Evaluation of Positive Early Childhood Education
About the study
The National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) will carry out an independent evaluation of the Positive Early Childhood Education (PECE) training programme, which is being run by Triple P UK (TPUK). PECE is a professional development programme that helps early years practitioners create warm, consistent and responsive environments that support children’s emotional, behavioural and cognitive self-regulation.
The training programme will be delivered in the 2026-27 school year. The evaluation is funded by the Education Endowment Foundation.
Information for settings
Please refer to the timetable below for a guide to what taking part in this evaluation involves:
| Timing | Evaluation activity |
|---|---|
| March – August 2026 | Settings sign up to the programme |
| September 2026 | All settings share pupil and staff details with NatCen/TPUK Practitioner online survey (all settings) |
| October 2026 | Settings are randomised to intervention or comparison group |
| November – December 2026 | Telephone interviews with practitioners (selected settings) |
| March - April 2027 | In-person coaching session observations and interviews (selected settings in the intervention group) |
| June – July 2027 | Practitioner online survey (all settings) Practitioners complete questionnaires about children (all settings) Observational assessments of children (all settings) Telephone interviews with practitioners (selected settings) |
Information for parents
In September 2026, nurseries taking part in the evaluation will have asked parents of eligible 3-4 year olds whether they are happy for their children to take part in this study.
The study will involve collecting some personal data about children, including name, sex, date of birth, and home postcode. Nursery staff will complete short questionnaires about children and may take part in other research activities such as interviews or observations. Nurseries will also facilitate visits from independent test administrators to conduct observation-based assessments to measure aspects of children’s self-regulation.
Once your child has completed their reception year at school, their progress data known as the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP), stored in the National Pupil Database (NPD), will be linked with data collected in this evaluation.
You can withdraw your child from the study, including withdrawing your permission to link their data with NPD, by contacting the research team via email at PECE@natcen.ac.uk.
You can read more about how your and your child’s data will be used in the privacy notice below.
Privacy notice
You can read the privacy notice for the study here.
Contact us
If you have any queries about this evaluation, please contact the research team via email at PECE@natcen.ac.uk.