PLUS: Play and Learning at Ulster and Sheffield (PLUS Study: Final Report)

Children’s early mathematics skills are predicted by how much their parents engage in Home Mathematics Activities. Differences in early mathematics skills are closely linked to socioeconomic circumstances (SEC) and predict later participation in advanced maths courses in high school and the likelihood of attending university. This project aimed to explore the relation between home engagement in mathematics and young children’s mathematics skills, and how to support families with home mathematics. This project had three goals: 1) to better understand the relation between Home Mathematics Activities and early maths development by collating and re-analysing existing quantitative datasets; 2) to co-create with parents and early years professionals a set of Home Mathematics Activities that can support 3- to 5-year- olds’ early maths skills and put them at the centre of an early intervention; 3) to pilot implementing and evaluating the intervention in Northern Ireland and Northern England, checking how feasible it is for parents to implement and for researchers to evaluate.