A KTP is a programme that helps UK businesses grow by connecting them with academic knowledge, technology and skills.
This project, which focuses on how to enhance play and learning environments to support and benefit children’s speech and language skills, combines research from Dr Tanya Richardson, senior lecturer in early years at the University of Northampton, and the practice delivered across Childbase’s 44 settings.
It will explore the effectiveness of an environmental audit tool – an Environment Audit for Speech and Language (EASAL), and how it identifies a correlation between the quality of the learning environment and the development of young children’s speech and language.
The aim is to produce the environmental audit toolkit for it to be made available for purchase to everyone in the early years sector.
Katie Freeland, a research associate working with both the University of Northampton and Childbase Partnership, said, ‘I've witnessed the importance of ensuring the ideas that are developed surrounding children's speech and language are grounded through the real-life examples gained, as well as through academic research.
‘Working alongside the university allows me to have access to research-driven concepts, while working daily within Childbase allows me to adapt these ideas and concepts within the real-world environments that are experienced daily by children and staff.
‘Combining previous research and new research, can provide an insightful perspective to how we can support children in the long-term, as well as the impact we are having in the short-term.
‘As an associate bridging together Childbase and The University of Northampton, I bring current research into real-world applications, while refining that research by gaining deeper, context-specific knowledge from being embedded within the company. This approach allows us to ensure that the work is both academically robust and practically relevant for creating a toolkit which best supports children.’
Dr Tanya added, ‘This project is a way of bringing my previous research to life and scaling up previous projects to the point where we should be able to reach robust conclusions and create an audit tool that is backed up by empirical evidence. We know how important speech and language is to a child’s holistic development, and to their futures, and being able to influence this through this research is extremely important to me. This social impact is what drives my work’.
