Evidence for Learning (E4L) ECEC toolkit now available

Evidence for Learning (E4L) has created a new innovative Early Childhood Education Toolkit which is designed to support teachers, educators and service leaders who are making evidence-informed decisions about how to improve quality outcomes for children, especially for those children who are vulnerable or experiencing disadvantage.

 

The toolkit summarises research on innovative approaches relevant to early childhood education and care (ECEC), aimed to give children the best chance of success in learning and development. The approaches are framed around twelve core themes, namely: 

 

1. Communication and language approaches
2. Digital technology
3. Earlier starting age
4. Early literacy approaches
5. Early numeracy approaches
6. Extra hours
7. Parental engagement
8. Physical development approaches
9. Physical environment
10. Play-based learning
11. Self-regulation strategies
12. Social and emotional learning strategies.

 

Working to combine Australian and international research, the Toolkit collates and presents a range of educational interventions, summarised in terms of:

 

• The average months’ worth of learning progress – an estimate in terms of the additional months’ progress you can expect children to make as a result of implementing an approach when compared to similar children who did not receive the approach;
• The strength of the evidence – viewed as a padlock, this rating is overall estimate of the robustness of the evidence based on the quantity of evidence available, the outcomes measured in the studies, the methodological quality of the available evidence, the consistency of impact estimates across the reviews and the meta-analyses that have been synthesised; and, 
• The cost – based on the approximate cost of implementing the approach. The estimates commonly include the cost of additional resources, training or professional development or the cost of activities for children.

 

The Australasian research summaries found in the toolkit were produced in collaboration with Telethon Kids.

 

To access the toolkit, please see here.