorities, i.e. influencing behaviours and informing interventions (by understanding the development of learning-related skills) in order to promote a vibrant and fair society (by contributing to the reduction of the educational attainment gap). This is an interdisciplinary initiative bringing together developmental and educational sciences. It makes use of an existing longitudinal database and develops capability in advanced quantitative methods, all of which is encouraged by the ESRC.
Funding this project represents an investment in the career development of young quantitative researcher addressing social issues about child poverty and early education through the understanding of early developmental psychological processes. It involves a rigorous skills development plan and a strong strategy for generating high impact upon academic and non-academic users.
These two strands will take a child-centred developmental approach and consider children's characteristics across socio-economic backgrounds. The project will inform policy aimed at promoting children's school readiness to reduce later educational disadvantage. Consequently, the proposal targets two of the ESRC's strategic priorities, i.e. influencing behaviours and informing interventions (by understanding the development of learning-related skills) in order to promote a vibrant and fair society (by contributing to the reduction of the educational attainment gap). This is an interdisciplinary initiative bringing together developmental and educational sciences. It makes use of an existing longitudinal database and develops capability in advanced quantitative methods, all of which is encouraged by the ESRC.
Funding this project represents an investment in the career development of young quantitative researcher addressing social issues about child poverty and early education through the understanding of early developmental psychological processes. It involves a rigorous skills development plan and a strong strategy for generating high impact upon academic and non-academic users.
Planned Impact
As a researcher I believe in the importance of bringing together real policy issues and critical questions from a scientific perspective to maximise the social impact of science. In my career, I wish to expand my potential to address social issues about child poverty and early education through the scientific understanding of the developmental processes of key cognitive and learning skills. My work capitalises the clear synergy that exists in this field: the more we know about which cognitive skills make a difference and how children develop them, the better we can inform early educational interventions to be effective in overcoming the negative effects of social inequality in children's lives.
My project is focused on understanding the development of key learning-related skills in children; those that make children more likely to do well in school, both in terms of their academic outcomes and socio-emotional experiences. Thus, the ultimate beneficiaries of my line of research are children and the people in charge of providing the experiences that help them develop these fundamental skills for life: their caregivers and educators.
Social policy influences the multiple spheres in which children develop: their family lives, school, public spaces, etc., so I recognise policy-makers as key stakeholders in realising the main purpose of my research. I also recognise and intend to engage with other stakeholders that aim to influence policy regarding children's lives, such as practitioners' organisations, charitable and philanthropic advocates, and other academic colleagues committed to translating scientific research about child development into real change in society.
Different users can benefit from the proposed research in several ways:
a. Children's lives can benefit from better educational practices in the early years to develop important skills to fulfil their potential
b. Caregivers and educators may have better tools for providing effective education in the early years
c. Policy makers may benefit from insights about child development based on scientific evidence that can help them to make effective policies to improve children's lives
d. Practitioners' organisations, charitable and philanthropic advocates, and other academic colleagues may benefit from learning convincing evidence-based narratives about the role of early learning skills, such as play and self-regulation, in children's later achievements
My project is focused on understanding the development of key learning-related skills in children; those that make children more likely to do well in school, both in terms of their academic outcomes and socio-emotional experiences. Thus, the ultimate beneficiaries of my line of research are children and the people in charge of providing the experiences that help them develop these fundamental skills for life: their caregivers and educators.
Social policy influences the multiple spheres in which children develop: their family lives, school, public spaces, etc., so I recognise policy-makers as key stakeholders in realising the main purpose of my research. I also recognise and intend to engage with other stakeholders that aim to influence policy regarding children's lives, such as practitioners' organisations, charitable and philanthropic advocates, and other academic colleagues committed to translating scientific research about child development into real change in society.
Different users can benefit from the proposed research in several ways:
a. Children's lives can benefit from better educational practices in the early years to develop important skills to fulfil their potential
b. Caregivers and educators may have better tools for providing effective education in the early years
c. Policy makers may benefit from insights about child development based on scientific evidence that can help them to make effective policies to improve children's lives
d. Practitioners' organisations, charitable and philanthropic advocates, and other academic colleagues may benefit from learning convincing evidence-based narratives about the role of early learning skills, such as play and self-regulation, in children's later achievements
People |
ORCID iD |
Marisol Basilio Seyler (Principal Investigator) |
Publications

Basilio M
(2016)
How toddlers think with their hands: social and private gestures as evidence of cognitive self-regulation in guided play with objects
in Early Child Development and Care

David Whitebread
(2017)
Developing a Scale of Parental Playfulness

Marisol Basilio
(2017)
A Systematic Literature Review on Measures of Play and Playfulness in 0-3 year olds

Marisol Basilio
(2017)
How Playful are Parents with their Infants: Developing a Parental Playfulness Scale
Description | The systematic review on measures of Play in children aged 0-3 is now complete. We conducted a search and examined 4.252 research paper, of which 178 were finally included in the review. Reporting for publication of a section of this work (aged 0-12 months) is close to submission to an academic journal, and it has already been accepted for presentation at the Society for Research in Child Development conference in April 2017. The main finding of this research is that only a handful of reliable assessments exist to measure individual differences in children's play behaviours and disposition to play. The area of Occupational Therapy has provided instruments to measure children's intensity and levels of play in their natural environment, as well as the support that the environment -including caregivers- provides (e.g. Test of Playfulness and Test of Environmental Support). In the area of Developmental Psychology the most developed construct is Pretend Play (e.g. Test of Symbolic Play, Symbolic Play Scales), with a few observational scales that distinguish levels of play according to their representational demands. None of these instruments have been recently normed in the UK, and very few present psychometric properties that allow researchers to use them in longitudinal studies. |
Exploitation Route | This result is relevant to the advancement to this area of research, because without adequate and developmentally sensitive instruments, no investigations can determine the extent to which play and playfulness in this stage of life are of significance to later child outcomes. This is also of relevance to the educational and clinical practitioners working with atypically children or children at risk (e.g. from deprived environments), as observing children's play and understanding in which was it differs from typical behaviours is a potentially useful form of early diagnosis to inform appropriate intervention. This insight should be taking forward by developmental scientists and practitioners working with young children. Existing instruments should be improved and new instruments should be developed to evaluate different types of play in young children. |
Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Education Leisure Activities including Sports Recreation and Tourism |
Description | An emerging impact of our results from the systematic review on play measures in children aged 0-3 has derived from our partnership with the LEGO Foundation. We have contributed to initial conversations to inform the revision of the Early Childhood Development Index, particularly the sections on self-regulation and play. This is an instrument used globally to report the state of children's development and measure the impact of policy-level strategies to improve children's lives. We have continued to foster the partnership with the LEGO Foundation, which now extends to their 'Learning through play in early childhood' team. As part of the Panel of Experts (January 2017) funded by this grant we hosted a Free Public Lectures event at the Faculty of Education of the University of Cambridge for parents and teachers. This was possible with extra financial and administrative support from the Centre for Play in Education Development and Learning (PEDAL). The lectures were delivered by two prominent developmental psychologists: Prof Kathy Sylva (University of Oxford) and Prof Clancy Blair (University of New York). The topic of the event was around the evidence of Play and Self-regulation in Early childhood. Available spaces were rapidly subscribed reflecting the general interest in the area, just under 200 people attended the event. The seminar was covered on Twitter via the PEDAL account and the PI's personal account, giving rise to a number of interactions. A video of the lectures is now available online at http://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/2412317 . Another way in which our ESRC funded research has made an impact is through the engagement with Skylark, a small UK based company that develops educational products for young children and their caregivers. Particularly, our research concerned with the two systematic reviews on measures of Play and Self-regulation have informed our advice around parenting strategies and activities for very young children. |
First Year Of Impact | 2017 |
Description | ESRC Impact Acceleration Award |
Amount | £16,000 (GBP) |
Funding ID | RG76702 |
Organisation | University of Cambridge |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2017 |
End | 08/2017 |
Title | Behavioural coding system using the open source software ELAN |
Description | Behavioural coding system using ELAN (https://archive.mpi.nl/tla/elan). We have developed a workflow for using this language based video annotation tool for capturing behavioural data mimicking some of the functions provided by the paid software The Observer XT by Noldus. In this system researchers can easily transition between open transcription to a closed coding scheme with time stamp associations. Data then becomes searchable, with some in-software features being available (such as latency, and some sequential analyses), but more importantly, it provides full flexibility of exporting data as a CVS file for further analysis and visualisations in a multitude of other programs and languages. |
Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | We have trained other research users in this workflow allowing them to expand their capability for human behavioural analysis with a free open source tool. |
Title | PEDAL Parental Playfulness Scale |
Description | The PEDAL Parental Playfulness Scale measures the extent to which parents display playful behaviours while interacting with their infants (aged 0-24 months). It is a 9-point Likert scale rating parents from 'Not Playful at all' to 'Highly Playful'. The new instrument also includes a coding scheme to capture specific behaviours that are considered in the global playfulness scale. These behaviours include: playful cues, types of playful behaviour, and other features of the interaction such as the intensity and tempo. The publication of the scale is in preparation. |
Type Of Material | Physiological assessment or outcome measure |
Year Produced | 2018 |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | There has been interest from other researchers in applying this scale in existing datasets, for example the Healthy Start Happy Start Study (http://www.ppod.org.uk/healthy-start-happy-start.html). |
Description | Panel of Experts: Longitudinal Study of Play in Early Childhood |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | An expert panel of researchers from Universities, specialised research Institutes and Third Sector organisations were convened to discuss strategies for conducting effective longitudinal studies of play in early childhood. Attendants included Prof Clancy Blair, Prof Kathy Sylva, Prof Vasudevi Reddy, Prof Jenniffer Jenkins, Prof Claire Hughes, and Lego Foundation colleagues Dr Jill Popp, and Dr Hanne Jensen, among others. We also carried out interview consultations with other experts such as Prof Anthony Pellegrini, Ms Lynn Molloy (ALSPAC), and Prof Alison Park (CLOSER), whose input was summarised for the event. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Play, self-regulation & early childhood education: what does research say? |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A public lecture entitled Play, self-regulation & early childhood education: what does research say? This was an opportunity to hear from two international experts in developmental psychologists about how their research has been applied to education and social policy. Highlighting the effects of early education on development, attainment and fulfilling individual potential, Prof Kathy Sylva's talk was entitled 'Nurturing 21st century skills in early childhood: evidence from the English EPPSE study and the EU CARE project'. Prof Clancy Blair's talk was on 'The science of self-regulation: supporting executive function development in early childhood through play'. About 120 practitioners and parents attended the conference. There was time for a lively interaction with the speakers. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |