There is strong evidence that the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI), a small group intervention consisting of group and individual sessions and delivered by teaching assistants (TAs), can improve the language skills of pupils.
EEF-funded efficacy and effectiveness trials have previously demonstrated that the 20-week version of NELI delivered to Reception pupils with weak oral language skills had positive impacts on the language skills of pupils receiving the intervention (Sibieta et al., 2016, Dimova et al., 2021).
Recognising this positive impact of NELI, the Department for Education (DfE), as part of the Government’s education recovery efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic, committed £9 million to make NELI available to state-funded primary schools in England with Reception pupils (DfE and Ford, 2021).
In the first wave in the 2020/21 academic year, around 6,500 primary schools registered to receive NELI. Given the demand for NELI in wave 1 and the continued impact of lockdowns, the DfE committed a further £8 million to expand access to NELI in the 2021/22 academic year.
