social/behavioural measures (Self-regulation, Positive social behaviour, Anti-social behaviour
and Anxious behaviour) are also reported.
The impact of a child’s background
The impact of child background factors is broadly in line with that found during the pre-school
period and at entry to primary school. Multiple disadvantage continues to show significant
negative associations with all outcomes in Year 1. However, the background influences are
relatively weaker in accounting for variations in reading and mathematics attainments at the end
of Year 1 than was the case for cognitive development at earlier time points. Both pre-school
and school influences may reduce the power of background influences on attainment in subjects
such as reading and mathematics, in comparison with assessments of General Cognitive Ability
(GCA). By contrast the impact of background on social behaviour shows stronger influences on
Positive Social behaviour and Anti-social behaviour at the end of Year 1 than during the pre-
school period.
Home learning environment
Aspects of the home learning environment (as measured at age 3+) continue to show significant
positive effects on attainment and social behaviour, net of the influence of child and family
background influences such as family SES and mothers’ qualification levels.
The continued impact of pre-school - Duration, quality and effectiveness
The duration of pre-school continued to show a significant positive link with children’s
attainments in reading and maths at age 6 years plus. A longer period of pre-school (measured
in months) was associated with greater gains, even when other significant factors are controlled.
Taken together with the findings reported on the pre-school period, the results suggest that an
extended period of pre-school experience has significant benefits in preparing young children for
a better start to school and that such children continue to show better progress during Key Stage
1.
Quality of pre-school provision is regarded as a vital feature of early years education and care.
The EPPE study explored variation in the quality of individual centres using the Early Childhood
Environment Rating Scale (total ECERS-E and ECERS-R scales). Higher quality as assessed
by the ECERS-E scale was significantly positively related to children’s cognitive progress over
the pre-school period in several areas. Likewise higher quality measured by ECERS-E and R
scales showed significant links with better social/behavioural outcomes.
Children who had attended higher quality pre-school provision tended to show better outcomes
at the end of Year 1, although this appears to be related to duration of pre-school experience.
For high quality to show a continued impact it is important that it is combined with a longer
duration for cognitive outcomes. A short or medium time in high quality provision does not confer
such a great advantage, whereas a longer duration (3 years plus associated with an earlier pre-
school start) has a greater impact on cognitive attainment still evident at age 6 years plus. The
advantages of a longer duration and high quality pre-school show a stronger impact for
mathematics than reading at age 6 years plus. For social behaviour, children who had attended
high quality provision showed significantly better outcomes in terms of Self-regulation, Positive
social behaviour and reductions in Anxious behaviour. For Anti-social behaviour children who
had attended low quality provision showed significantly poorer outcomes than those who had
attended high quality provision. The negative effects of long duration previously reported can be
ameliorated by high quality provision.
Children with no pre-school experience
Comparison of the “home’ group (who had no centre experience) with children who had attended
a pre-school centre showed that both the characteristics and attainments of ‘home’ children vary
significantly from those who had been in pre-school. Despite statistical control, caution should
be exercised when concluding that the much lower attainments of the ‘home’ group are directly
due to lack of pre-school experience. Nonetheless, analyses of attainment and social behaviour
40