© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
K. SmartParenting Programmes: What the Parents Sayhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59502-9_5

5. How Children Benefit from Opportunities That Promote Their Development

Katy Smart1  
(1)
School of Education, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
 

Abstract

This chapter discusses how parental behavioural changes, having attended a parenting programme, can benefit their child. Parents report an increased awareness of how their interactions can promote child development and school readiness, with outcomes aligning well with the Early Years Foundation Stage targets. Additionally, this chapter captures the system I devised to provide anonymity and confidentiality to the participants in my research.

Keywords
Child developmentSpeech and languageSocialBehaviouralSchool readinessImproved confidence

This chapter goes on to demonstrate the benefit to children arising from parental behavioural changes having attended a parenting programmes.

Assuring Confidentiality and Anonymity

Before I dive straight into discussing the third theme, I would like to talk about one of the big problems that faces many researchers, in particular those investigating potentially sensitive or personal issues in social science—that of recruitment and retention of participants. This is particularly effective for those potential participants who may, for any number of reasons, rather not take part because of becoming known especially if they would like to share unfavourable comments. Before I continue, I would like to be clear in how I define and use the two terms confidentiality and anonymity. I consider this to be important as I often encounter these terms being used interchangeably which I feel can be very misleading.

Confidentiality

When I use the term confidentiality I am ensuring that the identity of the participants who took part in my research is not revealed. I know who the participants are but no-one else will know. This requires more than simply removing any references to their name—I must also ensure that I do not share any personal details which could lead to their identity being recognised.

Anonymity

The term anonymity differs from confidentiality; when I offer anonymity to potential participants, I am saying that I too will not know who they are. I will not have any record of their name or any contact information.

It is so important that research captures all the voices and not just a select few. To overcome this and to promote parental participation and honesty, as well as providing participants with maximum protection, I devised a system where:
  1. i.

    parents could remain anonymous to me;

     
  2. ii.

    the trainers could not see their confidential data;

     
  3. iii.

    I was able to compare pre- and post-intervention data from individual participants without loss of anonymity.

     

Firstly I allocated index numbers to the pre-programme questionnaires before they were handed out. The gatekeeper within each group, typically the programme trainer, would then complete and retain a list that mapped parent names to index numbers. The parents completed the questionnaires and returned them in sealed envelopes to the gatekeeper, ensuring that their responses were kept confidential. When I issued the subsequent post-programme questionnaires, again with index numbers, the gatekeepers were able to refer to their lists and ensure that each parent received a correctly numbered questionnaire. And again they were returned via the gatekeeper in sealed envelopes. The consistent mapping of parent to index number meant that I was able to match pre- and post-programme responses from individual parents, for comparison purposes, without having visibility of the parent’s identity.

I believe that this approach can be widely applicable to the field of collecting longitudinal data. By assuring the parents of anonymity whilst still providing a mechanism to collect further data from them at a later date, this allowed anonymous comparisons between pre-intervention and post-intervention data. Further, by providing envelopes in which the questionnaires were to be returned, I ensured that the parents’ responses were kept confidential from the gatekeepers so promoting honesty of opinions. This combination of anonymity and confidentiality helped to minimise any concerns on the side of the parents and so maximise participation. This novel approach will, I hope, support future researchers and professionals in promoting participation rates, particularly amongst more vulnerable groups.

My research aimed to be as inclusive as possible by looking at a range of parenting programmes in a range of geographical locations and venues, but it was by its very nature constrained to examine the views of only those parents who actually took part in the programmes. This is an important point to highlight as I have not included in my research the voices of those who chose not to participate in a parenting programme, and it would be valuable to hear why parents might make such a choice. Was it because of the practicalities of attending or was it because of some negative perceptions associated with parenting programmes? Additionally, it would have been beneficial to ascertain why some parents did not complete the course. However because of the anonymity offered to parents, such that they were not required to provide their names or contact details on the questionnaires, this meant that I was unable to pursue the reasons why some parents had not completed the course. This is certainly an area that needs further research.

Now on to what the literature has to say about the impact of parenting on children’s development and attainment.

The Impact of Parenting on Children’s Development and Attainment

The engagement and interaction of families is a key component in children’s development (Feinstein et al. 2004) and education (Desforges and Abouchaar 2003). Here development, as outlined in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework, includes: personal social and emotional; literacy; communication and language; mathematics; understanding the world; physical; expressive arts and design. These elements are the precursors to, and foundation blocks of, the child’s subsequent educational attainment. The rationale for combining “development” and “attainment” in this section is that between them they cover the entire age range from young infants, through preschool and into primary and secondary education.

Desforges and Abouchaar’s review found that at home parenting had a bigger impact regarding variations in child attainment than the quality and composition of primary schooling. Parents were found to be the key influences on the choices young people make at ages 14 and 16. This further supports the importance of the parent–child relationship and the investment of developing this through such initiatives as parenting programmes. Research such as that of Desforges and Abouchaar suggests that parental input impacts on children’s lifelong learning, behaviour and developmental outcomes. They make a strong argument that parental engagement with their child at home “is much more significant than any other factor open to educational influence” (Desforges and Abouchaar 2003, p. 91). Hattie’s (2009) meta-analysis into the contributions from the home on their child’s education agrees with Desforges and Abouchaar’s findings in that the effect of parental engagement in their child’s learning over a child’s school career can make a difference equivalent to adding an extra one to one-and-a-half years to their child’s education. Harris and Goodall (2007) also agree that parents who support their child’s learning have the largest influence on their child’s educational achievements; they found that when parents and teachers worked together to support the child’s education there was a significant improvement in the child’s learning, further supporting the role of the parent in their child’s educational development. Harris and Goodall suggest that:

Parents have the greatest influence on the achievement of young people through supporting their learning in the home rather than supporting activities in the school. It is their support of learning within the home environment that makes the maximum difference to achievement.

(Harris and Goodall 2007, p. 5)

They consider that the most significant forms of parental engagement are frequently invisible to schools. This is more about the general support parents provide such as trips to the library which the school may not be aware of.

Further, Pomerantz et al. (2007) propose that:

Parents’ involvement may be particularly beneficial for children when it is autonomy-supportive, process focused, characterized by positive affect, or accompanied by positive beliefs. However, parents’ involvement may have costs for children if it is controlling … characterised by negative affect, or accompanied by negative beliefs.

(Pomerantz et al. 2007, p. 388)

This is supported by Hong and Ho (2005) who discovered that for parents of adolescents, excessive parental monitoring of their homework and social life had a negative effect on their teenager’s educational aspirations. Hattie’s meta-analysis agreed that parents adopting “a surveillance approach” (Hattie 2009, p. 68) regarding their adolescent son or daughter’s homework and social life could result in a negative impact on their child’s learning.

Interestingly Hong and Ho (2005) also suggest that it was parental aspirations that had the most significant influence on children’s achievement. Hattie (2009), whose meta-analysis included Hong and Ho’s study, found that the strongest correlation with children’s achievement was indeed parents having high expectations and aspirations for their children, resulting in adding the equivalent of an extra two to three years to their child’s education.

Russell and Granville (2005) recognise that there are a number of factors that can affect how parents support their child’s education and have identified seven different types of parental involvement—informal, semi-formal, formal, active, less active, home based and school based. They were surprised by the amount of impact that parental support in the home can have on the child’s educational attainment. Input at home could range from helping with homework and providing learning resources through to simply talking to their child about their day. Based on my professional experience I consider that parents should be encouraged to value the importance and impact of the time they spend simply talking to their child about their school day or activities or tasks they share at home. This interest in their child especially if coupled with parental aspirations (Hong and Ho 2005; Hattie 2009) could have a positive effect on their child’s education.

For some parents where they may be living in crisis (Sampson 2007) pressure to support their child’s homework could add to what already may be a very difficult time. From my professional experience, working with a young woman who was coming to terms with having lost her mother and suddenly finding herself to have effectively become the parent of her brother, I found that she was in a constant battle with him as she tried to encourage and support him to do his homework; a battle that neither of them enjoyed. It was only after agreeing with the school that this family did not need the additional pressure of having to get the child to complete his homework and then discussing with the sister the importance of what she was already doing with her brother, sharing activities and tasks in the home and talking about those, that she realised she was still supporting his education.

Russell and Granville found that for some parents supporting their child’s education meant paying tutors to teach their child, particularly around exam time. I have also found in my professional experience that more parents are employing tutors to support their child’s education but not just at exam time or in secondary school but starting whilst at primary school. Additionally I have found more parents making arrangements with school to take their child out during the school day to have these sessions rather than after school. It may be the case that the child is benefitting educationally from these sessions, but the constant pressure and time spent on literacy and maths raises concerns as to whether the child is missing out on other important subjects which would give them the chance to discover areas of expertise and passion, in addition to the lack of essential play opportunities when they have to go to additional classes after school. School test and exam results may improve but what about the child’s well-being? This is an area for further research, however it is not one that will be addressed in this study.

As a direct outcome of Desforges and Abouchaar’s (2003) report, local authorities country-wide received funding to recruit Parent Support Advisors (PSA) whose role included delivering parenting programmes. The remit of the PSA was to assist in tackling underachievement by working in partnership with families in a school context to enable pupils to have full access to educational opportunities and overcome barriers to learning and participation. The principle behind the PSA role is one of preventative and early intervention (Lindsay et al. 2009). Their role includes targeting parents of children and young people whom local agencies agree to be at risk or those parents with problems that are known to put their children at risk; for example, parents who are offenders or who have mental health, drug or alcohol problems. A key focus of their role is to ensure that they engage with parents and where appropriate refer them to a parenting programme, often one which has been specifically tailored by the local authority.

Following Desforges and Abouchaar’s (2003) review, a few years later Goodall and Vorhaus (2011) carried out a follow-on review to establish what interventions best supported and improved parental engagement in their child’s education. Interventions included in the review were those that were aimed at supporting parental engagement in the education of children from five years of age through to 19. Goodall and Vorhaus summarised the importance of ensuring that a parental engagement strategy needed to be integrated as part of the ethos of the whole school approach. They also stressed the importance of understanding what a parent already does with their child and how they are more likely to work with the school when they try to engage them further in their children’s learning. Goodall and Vorhaus proposed that interventions should be targeted at certain groups of parents and importantly families’ cultures and expectations should be taken into account when considering appropriate interventions.

Returning to Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological model and the effects of the parent on the child’s development and attainment, we see that proximal interactions between the parent and their child have the most immediate and earliest influence on the child. Kiernan et al. (2008) recognised the importance of the parents’ role in their children’s lives when they examined the factors that contributed to the school readiness of children living in a disadvantaged area. The findings from Kiernan et al.’s (2008) study have contributed to the design of new services in three disadvantaged areas of North Dublin in Ireland to help develop parenting skills with the intention that this will improve school readiness. Sampson (2002, 2003, 2004, 2007) has carried out extensive research in the USA around family interventions and children’s attainment for poor black and Latino families; much of his work has focused on promoting a positive learning environment. Evidence supports that home life can have a huge impact on the child and their education. Sampson (2007) proposes that children who receive help with their homework and live in a more positive home environment will do well in school. However, Sampson (2007) found that many families live in crisis and although in most cases parents do want to support their children other priorities are at the forefront, including how to pay the bills.

Some existing research into parenting programmes has touched on the impact they have on the child’s development and attainment. Furlong et al.’s (2012) review of parenting programmes for parents with children aged two to 12 included child educational or cognitive abilities as a secondary outcome, however only four out of the 13 studies included in the review had data for this and one of those was excluded as some of the information was missing. All measures were of short-term impact and none of the studies were carried out in the UK. Furlong et al. (2012) were unable to draw any conclusions on the effectiveness of the parenting programme’s impact with regards to educational and cognitive abilities; this could be attributed to the short-term nature of the studies. Although attainment was not the focus of Hallam, Rogers and Shaw’s study (2006) it was recognised that where parenting programmes had an educational focus promoting home-school links, it was beneficial to children in school. School attendance was not one of the reasons for parents attending the programmes examined by Rogers et al. (2008), but they suggest that a positive approach to morning routines at home resulted in improved school attendance.

As part of their research for their book “Educating Ruby: what our children really need to learn” (2015) Claxton and Lucas interviewed parents and were particularly struck by one letter where a parent thanks the school for running a workshop for parents which they found invaluable in providing them with the correct language, tools and ideas to support their child’s education. This appears to further demonstrate that parents want to be good parents and to be better able to support their child’s education, however sometimes they need help in achieving this; parenting workshops or programmes could be the means to provide this support. Hattie (2009) also raises the importance around parents being able to “speak the language of schooling” (Hattie 2009, p. 71) to help parents support and develop their child’s learning.

Claxton and Lucas go on to suggest that before we can look at how to shape the education system we need to first look at what parents can provide for children at home to support their education: “the informal ‘domestic curriculum’” (Claxton and Lucas 2015, p. 154). Here they talk about how the parent can model and coach engagement in learning using the example of a Scrabble game to illustrate how the parent could support their child with developing words from the letters in a fun way, and of course remembering to praise the child when they formed their letters into a word; this will not only help the child with their language and spelling but also help promote the child’s confidence and self-belief in their own ability. Parents do not necessarily mean to but inadvertently they can dampen their child’s curiosity when they get frustrated with answering their child’s questions and no longer bother to respond. At the heart of our learning is curiosity and parents hold a key role in nurturing and developing this by answering their child’s questions about the world; however silly or obvious they may seem to the parent, to the child they are still learning about the world. Games can be played to promote the child’s curiosity and of course this will also help develop the child’s language and communication skills. Claxton and Lucas suggest that a great deal of unhappiness comes from poor explanation or unintentional misinterpretations; in other words poor communication. To help children to develop their communication skills and have their opinions valued, parents could develop opportunities where their child could practise this skill, around the dinner table or with a game of “Just a minute” (Claxton and Lucas 2015). Many of these ideas sound obvious but evidence has shown that not all parents are actively engaging in conversations with their child.

Clearly parenting can have a considerable impact on children’s development and attainment. My research included an investigation of if and how parenting programmes have a role to play in this regard.

What the Parents Say

Going back to the parents who participated in my research, all eight parents interviewed reported that since attending the programme they had observed an improvement in one or more areas of their child’s development. This sits comfortably within Bronfenbrenner’s ecological model, specifically the microsystem where there is a direct interaction between parent and child.

Sophia was one of the parents who recognised that by attending a PEEP group she was learning how she could promote her son’s development:

I think it’s the fact you can see him developing, it’s also you having the ideas to be able to help develop.

The areas of development reported by parents are: speech and language; social; behavioural; confidence; school readiness and education. Each of these areas will be investigated individually below.

Speech and Language Development

An integral element of the PEEP programme is promoting speech and language development through songs and rhymes in addition to sharing books and stories, so it is not surprising that so many of the PEEP parents report an improvement in their child’s speech and language:

She is talking more clearly, using longer sentences and able to tell me stories nearly word for word

PEEP (Q-post)

Talking more, using more words

PEEP (Q-post)

Her vocabulary has broadened. Found her voice, so expresses herself at home with her two loud older brothers!

PEEP (Q-post)

Seems to be developing fast … verbal communication better

PEEP (Q-post)

Speech has improved

PEEP (Q-post)

Emma recognises how her son’s speech has improved:

His speech – because before he started nursery and coming up here his speech wasn’t that well, and since he’s been going to nursery and coming up here he’s started saying so many more words. And now he’s like saying sentences and it’s more clearer; before he wasn’t that well with his speech

Emma

For Adelajda attending PEEP has been key in developing her daughters’ spoken English. At home the family only spoke their native tongue, so coming to the group was the girls’ main exposure to taking part in English speaking interactions.

Emma had noticed a difference in her son’s language development since reading and sharing stories with him:

…he’s more interested in books. Before if I showed him a book he didn’t want to read it, he’d just want to play with a car or something. But now he actually sits down and I read the book to him and he like points out things in the book and says what it is, so I think it has helped him.

Mirroring singing and reading activities at home, as promoted during PEEP sessions, appears to be supporting speech and language development in the child. The data analysis suggests not only are PEEP parents reporting an improvement in their child’s speech and language, they have also identified the value of singing rhymes and sharing stories and books with their child, even babies, in promoting this.

For The Incredible Years and Triple-P programmes the questionnaire and interview data analysis has not identified activities that could promote speech and language development as important components of the programmes. This could be attributed to two factors: firstly the focus of attending the programme for parents is usually around improving their child’s behaviour and secondly the children are mostly older and in school.

Social Development

One of the main outcomes reported by parents on the post-programme questionnaire after attending a PEEP group is improved child social development:

My children have become more sociable with others and are able to sit still for longer

PEEP (Q-post)

They are more happy. They like to play. They like other children

PEEP (Q-post)

He is more confident and plays nicer with children of his age.

PEEP (Q-post)

I find he behaves better and plays with other children and getting better at sharing. It nice seeing him playing

PEEP (Q-post)

Recognising the value of their child socialising with other children was also a common response from the PEEP parents interviewed:

I think those groups are really brilliant because they can like prepare you for it so, so kids are really prepared for to play with kids

Adelajda

…they’re getting the confidence to be um … with other children, learn to share, sit down, snack time and it’s kinda routine

Sophia

…social development – they’re a lot more sociable

Emma

…interaction with other kids, so he’s developed.

Jacob

For Emma, and many other parents that I spoke to in the groups, she felt:

If they didn’t come here then they wouldn’t like socialise with many other children

For The Incredible Years and Triple-P parents, socialising is viewed through a different lens; for these parents the data suggest it is more about how their child’s behaviour can have a negative impact on how their child socialises with other children. This will be discussed further in the next section on behaviour.

Behavioural Development

One of the most noteworthy areas of development that was evident from the data analysis across all three programmes was behavioural. This was especially notable from parents who attended The Incredible Years and Triple-P programmes and could be attributed to parental attendance on these programmes being largely motivated by concerns around their child’s behaviour.

…they are a lot calmer and enjoy playing with a variety of things

PEEP (Q-year)

They are able to talk about their feelings, and be kinder

The Incredible Years (Q-post)

…much happier and more compliant

The Incredible Years (Q-post)

The questionnaire responses suggest that behavioural development is being assisted by parents adopting strategies taught on the programme:

…they are taking more notice of what I say. Their faces light up with positive praise.

Triple-P (Q-post)

The parents interviewed also report how a change in their own behaviour is having an impact on their child’s behaviour:

It does seem to have more of an impact if you say ‘right you’ve done this, now I’m going to take away something’, and they’re like [in squealy voice] ‘no’. Whereas if you’re shouting at them they start shouting back, and I think it then escalates the whole situation.

Emma

Isabella tries to employ many of the strategies learnt during her sessions and has found they have helped her son better manage “tricky” situations. Olivia considers using the strategies has had a positive impact on all of her children’s behaviour, not just the two she had concerns with. Ava agrees with Olivia and has found that since adopting the strategies she has observed a positive difference in her grandchildren’s behaviour.

From the questionnaires and interviews we can conclude that parents, across all three programmes, have reported improvements in their child’s behavioural development since they attended the programme.

Improved Confidence

Many PEEP parents reported an increase in their child’s confidence since attending sessions with their child, particularly regarding socialising with other children:

Gaining confidence and making friends

PEEP (Q-post)

They are more confident while playing with other children

PEEP (Q-post)

Confidence and we have made some friends for life

PEEP (Q-post)

More confident in playing with other children

PEEP (Q-year)

She became more confident around new people

PEEP (Q-year)

These last two quotations came from the one-year-on questionnaire and suggest that improved confidence was still a noteworthy factor for the parents 12 months after completing the programme.

Sophia found other parents had also noted and commented on her son’s increase in confidence:

Other people who have seen him at the child-minder’s see him, oh it’s great, oh suddenly ‘couldn’t see you with him but he was confident’, … and that’s what’s great, is that you kinda, um, you can’t always be with them so it’s nice to sometimes hear that kinda, actually yeah, he looks really confident.

Jacob had observed that an increase in his son Ethan’s confidence had resulted in his son becoming more independent, and he no longer felt the need to be holding on to him all the time at PEEP. During my initial visits to this particular PEEP group, Ethan would be next to his father all the time—however during the post-programme interview he moved freely between the two group rooms:

…he wouldn’t have been happy with me going off into another room, he’d miss me a lot quicker

Jacob

At his one-year-on interview Jacob talked about when he first attended a group with his older son:

Noah was really quite … a lot quieter when we first started coming here with him but now he’s quite self-confident

Jacob’s older son, Noah, is home-schooled and their youngest Ethan will be too. Although Jacob takes his sons to a weekly home-school group, contact with other children is limited compared to going to school. However having attended PEEP session both sons appears to have developed their confidence which seems to have helped them interact with other children.

When she started PEEP, Emma’s daughter Ella would not speak during group activities. However at the post-programme interview Emma reported how she will now contribute:

…my daughter is her confidence. Because she was really shy before, and she didn’t like to have her say in like what song she would want to sing or anything like that. But now she like, she if, when we come up here they say ‘do you want any songs’ she’ll speak up and she’ll choose a song she wants to sing. So I think definitely with her it’s her confidence.

Ella was due to start school the September following this interview so having the confidence to say what she wants and how she is feeling was going to be important during this transition phase and thereafter.

Emily reported that:

…my eldest is quite confident now at school.

For Adelajda she found that an increase in her daughter’s confidence meant that when she started school she was able to explain to her mother that she was unhappy:

She’s more confident with that because she- she- she can explain what- what- what was really happening.

Adelajda was then able to work in partnership with the school to resolve this.

School Readiness and Education

Analysis of the questionnaire and interview data has already identified increased confidence as being a key element in helping a child settle in school:

He settled better into pre-school and became more confident about attending the new school.

PEEP (Q-year)

PEEP parents have reported a number of other developmental skills learnt from attending sessions with their child that have also contributed to their child’s school readiness:

Concentration has improved and my child enjoys playing with toys in an appropriate way not just trashing everything!

PEEP (Q-post)

New ideas on how to play and ways to encourage learning in a way that appeals to her

PEEP (Q-post)

Play different learning games at home

PEEP (Q-post)

She’s better with numbers and colours

PEEP (Q-post)

One year on, this parent reported how skills learnt on the PEEP programme were helping now her child was in school:

…better in school with listening, just into other activities

PEEP (Q-year)

For many of the parents who attended The Incredible Years and Triple-P programmes their children were already in school—these parents reported that adopting positive parenting strategies had a positive impact on their child’s schoolwork:

A more calmer environment to do homework et cetera

The Incredible Years (Q-post)

Emily shared that:

…my eldest is quite confident now at school and I try and praise him. And I try and do his homework in a positive frame rather than try and force him if he doesn’t want to do it. I’m trying to keep everything on a positive as he does get really, both of them do, get really excited if you do say [puts on more enthusiastic voice] ‘well done’. They get really excited about them achieving something rather than just brush it under the carpet; they really, like, beam.

From the data it appears that children whose parents have attended a parenting programme are well-prepared for learning in schools. However my research could not tell us if there was an impact to their educational attainment; this would require a more longitudinal study following the children into the school system.

What This Tells Us

An interesting observation within this theme, “How children benefit from opportunities that promote their development”, is that many of the developmental areas spontaneously highlighted by PEEP parents align well with the targets identified in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) standards: communication and language; physical; personal, social and emotional; literacy; mathematics; understanding the world; expressive arts and design. This suggests that PEEP groups are in general succeeding in addressing the EYFS goal of preparing children for school.

Parents have observed developmental improvements in the areas of their child’s speech and language, social skills, behaviour and confidence.This is important because these are the mechanisms which will help support the child with their transition into, and subsequent progression through, the education system. This finding supports Kiernan et al.’s (2008) research which recognised the importance of the parents’ role in their child’s school readiness. Whilst the findings of this study are unable to draw any direct conclusions regarding the impact of the parenting programmes on educational attainment outcomes, the findings do demonstrate that parents, having attended a parenting programme, recognise the advantages of providing opportunities to promote their child’s development. This not only further supports the findings of Hattie (2009) and Desforges and Abouchaar (2003) on the importance of parental engagement in the child’s developmental and lifelong learning outcomes but also demonstrates that having attended a parenting programme parents, themselves, recognise the impact of their engagement. This is important as it advocates the value of the role of parenting programmes in improving child outcomes.

The research literature suggests that parental engagement with a child’s education can have a positive impact on their behavioural, developmental and educational outcomes (Desforges and Abouchaar 2003; Harris and Goodall 2007; Hattie 2009; Claxton and Lucas 2015). From my own professional experience of teaching both in the early years and primary, I have found that parental engagement in a child’s education can and does have a positive effect on these outcomes. A child who has spent quality time playing with their parent, where the play has been structured and reinforced by a parental appreciation of child development, or who has had support at home with their homework often reaches developmental and educational milestones ahead of their peers. Hattie (2009) goes further and suggests that parental support could add the equivalent of an extra two to three years to the child’s education. Although parents may not directly identify the changes in their behaviour and interactions with their child as necessarily supporting their child’s education, from my professional experience I have found that indirectly they are making a positive impact in this area.

Finally, and most importantly, the parents who took part in this research, are themselves reporting a difference in how they are interacting with their child and the positive impact this is having on their child. They are seeing how their child has benefitted from how they interact and how this in turn has promoted the child’s development.