A new project will send parents of young children in disadvantaged communities text messages to prompt them to teach new words and numbers.

The trial in the North of England, led by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) and SHINE Trust, is part of a raft of government-backed measures announced today to improve young children’s early communication skills.

They include the pilot of a volunteer-led early years Scouts programme for children aged four and five.

Education secretary Damian Hinds will today host a summit of nearly 100 businesses, charities and public sector bodies to help tackle what he describes as the “last taboo” in education: supporting parents with learning at home.

The DfE said the text-message scheme for parents, called TipsByText, is “aimed at improving literacy, maths and social and emotional development", and is based on a similar successful programme in the United States.

It follows this summer's DfE announcement of a competition to identify the best mobile phone apps to help with children's early education at home.

Mr Hinds is expected to say that education “begins long before children arrive in the classroom”, but warn that “for lots of parents, as much as they want the best for their children, they lack the support they need to ensure that their children are arriving at school at the same level as their peers”.

The DfE said it was funding projects worth almost £18 million to improve children’s early communication skills.

They include:

• A National Literacy Trust project to improve the home learning environment through volunteering and digital support; 
• The PreSchool Learning Alliance’s First and Foremost programme, providing families with access to digital activities and support through the early years workforce;
• ICAN’s Change the Conversation about Language project, which includes an app called EasyPeasy and investments in parent champions on the ground;
• £1.8 million for a programme with Public Health England, including new speech, language and communication training for health visitors;
• £5 million for organisations to investigate what works through bespoke local projects focused on best practice in early language, literacy and maths, to build and share a stronger evidence base.

Sir Kevan Collins, CEO of the EEF, said little is known about how to successfully get parents involved in their child’s learning.

He added: “By testing different ways of improving the home learning environment – from texts to parents to home visits - these new trials will give us much-needed information about how we can give parents the tools they need to give their child the very best start in life.”

The EEF also announced a new study which aims to find out if an early language teaching programme which is delivered by parents at home for 20 minutes each day can improve young children’s language and early literacy skills.

The trial will take place in 45 nurseries, and involve parents having an initial two-hour session training session before spending 20 minutes a day for 30 weeks delivering the programme to their children.

Another EEF study announced today will see 5,880 pupils in 140 primary schools take part in a classroom management programme called STARS, which helps teachers improve behaviour in their classroom by developing their classroom management technique.

They will receive training over six whole-day workshops delivered over six months, with a focus on collaborative learning to find solutions to problems they face in the classroom.