Children in low-income families are less likely to be ‘on track’ with their development by the time they reach school age. Research from the Nuffield Foundation suggests that caregivers in lower-income households are less likely to provide the type of positive home learning environment that promotes children’s socio-emotional and cognitive development. In the same report, they also highlight that a positive home learning environment can help to lessen the negative effects of lower socioeconomic status on children’s development.

Features of a positive home learning environment that supports early childhood development include warm, nurturing and responsive interactions between caregiver and child. This also includes stimulating activities, such as reading with children, painting and drawing, learning with alphabet or numbers, songs and rhymes and going to the library.

Digital products and services are a promising (and currently underutilised) route to accessing high-quality services that could empower and assist caregivers in improving reading with their child at home. However, some caregivers may struggle to access or prefer not to access local, face-to-face services, such as libraries, storytime and stay-and-play activities.

The frequency of shared learning activities between caregivers and children is important for child development. Supporting caregivers to increase the frequency of reading with their child at home could make a tangible difference in children’s language, social and emotional outcomes. This, in turn, could support improvements in school readiness at age five. Support to start, or increase, shared reading may be particularly important for families experiencing poverty who may face additional barriers in reading together regularly, such as access to books or confidence in reading with their child.

In this project, we will explore the feasibility of a digital tool to support shared reading between parents and children aged three to five in low-income households.

We want to explore whether a digital tool that assists shared reading time for parents and caregivers is a feasible route to improving early childhood development for children in lower-income households in the UK.

We are working with Early Ideas Limited using their app TANDEM, a prototype story creator powered by generative AI, alongside parents and caregivers, early years practitioners and private, public and third-sector organisations.

As an innovation partner, we are using the TANDEM app as a probe to help us understand what would be needed to create a high-quality, low-cost and scalable shared reading experience. Fundamentally, this should be a stimulating, fun and tailored experience that is desirable, usable, and accessible to parents and caregivers in lower-income households across the UK. The project is divided into three phases.

Phase 1

The first phase involves recruiting 15 parents and caregivers. We will use data sets, including the latest census data, to figure out the local authority and the town where these parents and caregivers are likely to be found. Then, we will work with local organisations, such as food banks, libraries, charities and childcare providers in these locations to recruit them for our project.

After recruitment, we will interview these parents and caregivers to:

• establish a baseline for the pilot, inquiring about how often, how long, who with and when caregivers currently read with their children at home
• test if the current prototype version of the TANDEM app is appealing and usable, gather feedback on improvements that could be made and when and why they might use it 
• explore whether they foresee any barriers to accessing and using an app-based product to read together with their child and whether this digital shared reading tool is attractive.

The data from these interviews will help us update the app and prepare it for a one-month pilot test to ensure its effectiveness for parents and caregivers.

Phase 2

During the second phase, we will set up and install the TANDEM app on participants’ devices for a one-month pilot. During this time, 15 participants will keep paper logs noting when, how long for, who (if anyone) reads with their child and whether they used the TANDEM app or another method for reading together.

After the pilot, we will analyse data from the app and paper logs and conduct exit interviews to assess whether participants used the TANDEM app and how it affected reading with their children at home. Five of the parents and caregivers from the pilot will be asked to join a wrap-up workshop led by the fairer start team at Nesta, attended by practitioners, public sector representatives in early years and Early Ideas Limited.

Phase 3

In the final phase, we will use an updated app and insights from pilots to set up interviews with 10 potential customers. They range from schools and nurseries and libraries and local authorities to foundations and charities. We want to know what they think would make this digital shared reading product more or less appealing to parents and caregivers they work with daily. 

If you are an organisation working with lower-income families and are interested in participating, please email us at [email protected] for updates and to arrange an interview.