Title

A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial Evaluation of Booktime England: A Book Gifting Intervention for Reception-Aged Children

Research Team

Dr Andy Biggart (PI), Dr Liam O’Hare (Joint PI) and Professor Paul Connolly

Timescale

September 2012 – July 2013

Funder

Booktrust

Aims and Objectives

A rigorous and independent evaluation of the effectiveness of the Booktime book-gifting intervention as delivered in England for Reception-Aged Children. The evaluation consisted of three elements:

• A cluster randomised controlled trial involving 150 primary schools recruited from across England to ascertain the impact of the programme on the reading, literacy habits and school engagement of parents/carers and children
• A randomised controlled trial involving 150 teachers recruited from across England to ascertain the impact of the programme on teaching psactice regarding literacy and home/school engagement; and
• Telephone interviews with 30 key stakeholders (including parents, authors, educational professionals, academics and children’s service providers) to ascertain their perspectives and experiences of the programme.

 

Methodology

A total of 150 schools were recruited during the 2011/12 academic year to the trial. There were a 6000+ children and 150 teachers eligible for the study in these schools.

Once recruited, the schools were then randomly assigned to either the intervention group or the control group. Prior to the distribution of the Booktime Packs, all parents/carers were asked to complete a questionnaire that was distributed on-line. Once the questionnaires were completed, those 75 schools in the intervention group were then given Booktime Packs to distribute to all of their reception age children while the remaining 75 schools in the control group continued as normal. 12 weeks later, the parents were asked to complete a second questionnaire. Once the second questionnaires were collected, the 75 schools in the control group received the Booktime Packs.

The teachers in these 150 schools were also asked to complete questionnaires before and after the programme in relation to their teaching practices.

Outputs

The final report will be available on the CEE website in Autumn 2013.

This is one of several evaluation studies of free Bookgifting programmes conducted by the Centre for Effective Education. See also ‘Bookstart+’ and ‘Booktime NI ’. More information is available from Dr Liam O’Hare