The Prem Aware Award: Evaluation Report

Children born preterm, before 37 weeks of gestation, are at increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, cognitive impairments and social and emotional problems compared with their term-born peers. As a group, children born preterm have lower attainment in all national curriculum subjects and are at higher risk of special educational needs. Launched in 2020, the Prem Aware Award for schools and early years settings was developed by The Smallest Things charity to raise awareness of the impact of prematurity on children’s development and learning, and to support parents and carers and to help schools to recognise and meet the potential learning needs of children born prematurely. To obtain the award school leadership must complete a free e-learning training resource developed by the Premature Infants’ Skills in Mathematics (PRISM) Study team. We conducted an evaluation of the Prem Aware award to understand the impact of the PRISM e-learning resource and the Prem Aware award process on education practitioners’ awareness of preterm birth and its possible impact upon children and families and educational support for children born preterm and their families. Interviews were conducted with 10 parents and 14 education professionals involved with settings which had obtained the Prem Aware award. This report shares key themes from the analysis of the interview data.