Objectives
In November 2023, Censuswide ran polling for the Department of Education (DfE) investigating parents’ understandings of early years child development and their feelings and concerns in relation to their children starting school.
The Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID) commissioned Censuswide through creative agency, Freuds, to provide additional insights to support the launch of the Better Health Start for Life ‘Little Moments Together’ campaign, launched in January 2024.
The project focus was raising awareness for the importance of everyday interactions between parents and children. Activities such as talking, playing, and reading with parents have a huge impact on child development, helping them to be happy and fit into the school environment, making friends, and so forth.
Approach and methodology
The DfE’s research surveyed a nationally representative sample of 2,000 parents (18+) with children aged 0 to 5 years old in England. The data produced was quantitative and broke the results down by region to gather insight into regional variation in understandings and experiences of child development.
By focusing on topics such as parents’ understandings of child brain development, social skills and communication development, feelings towards children starting school and the aspects of this that cause parents concern, barriers to and opportunities for development, and how engaging in their children’s development makes parents feel, the research investigated a broad range of experiences.
Outcomes
The research revealed a lack of awareness around rates of brain development in children, and an acknowledgement that parents often struggle to make time for activities they know promote development despite realising their importance.
Statistics from the research produced by Censuswide featured in the national press release for the ‘Little Moments Together’ campaign. The DfE produced resources such as a ‘Social Media Toolkit’ targeted to healthcare professionals, parents and children, and parents-to-be, posters for partners and organisations to use, and a ‘Partner Activation Pack’ to support activation of the campaign on a national level.
