Using the Speech Bubbles program to improve pupil attainment in schools
| ISRCTN | ISRCTN14448319 |
|---|---|
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN14448319 |
| Secondary identifying numbers | N/A |
- Submission date
- 17/07/2018
- Registration date
- 24/07/2018
- Last edited
- 13/09/2021
- Recruitment status
- No longer recruiting
- Overall study status
- Completed
- Condition category
- Other
Plain English summary of protocol
Background and study aims
The Speech Bubbles intervention is a programme that aims to improve children’s reading, communication and social skills by providing them with weekly creative drama sessions. An independent review of the Speech Bubbles approach indicated that it had promise to develop pupils’ self-efficacy and communication skills. This trial provides an opportunity to build on this evidence and look at the impact of Speech Bubbles on improving pupil attainment.
Who can participate?
Children with weak communication skills in Year 1 or 2 will be preferentially selected for the programme.
What does the study involve?
Children referred to the programme by their teachers will be randomly allocated to either receive the Speech Bubbles intervention for a duration of the 2018/19 academic year or to continue with business as usual. The Speech Bubbles intervention is a weekly drama session, where children will be able to act as the author, performer or audience. Parents and carers will also be asked to take part in the activity towards the end of the programme. Teaching assistants attend an initial training day and a second day with their drama practitioner halfway through the project. After each session, the teaching assistant and drama practitioner reflect on the session and co-plan the activities for the next week.
Children will be asked to complete tests to assess their reading, communication and social skills after taking part in this study.
What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
The possible benefit to participants of taking part is that drama programmes such as this have been show to improve language-related academic attainment, and Speech Bubbles itself has been shown to improve speech, language and communication development. There are no known risks to participants taking part in this study.
Where is the study run from?
The study is run by the London Bubble Theatre Company (London) and the evaluation is lead by the Behavioural Insights team in collaboration with UCL Institute of Education (London).
The schools participating in the study are based in London and Manchester.
When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
May 2017 to December 2019
Who is funding the study?
Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) (UK)
The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) (UK)
Who is the main contact?
Kimberly Bohling (Research Advisor - The Behavioural Insights Team)
kimberly.bohling@bi.team
Contact information
Public
4 Matthew Parker St
Westminster
London
SW1H 9NP
United Kingdom
Study information
| Study design | Interventional two-arm randomised controlled trial |
|---|---|
| Primary study design | Interventional |
| Secondary study design | Randomised controlled trial |
| Study setting(s) | School |
| Study type | Quality of life |
| Participant information sheet | Not available in web format, please use contact details to request a participant information sheet. |
| Scientific title | Independent evaluation of drama intervention supporting children's communication skills, confidence and wellbeing. |
| Study objectives | Speech Bubbles intervention improves reading attainment and oral communication skills in children ages 5 to 8 years old with below expected communication and social skills. |
| Ethics approval(s) | University College London Institute of Education Research Ethics Committee, 20/03/2018, Z6364106/2017/11/56 |
| Health condition(s) or problem(s) studied | Academic attainment |
| Intervention | Approximately 1040 pupils will be recruited across 26 schools, and randomised into two groups - the intervention group or the control group. Children in each school are stratified by year level and within each block, a random number will be generated for each child. The children with the highest X numbers in the Year 1 block and the highest Y numbers in the Year 2 block will be assigned to treatment. X and Y will sum to 20 and reflect the share of children referred by year level. For instance, if 16 children are referred from Year 1, and 24 from Year 2, X would take a value of 8 and Y a value of 12. Participants in the intervention group will receive the Speech Bubbles intervention, which aims to improve children’s reading, communication and social skills by providing them with weekly creative drama sessions. It is targeted at pupils with below-expected communication and social skills. uring the sessions trained practitioners encourage children to tell, act out and reflect on their own stories by creating a safe and playful environment, promoting children’s communication, confidence and wellbeing. This is based on the Helicopter Stories pedagogical approach. The intervention comprises 24 weekly drama sessions over the course of three terms. Weekly 45-minute creative drama sessions will be delivered at schools by a Teacher Assistant (TA), selected by the school, and a trained freelance drama practitioner, recruited by London Bubble and trained in the Speech Bubbles approach, to two mixed groups of 10 pupils from Year 1 and Year 2. Each session follows a clear and repeated routine centred around the telling and re-enacting of stories that are told by the children. The sessions include activities that support expressive language, receptive language and turn taking. Participants in the control group will not have any intervention provided. |
| Intervention type | Behavioural |
| Primary outcome measure | The following will be assessed at the end of the intervention period - the end of the 2019 school year: 1. Reading ability (phonics, literal comprehension and reading for meaning) assessed using the Progress in Reading Assessment (PIRA) 2. Oral narrative skills (information content, sentence length, grammatical usage and independence), assessed using the Renfrew Bus Story test To account for baseline variation in attainment, the child's Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP) will be used. |
| Secondary outcome measures | The following will be assessed at the end of the intervention period - the end of the 2019 school year: 1. Social skills, assessed using the Social Skills scale of the Social Skills Improvement System (SSiS). This is assessed across the following subscales: 1.1. Communication 1.2. Cooperation 1.3. Assertion 1.4. Responsibility 1.5. Responsibility 1.6. Empathy 1.7. Engagement 1.8. Self-control 2. Self-perception of ability to generate and use ideas in their school work, assessed using an adapted version of the ideation sub-measure of the writing self-efficacy measure, with significant simplification to make it age-group appropriate To account for baseline variation in attainment, the child's Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP) will be used. |
| Overall study start date | 08/05/2017 |
| Completion date | 31/12/2019 |
Eligibility
| Participant type(s) | All |
|---|---|
| Age group | Child |
| Sex | Both |
| Target number of participants | 1,040 pupils across 26 schools |
| Total final enrolment | 1006 |
| Key inclusion criteria | Schools: 1. Located in the North West, South London and East London (for programme delivery purposes) 2. At least a two-form entry school (to reach the required sample size across a smaller number of schools) 3. Have discussed participation with Speech Bubbles and signed an MoU detailing the conditions of participation (opt-out process, pupil data provision, endline assessment, participation in IPE activities etc) 4. Able to refer 40 children into the study Schools with an average or above average share (14.1%) of Free School Meal (FSM) children will receive priority in recruitment. Pupils: 1. Years 1 and 2 in the year of the intervention delivery (2018/19) 2. Referred into the programme on the basis of Speech Bubbles referral guidance 3. Not been opted-out of the study by their parents. |
| Key exclusion criteria | N/A |
| Date of first enrolment | 01/12/2017 |
| Date of final enrolment | 08/06/2018 |
Locations
Countries of recruitment
- England
- United Kingdom
Study participating centres
London
SE16 4JD
London
SE16 4JD
United Kingdom
Westminster
London SW1H 9NP
London
SW1H 9NP
United Kingdom
Bloomsbury
London WC1H 0AL
London
WC1H 0AL
United Kingdom
Sponsor information
Charity
Millbank Tower
21-24 Millbank
Westminster
London
SW1P 4QP
London
SW1P 4QP
United Kingdom
| Phone | 020 7802 1676 |
|---|---|
| info@eefoundation.org.uk | |
| Website | https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/ |
"ROR" |
https://ror.org/03bhd6288 |
Funders
Funder type
Not defined
Private sector organisation / Trusts, charities, foundations (both public and private)
- Alternative name(s)
- EducEndowFoundn, Education Endowment Foundation | London, EEF
- Location
- United Kingdom
No information available
Results and Publications
| Intention to publish date | 01/09/2021 |
|---|---|
| Individual participant data (IPD) Intention to share | No |
| IPD sharing plan summary | Not expected to be made available |
| Publication and dissemination plan | Planned publication of an evaluation report. |
| IPD sharing plan | Participant level data is sensitive, as it contains personal and academic information that could be used to identify trial participants. As such, this data will not be made publicly available. However, participant level data will be transferred and stored with the Education Endowment Foundation (the project funder) and (in an anonymised form) the UK Data Archive. |
Study outputs
| Output type | Details | Date created | Date added | Peer reviewed? | Patient-facing? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Funder report results | 01/09/2021 | 13/09/2021 | No | No |
Editorial Notes
13/09/2021: Funder report added.
13/01/2021: Total final enrolment added.
12/01/2021: The intention to publish date was changed from 31/12/2020 to 01/09/2021.
23/10/2018: The intention to publish date was updated from 31/05/2020 to 31/12/2020.
