Nurture groups have been around for some time now. 

Their evidence base is pretty robust, even though findings can be mixed at times. 

What is missing from the research, however, is a wider understanding of how children feel about being part of a group and the way the social skills learned can be applied beyond the group. 

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Nurture groups were originally developed by the educational psychologist Marjorie Boxall in London during the 1970s.

Boxall noticed that some young children from stressful or disruptive backgrounds displayed behaviour that was more akin to that of children much younger and were ill-equipped in both their social and emotional development to flourish within a school environment.

Back in fashion

The popularity of nurture groups has waxed and waned over the years, hitting their lowest point in the late 1990s, where there were only around 50 in operation. They are once again on the rise, with figures for 2018 standing at around 1,500. 

It’s likely that this resurgence is, in part, the result of a greater emphasis towards wellbeing in schools and the growing consideration of mental health, even though nurture groups may only tackle these areas indirectly.

Of course, the popularity of an intervention doesn’t necessarily mean the intervention is effective and the proof always lies in the outcomes, that is, do those children who are selected to take part in nurture groups improve in relation to their social skills as a result?

Nurture groups: evaluations

Evaluations indicate that nurture groups are successful, at least based on specific criteria. A 2015 review of studies into the effectiveness of nurture groups by Hanna Bennett found an increase in social, emotional and behavioural outcomes in the majority of children. 

In addition, there was also improvement in home-school relationships. There is also some evidence indicating a relationship between nurture groups and reduced staff absence and turnover, better behaviour management practice, fewer permanent exclusions and higher attendance.

Permanent exclusion is currently a hot topic in education and any intervention that manages to reduce the number of exclusions should be welcomed. 

A 1997 retrospective study looked at the data of 308 children who had been part of six nurture groups in Enfield since the 1980s. Of these children, 87 per cent were able to return to mainstream classes within one year.

Three years later, 83 per cent were still in these classes with only 4 per cent requiring further intervention (Iszatt and Wasilewska, 1997).

Not only do nurture groups report behavioural improvements, they also improve academic outcomes for those children who would normally be at risk of underachievement.

The research

One controlled trial involving 58 nurture groups in Glasgow found that those children attending the group showed significant literacy gains compared with controls.

A 2010 study also found gains in academic achievement for 83 children attending 10 nurture groups compared to a matched sample in five control schools (Seth-Smith, Levi, Pratt, Fonagy and Jaffey, 2010).

Despite these encouraging findings, there are individual differences in the extent to which children benefit. Children whose emotional needs are linked to self-esteem and anger management and those who are quiet and withdrawn appear to benefit most. 

Furthermore, younger children show more improvement than older ones, although these findings are mixed. Younger children also show more improvement in behavioural, emotional and social skills, while older children improve in terms of academic skills.

Nurture groups don’t, therefore, appear to work for all children and they don’t necessarily work in the same way. 

One neglected area of investigation is the views of the actual children involved in nurture groups. Generally, the impact is assessed using measures specifically designed for the purpose, such as attainment levels and social, emotional and behavioural scales. To add an extra dimension, researchers could interview the children and elicit their experiences. 

The study

This is what Larissa Cunningham, an educational psychologist, and her co-researchers from the University of Southampton decided to do. They recruited 16 children aged between 6 and 10 and assessed their social skills through teacher ratings and self-reports. 

They then conducted semi-structured interviews with some of the children to explore their experiences and perceptions of the intervention. The study, therefore, collected both qualitative and quantitative data (a procedure referred to as mixed methods).

Over time, the children who attended the nurture groups increased their use of more socially appropriate behaviour and teachers rated their social skills as improving.

However, improvements only “approached statistical significance”, so there wasn’t enough improvement to fully assess the efficacy of the intervention.

Responses from the interviews were particularly enlightening. Most children reported that they enjoyed participating in the nurture groups; they liked attending, felt happy and had fun.

They also felt more confident and had a greater sense of belonging and found the group helped them to express emotion, display kindness towards other children and be more helpful.

Outside the group

In comparison, outside the nurture group (such as in the classroom or the playground), many of the children often felt left out, lonely or shy.

More importantly, many of the children still reported challenges engaging with peers beyond the group, particularly in the playground.

These responses would imply that the positive impact experienced within the nurture group doesn’t necessarily transfer to other environments, particularly in term of increased social skills.

This was a small scale study, with only six children being selected for the interview stage.

However, studies such as this are useful because they often uncover previous unexplored areas that can be investigated further on a larger scale.

As far as interventions go, nurture groups do appear to be effective. This new study, however, highlights the need to elicit information based on first-hand experiences of them. It’s going to be interesting to see how this line of investigation develops.

References

• Cunningham, L, Hartwell, B and Kreppner, J (2019) “Exploring the impact of Nurture Groups on children’s social skills: a mixed-methods approach”, Educational Psychology in Practice, 1-16

• Iszatt, J and Wasilewska, T (1997) “NGs: An early intervention model enabling vulnerable children with emotional and behavioural difficulties to integrate successfully into school”, Educational and Child Psychology, 14(3), 121-139

• Reynolds, S, MacKay, T and Kearney, M (2009) “Nurture groups: a large-scale, controlled study of effects on development and academic attainment”, British Journal of Special Education, 36(4), 204-212