Children with no pre-school experience (the ‘home’ group) had poorer cognitive attainment,
sociability and confidence when they started school. These differences show even when we
take account of differences between the pre-school and home groups in child, family and home
environment characteristics.
A number of factors associated with attendance at pre-school were also explored. EPPNI shows
that how long a child attended pre-school (duration measured in months from entry to the study
to the start of primary school) was related to positive intellectual gains. An early start at pre-
school (under 3 years) was linked with better intellectual attainment at age 3 years. These
benefits continue when children start primary school. However, there was no evidence that full
day attendance led to better development than half-day attendance.
Disadvantaged children are more likely to have adverse social profiles at age 3 and at school
entry.
There is evidence of significant gender differences in young children’s intellectual and social/
behavioural development. At entry to pre-school, girls generally show better social development
than boys, especially in co-operation/conformity and independence and concentration.
EPPNI has shown that pre-school has an important impact on children’s development. Whilst not
eliminating disadvantage, it can help to ameliorate the effects of social disadvantage and can
provide children with a better start to school. Investing in good quality pre-school provision is
therefore likely to be an effective means of achieving targets concerning social exclusion and
breaking cycles of disadvantage.
Good quality pre-school education can be found in all kinds of settings irrespective of type of
provider. Several features of the quality rating scale were related to increased intellectual
progress and attainment at entry to school. Also there was a positive relationship between the
qualification levels of the staff and ratings of centre quality.
Impact of the home and childcare history
Interviews with parents provided detailed information about childcare histories, characteristics of
children, their families and home environments. This enabled the study to investigate some of
the influences affecting young children that have a significant relationship with their intellectual
and social/behavioural development
Demographic influences
The parent, family and home characteristics of children are inter-related and precise attributions
are difficult. However, EPPNI findings show a strong relationship between a child’s intellectual
skills and family characteristics. These findings are consistent with findings from the NICHD
study in America and the EPPE study in England, where family characteristics have a greater
impact on outcomes for children than pre-school factors. However, the effect of attending pre-
school (versus not) on developmental progress is greater than the effect of measure of social
disadvantage (qualification level of family, SES etc). In addition, for children attending pre-
school, the effect of attending pre-school is about half that of social background factors (bearing
in mind individual settings vary in their impact).
Patterns of childcare before entering the study
Parental interviews discussed the ‘history’ of their children before they entered the study. Data
were collected on the number of hours and type of childcare before aged three but not on the
quality of that childcare. This revealed that high levels of ‘group care’ before the age of three
(and particularly before the age of two) were associated with higher levels of anti-social
behaviour.
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