Small Moments, Big Impact: Supporting Children’s Learning at Home

A child’s learning does not begin when they start in their early years setting. 

Long before then, children are learning through stories, songs, conversations, play, movement and everyday routines at home. 

The research is clear: these ordinary moments can have an extraordinary influence on children’s language, confidence, self-regulation and later success in school. 

For early years settings, that makes the home learning environment one of the most powerful places to start when working in partnership with families.

Research shows that children’s Home Learning Environment (HLE) plays a major role in their early development. 

There is considerable research showing the importance of children’s Home Learning Environment (HLE). In fact, the HLE may even more impact on children’s learning than high-quality early education and care. 

What is the Home Learning Environment (HLE)?

The HLE refers to the opportunities for learning that occur in the home. This includes toys to play with, books to share, and paints, pencils and crayons to draw with. The most important learning opportunities occur through conversations and play between the child and others at home. The activities which have the strongest impact are those in the area of language and literacy. These include conversation, pretend play and shared enjoyment of books, songs and nursery rhymes.

There are many other important learning opportunities for children at home. These include developing physical skills like football, dancing or gymnastics. The important thing is that there is some kind of learning involved. This requires children to focus and to regulate their behaviour. This in turns helps their developing self-regulation. So, home learning provides many opportunities for social and emotional development.

Children who have rich learning experiences regularly at home will typically go on to achieve better in school.

They will find it easier to manage their feelings and behaviour, and show more signs of emotional wellbeing. 

These advantages carry on all the way through to the end of secondary education and into adulthood. This applies to all children with a stimulating HLE, particularly children from lower income backgrounds.

However, there are some important issues to be cautious about.

First, many efforts to improve HLE involve parents attending workshops or courses. But the parents who might benefit the most from these sorts of events may not attend them, or may start attending but not complete.

Many barriers might stop them from participating. So, settings will need to consider first which parents might need support. Then, they need to discuss ways of tailoring that help with parents. 

Parents need to feel like partners, and they need to feel motivated to engage.

Settings can use the Early Years Pupil Premium to pay for this work.

Some parents may be affected by serious issues. These include alcohol or drug misuse, mental health difficulties or domestic violence. Children in extreme family environments will miss out on many of the conditions they need to thrive, including a positive HLE. 

It is important for settings to work positively with families in difficulty. The orderly nature of the setting can be especially important for children whose home life is chaotic and unpredictable. 

Early Years settings are also well-placed to work with other agencies. Together, they can ensure that families receive the early help or social care they need.

Stark differences

Overall, differences in the HLE a child experiences are stark and influenced by family income and the child's gender -  although of course there is much variability at family level. 

As you get to know families well, you may notice girls getting more support for learning at home than boys. 

You may notice that children from more affluent homes have more opportunities for learning at home. They may hear more words spoken, engage in more conversations, and have more books read to them.

So, it is vital for early years settings to work positively with parents. That way, they can help parents to improve their children’s HLE. Often parents do not realise that playing, having conversations and reading with their children every day build up over time. As they understand this, they will be more likely to try out activities which will have a powerful and lasting influence on their children.

Barriers parents and carers might face

Every family in unique. It’s important for practitioners to get to know every child and their family, value them, and understand them.

Parents may face significant barriers which make it hard for them to focus on home learning with their child. It’s important to know about those barriers, and be positive, sympathetic, and encouraging as parents make small changes.

Those barriers might include:

• Time and energy (for example, parents not having time and energy due to work outside the home, household chores and/or caring for other children)
• Knowledge, emotions and confidence (for example, parents being worried about not doing things right, or lacking confidence in their own reading and writing)
• Perceptions of responsibility (for example, parents thinking it’s the nursery’s or school’s job to provide education and learning activities).

It’s important to listen regularly to parents, and give them clear information about the progress their children are making. Parents also need to know if their children are having difficulties, and how they can work with practitioners to help children through any such difficulties.

Parents are a source of rich and essential information about their children’s learning and wellbeing. This is crucial when children first come into a setting. It remains important throughout their time there.

This post is an extract from my book Understanding the Revised Early Years Foundation Stage: Principles into Practice. 

You can download the whole book without any charge or sign-up needed here: www.development-matters.org.uk