NELI Preschool is a 20-week oral language programme for 3 – 4 year-old children, centred around shared storybook reading and guided play, which is designed to improve the oral language skills of children in nursery. Each week focuses on a different book – a mixture of traditional tales, contemporary stories and non-fiction – and is comprised of activities to encourage the development of a rich vocabulary and ability to listen to, tell and enjoy stories.

The NELI Preschool intervention is delivered by OxEd & Assessment (OxEd), a University of Oxford spin-out, and includes two core components: universal language enrichment for all children in nursery (via whole group sessions) and targeted intervention for those with the weakest oral language skills (via small group and individual sessions). Whole group sessions are delivered for 15- 20 minutes daily by nursery staff, usually the room leader or class teacher, who is trained and supported to use the programme. In addition to this, six children with the weakest oral language skills in the class receive three additional 15-minute small group sessions and one 5‑minute individual session per week, delivered by nursery practitioners or teaching assistants who are also trained and supported to use the programme.

The programme provides settings access to a child-friendly language screening tool (LanguageScreen), which runs on a digital tablet. This is used to assess children’s oral language skills and to identify the six children for the targeted intervention. In addition to sessions and materials, nurseries receive comprehensive online practitioner training and support throughout delivery of the programme from speech and language specialists from the NELI Preschool team.

Who can take part?

Eligible settings:

• can be state-maintained or PVI nurseries.
• must have a minimum of fourteen 3 to 4‑year-old children attending 15+ hours per week in the 2023 – 24 academic year.

Settings may not be eligible if they have taken part in similar EEF trials or are planning to take part in other trials in 2024 – 25.

Settings are not eligible if they took part in the previous evaluation of NELI Preschool (known as the NELI – Nursery or NELI‑N efficacy trial) by the University of Oxford.

To find out more and register your interest go to: NELI Preschool | OxEd & Assessment UK (oxedandassessment.com)

As part of the Department for Education’s Early Years Recovery Programme, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is working with Stronger Practice Hubs across England to fund Early Years settings’ access to evidence-informed programmes and study the programme’s influence on practice and children’s outcomes. This initiative aims to support education recovery following the pandemic, whilst also developing our understanding of effective professional development in the early years. The EEF is working with the East of England Early Years Stronger Practice Hub, the Early Years South West Stronger Practice Hub, the Northern Lights Early Years Stronger Practice Hub, the Yorkshire and Humber Together Early Years Stronger Practice Hub, the Kent Early Years Stronger Practice Hub, the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Early Years Stronger Practice Hub, the Thames Valley Early Years Stronger Practice Hub, the London South Early Years Stronger Practice Hub, and The Great North Early Years Stronger Practice Hub to fund settings’ access to NELI Preschool and evaluate the programme through a effectiveness trial.

A previous study funded by the Nuffield Foundation and published by the University of Oxford in November 2023 found that the NELI Preschool programme (previously called NELI Nursery) had a positive impact on children’s language outcomes showing that children who received NELI Preschool made an additional three months progress in overall language skills compared to those who did not receive the programme This randomised controlled trial included 65 early years settings and indicated that the programme has the potential to be impactful at scale. NELI Preschool would benefit from a rigorous independent evaluation in a larger number of settings following the positive results of the previous Nuffield-funded trial.

This project will be evaluated by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) through a randomised controlled trial, randomised at setting level. This means that settings that sign up are randomly assigned to one of two groups: the intervention group, who implement NELI Preschool; or the control group, where practice continues as usual. This is the best way to find out the impact of the programme being tested. As they do not receive the intervention, the control group receives a larger payment for taking part in testing and has the opportunity to use this payment to implement NELI Preschool the following year.

The evaluation will be an effectiveness trial, meaning it will assess the impact of NELI Preschool in real-world conditions. It will evaluate the impact of NELI Preschool on children’s language skills, including receptive and expressive vocabulary, listening comprehension, use of words to cover information, and grammar.