Evaluation of the Save the Children "Families and Schools Together" (FAST) programme.

Plain English summary of protocol

Background and study aims
The Families and Schools Together programme (FAST) is a parental engagement programme that has been run in a number of countries over the last 25 years. It aims to improve parenting skills and confidence, parents’ engagement in their child’s learning, children’s behaviour, and enhance links between families, school and the community. Parents and their children attend eight weekly 2.5-hour group sessions, delivered by local ‘partners’ who are trained by accredited FAST trainers. FAST seems to lead to improvements in children’s social skills and behaviour, and reductions in parents’ social isolation. However, we do not know if it might improve children’s learning in school. This study aims to evaluate the impact of FAST on children’s learning and behavioural outcomes, by comparing a group of schools that receive the FAST programme with another group that do not.
The main research questions are:
1. What is the impact of FAST on Year 1 children’s attainment – as measured by end of Key Stage 1 tests?
2. What is the impact of FAST on Year 1 children’s behaviour, social and emotional outcomes – as measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ)?
As FAST is delivered to a sub-group of families with Year 1 children in intervention schools, the impact of FAST on Year 1 sub-group attainment as compared with a sub-group of matched pupils from the control group schools will also be investigated.

Who can participate?
To be included in the study, schools must be primary schools in England, with Key Stage 1 pupils and not taken part in in FAST in the past. Access to the programme is universal. Children considered eligible for the study are Year 1 children. Save the Children UK (SCUK) will recruit schools to the study with greater than 20% of pupils eligible and in receipt of free school meals.

What does the study involve?
All schools that have chosen to take part in the trial provide data before the study begins (i.e. baseline data) including: information about each child in Year 1, a teacher completed anonymised SDQ for each child in Year 1, and a brief form detailing any family support interventions (e.g. programmes) the school has recently taken part in or is currently running. Schools are then be randomly allocated to either the control group or the intervention group. Schools in the intervention group take part in the FAST programme in their schools. Key staff attend FAST training on how to deliver the programme. They then invite families with year 1 children to take part in the FAST programme – which may include inviting all year 1 families, and/or targeted invitations based on the local teams' knowledge of who may benefit. The local FAST team runs the programme on a weekly basis as a twilight session (3.30-6pm) one night a week for eight weeks. Families then continue to meet for a further 22 months in whatever way they wish (duration and nature of session up to them) - this period is known as FASTworks. Schools in the control group don’t receive the FAST programme and are asked to continue as usual delivering any other programmes they normally run. Intervention schools need to complete a school log of attendance at the 8-week FAST sessions. Some intervention schools are chosen at random to take part in a visit or a phone interview. This might be a simple observation visit where NFER or CCFR come to observe a FAST session, or a case study visit or telephone interview where NFER/CCFR interview staff and parents to find out their views. A local lead or parent from each intervention school also complete an activity log during FASTworks (i.e. the following 22 month period). Once the eight-week programme is complete, all schools (intervention and control) will fill out an anonymised SDQ for each child in Year 1 (i.e. the mid-point SDQ). At the end of the study for both groups NFER collects each child’s KS1 assessment, taken in Summer 2017, to be independently marked, to measure academic attainment. All schools also complete an end-point anonymised SDQ for each child on roll, by now in Year 2.

What are the possible benefits and risks of participating?
Families in schools in the intervention arm have the opportunity to attend FAST. There are no perceived risks of taking part. The families and Year 1 children that take part in the 8-week FAST programme will be known as the FAST sub-group. Their outcome data will form part of an analysis with a matched sample from the control school.

Where is the study run from?
The study will be run in primary schools across England. The main trial centre will be the National Foundation for Education Research (NFER) (head office in Slough, trial lead based in York), working in conjunction with the Centre for Child and Family Research at Loughborough University (CCFR). Save the Children UK (SCUK) will lead the recruitment for the study, and oversee the interventions in schools.

When is the study starting and how long is it expected to run for?
April 2015 to September 2017

Who is the main contact?
Pippa Lord
p.lord@nfer.ac.uk

Contact information

Study information

Eligibility

Locations

Countries of recruitment

• United Kingdom
• England

Study participating centres

Results and Publications

Study outputs

Editorial Notes

21/11/2018: Publication reference added.