Your Baby and You: Developing the home learning environment for babies

This project will develop and evaluate the delivery of the Your Baby and You (YBY) programme, with the aim of improving parents of 0–1-year-olds knowledge, skills, resources, and confidence in supporting their children’s early development.

Why this project is important

Despite evidence demonstrating the importance of the home learning environments for long-term educational trajectories, there is a significant gap in both research and programmes. Supporting parents to be able to help their children to develop and learn through sharing stories, chatting during everyday activities, and playing is key to creating a successful home learning environment. Fewer parents are engaging in home learning activities, only 56% are playing with their child one-or-more days weekly.

YBY is an evidence-based intervention developed in the Lambeth Better Start site for families with babies of under one year. Early piloting of YBY showed it was popular with parents and well received.

What it will involve

The research team aim to:

• Train eight local practitioners across four Local Authorities to deliver the programme using a train-the-trainer model.
• Deliver the YBY programme to 180 families over two years, focusing on improving parental knowledge, confidence, and motivation to create a positive home learning environment.
• Provide resource packs to parents and practitioners to support developmental activities and ensure sustainability.
• Evaluate the programme using qualitative and quantitative methods, including interviews, focus groups, and adapted tools to measure outcomes.
• Compare programme outcomes between families from varying socioeconomic backgrounds.

How it will make a difference

Findings will be directly shared with key stakeholders, including Early Years professionals, policymakers, parents, and practitioners. Outputs will include webinars and interactive resources, such as websites, infographics, and social media content.

The research team are looking to inform policy developments on how to support the early home learning environment and demonstrate the need for scalable interventions to support parents in creating enriching environments, ultimately reducing inequalities and fostering better developmental outcomes for children.