Enhancing executive functions in nursery-attending preschoolers

I will attempt to answer two questions:
1. Can an everyday nursery activity (e.g. song, reading time, discussion, play) be augmented to become an EF development activity (beyond its current contribution to EF)?
2. How do EFs relate to academic outcomes, specifically school readiness? The first aim of this research is to examine ways to improve EFs in preschool children (3 and 4 year olds). Formal childcare for 3 and 4 year olds is on the rise - 270,000 families have signed up to '30 Hours Free Childcare' since September 2017, exceeding the Department for Education's (DfE) initial targets. In other developed countries (e.g. Canada), similar government initiatives to encourage mothers back into work by offering low cost childcare led to poorer child outcomes (Gupta & Simonsen, 2007). Knowing what works to enhance EFs in nursery settings is now more important than ever before.
During my PhD, I will test whether augmenting an existing nursery activity (e.g. play, singing, story-telling or discussion), so that it targets EFs, enhances these skills in pre-schoolers.
The second aim of this research is to examine the pathways through which EFs lead to academic achievement, specifically school readiness. School readiness is important for a host of outcomes in later life (Duncan et al., 2006), yet the association between EFs and school readiness is not well understood (Fitzpatrick, McKinnon, Blair & Wiloughby 2014). I will work with my supervisor, Professor Scerif to conduct these analyses. Professor Scerif has previously examined the predictive and mediating roles of EFs for various outcomes including academic achievement (Pearson et al., 2016) and mental health (Cornish, Scerif & Karmiloff-Smith, 2007).