School Readiness: Connecting Viewpoints on Child and Family Well-being and Identifying Commonalities Across Diverse Groups

Children's success in the early school years hinges on both cognitive (e.g., mental flexibility, over-riding impulses, holding information in mind) and social (e.g., understanding others' thoughts and feelings) aspects of 'school readiness', such that, for this age group, this concept overlaps with that of 'wellbeing'. Our project aims to investigate links between children's wellbeing and success in the first years of primary school. Our first objective is to compare information gathered from different sources (i.e., children, parents, teachers and direct observations), both with each other and over time (i.e., Reception and Year 1). By recruiting 500 children from two regions (East Anglia and the West Midlands) and dovetailing our analyses with a parallel study of primary school-aged children with Down syndrome, we will also consider effects of sample diversity.
Alongside recruiting a diverse sample of children, our recruitment strategy will target a wide range of schools. Our second objective is to examine school readiness and wellbeing in relation to classroom characteristics (e.g., classroom chaos, percentage of children from disadvantaged families, and teacher wellbeing). Our goal is to identify factors that have universal effects and factors that matter particularly for specific groups of children (e.g., those with special educational needs).
Effective interventions depend upon identifying factors that both matter for children's wellbeing and are malleable. Our third objective is to examine changes in family talk across the school year and the relations between family talk and children's school readiness and wellbeing. We will assess family talk via wearable 'talk pedometers' that provide automated analysis of child-directed family talk across a full day, as well as unobtrusive recordings of parent-child conversations at key times in the day that are likely to matter for children's wellbeing (e.g., meal-times, bed-time). Recent work has shown that giving feedback stimulates increases in family conversations that, we posit, are likely to benefit children's well-being. Prior to extending this intervention approach it is, however, important to assess how well automated talk measures reflect the quality of family talk (e.g., the degree to which conversational partners' utterances are connected to each other). By extending ongoing preschool work we will: (i) assess the validity of automated talk measures, and (ii) investigate links between family talk and both child and parental wellbeing. In addition, by using the same devices to gather full-day measures of talk for a parallel sample of families of children with Down Syndrome, we will be able to compare the conversational environments of families with neurotypical / neurodiverse children, and explore individual differences within each group.
Early identification is also crucial to the success of interventions. Our fourth objective is to consider how well early life measures of child and family wellbeing predict children's well-being and school readiness. To this end, we will draw on rich multi-time-point data (e.g., video-based ratings of parent-child interactions in infancy and toddlerhood for mothers and fathers, comprehensive assessments of maternal and paternal wellbeing, and tests of toddlers' early cognitive skills) gathered as part of an existing (ESRC-funded) study of 180 children followed from before birth. Assessing both maternal and paternal wellbeing across multiple time-points also enables us to break new ground by considering the impact of the transition to school on parental well-being.
We will share study findings with stake-holder groups through: (a) regular newsletters that will provide the foundation for an accessible book; (b) short video clips highlighting different viewpoints on school readiness; and (c) a variety of public engagement events held across different locations and aimed at diverse groups (e.g., practitioners, parents, children).

Beneficiaries
Our research is designed to engage three key groups of beneficiaries:
1. Our first group of beneficiaries includes 4- to 6-year-old children and their families. Within this group we aim to be inclusive and to highlight the particular experiences of vulnerable children, such as those with Special Educational Needs (SEN).
2. Our second group of beneficiaries includes educational professionals (e.g., teachers, educational psychologists).
3. Our third group of beneficiaries includes policymakers and charities focusing on mental health in young children (e.g., Place2Be; Down Syndrome Association) and in families (e.g., One Plus One).

Over-Arching Goal
This project aims to enhance the well-being of children and their families by increasing awareness and understanding of the impact of starting school on child and family wellbeing and by fostering dialogue between schools and families of children with diverse needs.

Impact Objectives
1. To increase awareness and understanding of the relations between early school success and well-being among 4- to 6-year-old children, their teachers and their parents.

Benefits to young children and their families will come from opportunities to foster dialogue (a) within the home and in classrooms (as a result of our illustrated e-book focused on the emotional roller-coaster that can result from a day at school for a young child); (b) in the wider community, via public engagement events (see Pathways to Impact). By raising awareness of how the transition to school can impact well-being, we also hope that our research will improve dialogue between schools and parents. To this end, our brief video clips highlight distinct perspectives on the early school years (e.g., child's eye view, parental perspectives, issues of importance for families of children with SEN / eligible for pupil premium).

2. To increase awareness and understanding among early years educators of the relations between early school success and child and family well-being.

Benefits to educational professionals will come from the enriched understanding and more inclusive attitudes that we hope to foster via: (a) our regular newsletters and brief video clips (b) training workshop for educational psychologists and teachers at the University of Birmingham, (also made available more widely via lecture capture uploaded to widely accessed websites).

3. To increase awareness and understanding of how to measure children's well-being among policy makers and charity leaders.

Benefits to policy makers include a broader perspective upon well-being and school readiness (e.g., to what extent are these distinct or two sides of the same coin); a more nuanced understanding of measurement tools (e.g., informant effects); and increased awareness of the importance and feasibility of language as a focus for interventions (e.g., in contrast with changing dietary habits, improving children's linguistic environments has few cost implications). These benefits will be achieved via interdisciplinary knowledge exchange events (to be held in London to maximise participation), as well as via regular newsletters and features in relevant non-academic publications (e.g., Times Education Supplement, Nursery World).