Early educators’ knowledge of early language pedagogy: How can it be measured and does it matter for child language outcomes?

About this event:
We are delighted to invite you to the launch of our new research report. This study, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, explored relationships between Reception class teacher’s pedagogical knowledge and children’s language progress across the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). We used a new video measure to capture the dynamic ‘procedural’ knowledge which supports educators’ in-the-moment decision-making during real interactions with children.

We found that teachers’ knowledge of language-supporting strategies predicted gains in children’s understanding of vocabulary and sentence structure between the ages of three and five. More important than knowing the strategies themselves was understanding why such strategies might be effective (e.g. how a specific strategy might shape children’s language skills) – perhaps because such knowledge supports informed and intentional practice.

Please do join us to hear more about our findings and discuss what they might mean for practice, policy and research.