Using a behaviour change framework to develop an Early Years literacy and science project to support parental engagement

Parental engagement in children’s education is an important aim for many schools. This paper presents the development and evaluation of a literacy and science project for families with children in nursery and reception classes at a school in North East England where parental engagement was a focus for development. The project was developed using a Theory of Change and incorporating a behaviour change framework. In total 87 families took part in the project which spanned the covid19 pandemic. Due to lockdowns, project delivery shifted to an online model and we describe how the behaviour change framework was used to support this change. There was strong and regular engagement in the project by the families with reasons for non-participation related to work requirements. Families reported that the books were read repeatedly at home after the sessions, but that there was less repeat use of the science activities. Finally, we outline some implications for schools and external organisations when planning similar projects.