Peer-reviewed article
Parental knowledge and experience of nurture groups: a mixed methods study
Sarah Cassidy ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study explores how parents and carers in Northern Ireland understand and experience nurture groups, which are school-based support for children whose emotional, social, behavioural and educational needs cannot be met in mainstream classrooms. Nurture groups work by interacting with children at their developmental age rather than chronological age. The research used a mixed methods design combining questionnaires from 21 parents and interviews with 7 parents whose children had attended nurture groups. The findings were overwhelmingly positive.
Key points
- Nurture groups were originally developed in 1969 to support children from homes that could not provide adequate nurturing
- The intervention involves matching interaction style to a child's developmental age rather than chronological age
- Previous research with pupils and school staff showed encouraging pre- and post-measure results
- This study is among the first to focus on parental knowledge and experience of nurture groups
- Parents and carers reported overwhelmingly positive experiences with the intervention
Limitations
The study does not present specific findings, outcome measures, or effect sizes—only that results were 'overwhelmingly positive'. The small sample size (21 questionnaires, 7 interviews) and single-school qualitative sample limit generalisability.
Abstract
Nurture groups, originally developed by Marjorie Boxall in 1969, are defined as an in-school resource for primary school children whose emotional, social, behavioural and educational needs cannot be met in a mainstream classroom. Boxall felt that the difficulties faced by these children stemmed from early years spent in homes which could not give them the nurturing they needed. The main premise of a nurture group is to interact with the pupil in a way that is appropriate for their developmental age, rather than their chronological age. Previous research has suggested that nurture groups are an effective intervention and pre- and post-measures with pupils and information gathered from school staff have been encouraging. Less research has been carried out with families of children who attend nurture groups. This research seeks to explore parental knowledge and experience of nurture groups in Northern Ireland. The researcher utilised a pragmatic philosophical stance. This study employed a convergent, parallel mixed methods design. Participants were parents and carers whose child was attending or had attended a nurture group in Northern Ireland. A link to a questionnaire was sent by the school, 21 participants completed the questionnaire. Interviews were conducted with 7 parents/carers whose child previously attended a nurture group in one school. Descriptive statistics were carried out on the quantitative phase of the study and Thematic Analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. The findings were combined and discussed in relation to previous research in the field. The findings were overwhelmingly positive.
Findings the Hub has extracted
Each claim below is labelled by its type of design and links back to this report.
- Intervention
- Nurture groups: in-school resource providing developmentally-appropriate interaction and support
- Population
- Parents and carers of children attending or having attended nurture groups in Northern Ireland
Key finding
Parental knowledge and experience of nurture groups was explored for the first time