In recent years, the landscape of early childhood education in the UK has undergone significant changes.
With the extension of subsidised childcare to include children from nine months to two years old, there is a growing recognition of the crucial role that parents and caregivers play in shaping the home learning environment (HLE) for children.
This shift acknowledges the pivotal role parents play in shaping their child’s early learning experiences. Through partnerships between educators and families, children can benefit from a holistic approach to learning that bridges the gap between home and early education settings, thus supporting children’s overall learning and development opportunities.
The HLE is the foundationfor a child’s lifelong learning journey. During the formative years, from birth to age five, children’s brains undergo rapid development, with neural connections being formed at an astounding rate. The experiences children have in their home profoundly influence brain development, shaping cognitive abilities, social skills and emotional wellbeing.
But why does the HLE matter? Encompassing both physical and socio-cultural aspects of the home, the HLE serves as the primary context for a child’s early learning experiences. It is where children begin to acquire language and develop social skills, and it lays the foundation for their future learning.
Therefore, fostering a nurturing and stimulating HLE is paramount for optimal child development.
Professor of education at the University of Sheffield, Cathy Nutbrown, says, ‘Home learning isn’t so much about a place, it’s about relationships; close family relationships where children are known and loved, and where their close adults are interested in them and want to spend time with them.
‘Parents are their children’s first and primary educators, they know their children best, so the natural, spontaneous, reciprocal exchanges that happen between young children and adults in the family are crucial to early developing growth, relationships, language, emotions, curiosity, thinking and questioning – all vital elements of early learning.’
Positive HLEs for young children should prioritise several elements. First, the physical environment should be safe, clean and well-equipped with age-appropriate toys, books and materials that encourage exploration and sensory stimulation. Secondly, positive interactions and responsive caregiving are essential. Parents and caregivers should engage in meaningful interactions with the child, responding to their cues and providing opportunities for play, communication and bonding. Routines and rituals provide predictability and security, supporting children’s emotional wellbeing and sense of stability.
Practitioners play a crucial role in supporting HLEs for all children.
ENGAGING PARENTS
Practitioners should recognise and respect the unique cultural and socio-economic backgrounds of each family, providing tailored guidance and resources to enhance the HLE.
One of the most meaningful ways practitioners can support parents, according to Nutbrown, is ‘by sharing their professional knowledge and emphasising the crucial role parents play. Parents want the best for their children and are willing to engage with many things offered to them to help their children.’
Collaboration between practitioners and families forms the bedrock of effective home learning support; establishing open lines of communication, fostering trust and building strong partnerships enables practitioners to understand families’ needs, values and cultural backgrounds. Hosting family engagement events, such as workshops, storytelling sessions or parent cafes, provides opportunities to share resources, offer guidance and co-create strategies for enhancing the HLE. Practitioners can offer advice on age-appropriate activities, model effective caregiving strategies and connect families with community resources and services.
SUPPORTING THE HLE
Additional ways to actively support HLEs and experiences:
Create personalised resource kits tailored to each child’s developmental stage and interests. These can include age-appropriate books, educational toys, art supplies and activity sheets aligned with learning objectives. Encourage parents to integrate these resources into daily routines and play activities at home, fostering continuity between home and the educational settings while supporting children’s holistic development.
Harness the power of technology to create virtual learning communities for parents. Establish online platforms, such as social media groups or messaging apps where parents can connect, share ideas and access educational resources. Encourage practitioners to curate and share content, such as educational videos, interactive games and parenting tips. Virtual communities also create spaces for parents to seek advice, celebrate milestones and help build a sense of belonging within the educational community.
Introduce home learning challenges or projects that encourage families to explore learning opportunities. Provide prompts or themes, such as nature trails, creative storytelling or STEM experiments, and invite families to document their experiences through photos, videos or journals. Celebrate children’s achievements and contributions during group sessions or virtual showcases, fostering a sense of pride among families while reinforcing the value of home learning.
Employ reflective practices to gauge the effectiveness of efforts. Regularly solicit feedback from families through surveys, interviews or informal conversations to assess their experiences, challenges and the impact of initiatives. Monitor children’s progress, noting any observed changes in behaviour, skill development or family dynamics. Practitioners can keep anecdotal records or portfolios of children’s experiences to track growth and identify areas for further support or enrichment.
SUPPORTING THE HLE IN AREAS OF DEPRIVATION
Supporting HLEs for disadvantaged children poses unique challenges. Lower-income families often face several barriers, such as limited access to educational resources, financial constraints and unstable housing conditions. These factors can significantly impact the HLE, exacerbate educational inequalities, and can subsequently hinder children’s development outcomes.
Professor Nutbrown agrees that ‘poverty is the biggest factor, and there are big barriers to overcome to eliminate homelessness, hunger and threats to wellbeing and mental health, which also impact negatively on young children’s early years and how parents can relax and enjoy time with their youngest children’.
When looking for interventions to try to address and minimise the impact of these barriers, practitioners should adopt a multi-faceted approach. This could include providing or loaning educational materials and resources to disadvantaged families, offering in-house parenting programmes focused on building early literacy and numeracy skills, and signposting parents to any additional support needed (speech therapy referrals, liaising with dieticians and external agencies).
It is important to remember parental engagement in initiatives can be difficult to achieve. However, Professor Nutbrown adds, ‘My own work on family literacy, which we began over 30 years ago, has shown that when parents feel the programmes and projects on offer are meaningful to them, and support their children’s development, they engage willingly and find what they do is enjoyable.’
London Early Years Foundation (LEYF) is renowned for the incredible work it does with young children and their families, particularly in disadvantaged areas.
Pauline Emmins, manager of LEYF Ford Road, tells us, ‘We have a high percentage of families who are disadvantaged. With this in mind, we offer home learning that does not impact on any financial outlay for parents. We do not want finances to be an obstacle to their child accessing and benefiting from any home learning activities and experiences, and creating a system of exclusion. The opposite is true, in that we are taking an inclusive approach that is applicable to all our families, some who are struggling to cover essential bills and do not need any added pressure from nursery. We are in Barking and Dagenham, which has been named as the poorest of London boroughs. Alongside this there are high rates of adult and child obesity, dental decay, unemployment, mental health issues, housing shortages and domestic violence. The HLEis therefore paramount to engage with our parents and support them with their children’s learning.’
Emmins lists some examples of activities her nursery offers:
A book-lending library.
Song words sent home linked to the child’s favourite song.
Makaton sign of the week.
Signposting to free experiences for children in local parks.
Insect hunts.
Noting numbers on the walk to nursery and home.
Lying down on the grass, eyes closed and identify the sounds.
Cooking ideas, ingredients and recipe supplied by the nursery.
Playdough recipe and ingredients supplied by the nursery.
Parent workshops on HLE.
Heuristic play (parents usually have resources for this already).
Making cards for special family occasions (materials supplied by the nursery).
Words for parents to model.
Activities for bathtime fun: blowing bubbles, measuring and pouring, bathing a doll, etc.
Counting and naming vehicles.
Noting colours of vehicles.
George/Terry’s adventures: a soft toy that goes home from nursery with a child. (The parent sends in photos of their adventures.)
Science experiments such as making ice and watching it melt.
Pauline adds that conversations are key to supporting HLEs. ‘Pedagogical conversations underpin the HLE, as this is when teachers can explore with the parent the child’s interests to tap into, what they have done at nursery that can be consolidated and extended at home. Pedagogical conversations can give parents the knowledge to think of their own ideas and the confidence that they sometimes need to carry them out.’
The HLE plays a pivotal role in shaping the early development of children under five. It creates the foundation for learning and sets the stage for future achievement and socio-emotional wellbeing.
Practitioners and their wider communities should work collaboratively to support families to create nurturing and stimulating HLEs to ensure every child can thrive and reach their full potential.
Early years practitioners play a vital role in empowering families to create such nurturing and stimulating HLEs. By fostering partnerships, providing personalised resources, leveraging technology and promoting reflective practices, they can help facilitate meaningful learning experiences beyond the classroom, enhancing children’s development and fostering a love for learning.
case study: Nicky Gare-Mogg, childminder, West Sussex
As a home-based childcare provider, Nicky knows only too well the importance of an enriching, engaging and exciting HLE, and has forged enviable links with the parents and families of children she cares for, spreading this message far and wide.
The beauty of home-based childcare is not only the smaller groups of children, mixed ages and more personal approach to learning and development. Being a home-based childcare provider enables Nicky to get to know and understand each family, their dynamics and individual situations. It is also easy for Nicky to build trust and rapport, inspire and engage parents in their children’s learning and development from the outset.
For many parents, they can view traditional nursery/pre-school settings as intimidating and authoritative, but with a childminder, many parents are often put at ease by the home-based environment.
These environments enable parents to witness, first-hand, how they can adapt the home environment and use everyday resources and routines to support their child’s learning and development.
On a daily basis, Nicky shares information and photos of the children in her care with parents to inform them of the activities, play and learning they enjoyed so parents see first-hand how to meet the learning and development needs of their child. Many are inspired to either replicate these opportunities at home or can seek advice/support on how to do this as part of their daily interaction with Nicky.
Similarly, Nicky often shares activities and experiences with parents as part of a collaborative process to make meaningful connections between the setting and HLEs.
For example, recently Nicky and the children planted sunflowers at the setting; learning about the flowers, feeding them and monitoring their growth during the children’s time there. Once the sunflowers reached a particular height, the children took theirs home to continue to grow with their parents, solidifying their learning and bridging the gap between home and setting learning in an accessible, non-intimidating way.
Nicky can easily tell when her efforts to support home-learning experiences have been effective, as she receives verbal and/or photographic evidence from both parents and their children if and when they have engaged with or completed one of the home-learning suggestions.