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 explored the feasibility of a digital tool to support shared reading between parents and children aged three to five in low-income households.

We wanted 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 worked 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 used 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 had to 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 was divided into three phases.

Phase one

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

After recruitment, we interviewed 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 helped us update the app and prepare it for a one-month pilot test to ensure its effectiveness for parents and caregivers.

Phase two

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

After the pilot, we analysed data from the app and paper logs and conducted 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 were asked to join a wrap-up workshop led by the fairer start team at Nesta, attended by practitioners, public sector representatives in the early years and Early Ideas Limited.

Phase three

In the final phase, we used an updated app and insights from the pilots to set up interviews with 11 potential customers. They ranged from schools, nurseries and libraries to local authorities, foundations and charities. We wanted to know what they thought would make this digital shared reading product more or less appealing to parents and caregivers they work with daily.