Findings from this project offer compelling anecdotal evidence and qualitative insights to suggest that the TANDEM app has the potential to support and enhance shared reading experiences between caregivers and pre-school-aged children. Our research with a small sample of caregivers suggests that digital story creation using generative AI has the potential to promote and increase the frequency of shared reading within some lower-income families. 

We’ve summarised our key learnings and reflections from this project below.

‘New reader’ caregivers who hadn't established regular reading routines with their child before the pilot reported an increase in shared reading after incorporating TANDEM into their daily routine. One mother shared that her daughter began requesting bedtime stories during the pilot, which then laid the foundations to also include physical books in their new shared reading routine. Similarly, one father described how TANDEM became a consistent part of their daily routine, with his son actively reminding him if they missed their shared reading time.

Beyond more frequent reading, we also heard how TANDEM fostered stronger bonds between some parents and children as a result of their shared reading using the app together.

Having TANDEM on a digital device increased its appeal to children, leading to some potentially addictive behaviours and challenges such as disrupted bedtime routines. This was especially true for families who already had established bedtime routines that included reading physical books, so adding the app did not feel helpful. This challenge was not reported in families without pre-existing shared reading routines, who reported that the app helped to establish consistent reading habits.

TANDEM also provided an opportunity for families to transition their children's screen time from passive entertainment (eg, watching YouTube videos) to a more educational and interactive experience that involved both the caregiver and the child.

Ensuring the TANDEM app was culturally appropriate was crucial to promoting and increasing shared reading in the homes of diverse families on a low income. We believe the following strategies contributed to its success:

To engage children (and parents)

Caregivers emphasised the importance of children seeing themselves and their families represented in the stories they read and their accompanying illustrations, as this enhances their connection to the story by making it more meaningful and enjoyable. To support this, we recommended that TANDEM’s developers incorporate diverse illustrations, keywords, objects, and characters, along with familiar cultural references, to help children and their parents from various backgrounds feel seen, valued, and personally connected to the content.

To increase access and promote inclusivity and adoption

Recognising that not all families primarily communicate in English, we highlighted to TANDEM’s developers the need for multilingual support within the app. This feature broadens the app's reach and ensures accessibility for families whose first language is not English.

We should note that the priority parents who participated in our research were primarily focused on improving their children's English language skills and did not express a strong need for multi-language support. However, the experts we consulted saw it as a vital feature for inclusivity and accessibility in diverse communities. Therefore, this may be an important requirement for ‘customers’ of the app who might fund families’ access to it as a service. By prioritising cultural appropriateness, the TANDEM app may have felt more relevant and welcoming to families from a diverse range of backgrounds and, therefore, lowered the barrier to access and adoption.

While the primary focus of this project was the experiences of our priority families, we also generated insights from 11 experts working with low-income families to support children’s early literacy development. It was crucial to hear their views of TANDEM as they were most likely to be the initial distributors (paying ‘customers’) of digital services for our priority families, who could potentially enable low-income families to access and afford the app.

The majority of these experts generally view generative AI as a promising tool. However, they highlighted the need to see evidence of the app’s impact on family reading behaviours and child development and understand how TANDEM might integrate with existing programs before they could be adopted and rolled out to residents in their communities.

Digital tools are one of the promising (and currently underutilised) routes by which high-quality, sustainable parenting support could be provided at a low cost to many parents and caregivers in the UK. However, there is still work to be done to fully realise their potential in parenting support. Key challenges include ensuring equitable access to technology, developing culturally relevant and inclusive content, and addressing concerns about privacy and data security.

Stakeholders who participated in this project have also highlighted the need to see evidence of the impact of digital tools like TANDEM on child development to justify their adoption at a broader scale. To address this limitation, testing the TANDEM app with a larger sample size of families over an extended period would be a critical next step. This approach would help to validate or refute the preliminary signals identified in this project of increased and new shared reading moments for priority families when TANDEM is integrated into their daily routines. A broader testing scope would not only generate more robust data on its usage within lower-income families over time but could also shed light on how TANDEM can support these families in adopting and sustaining shared reading habits (both online and offline). Following further usability testing, there could also be the potential for impact evaluation to test more robustly the potential for an AI-driven story-sharing app like TANDEM to positively impact on child development outcomes such as language development and socio-emotional development.

Another critical step is integrating digital tools into the local delivery of family support services, which will require training for frontline staff to effectively use and recommend these tools. To address this, further research should be carried out to explore the best ways for developers of digital products to work alongside community services, such as health visits, libraries and family hubs, as effective channels for introducing new digital products to low-income families.

Addressing these considerations is essential to ensuring that digital solutions like TANDEM can complement and enhance existing services, ultimately providing accessible and effective support for parents and caregivers.

This innovation partnership between Nesta and Early Ideas Limited ended in September 2024. Early Ideas Limited was invited to present TANDEM at the London Libraries Conference and as a result, some library staff members who attended the event registered their interest and joined the TANDEM waitlist. Early Ideas Limited also received investment from impact investor Bethnal Green Ventures in October 2024 to continue building on the TANDEM app and its capabilities.