The impact of pre-school on ‘at risk’ status
Four questions relevant to the impact of pre-school on young children were explored:
1. Do children who have not attended a pre-school centre differ in ‘risk’ for SEN, taking
account of child, family and home environment characteristics?
The statistical analysis comparing the pre-school and the ‘home’ sample indicate that the ‘home’
children (those with little or no experience at a pre-school setting) were significantly more likely to
be identified by the research as ‘at risk’ for all measures of cognitive development at entry to
primary school and more were also ‘at risk’ of poor social/behavioural development in terms of
Peer Sociability. ‘Home’ children were also more likely to be multiply disadvantaged than those
who had attended pre-school. These differences remained evident at the end of Year 1. Overall,
around 44% of ‘home’ children were ‘at risk’ in relation to national norms for reading, and 37% for
mathematics.
2. Does risk reduce as a result of pre-school experience?
One-third of the pre-school sample can be considered ‘at risk’ of SEN at the start of the study. By
the start of primary school the proportion of children had reduced to one in five (21%). This
suggests a positive impact of pre-school on young children’s cognitive development, which
remained evident until at least the end of Year 1.
3. Does an early start in pre-school influence ‘risk’ for SEN, taking other factors into
account?
Those children who made an earlier start (between 2 and 3 years) at pre-school had higher
cognitive attainments than other children at age 3+, even when controlling for the impact of child,
family and home environment influences. This cognitive advantage remains evident at entry to
primary school. On average children identified as ‘at risk’ in the cognitive assessments at entry
to pre-school were likely to have started pre-school at a later age. However, a very early start
(i.e. below 2 years) at pre-school was weakly associated with increased ‘risk’ for Anti-
social/worried/upset behaviour.
4. Does the amount of time (number of months) children attend a pre-school centre relate to
risk of SEN over the pre-school period?
Children’s progress indicated that longer attendance at pre-school (months of pre-school) has a
significant positive impact on cognitive attainment and thus may reduce the ‘risk’ of SEN.
Movement in and out of ‘risk’ by pre-school type
Children who attended integrated centres and nursery school were more likely to move out of ‘at
risk’ status in terms of the ‘strong cognitive risk’ definition. Children from integrated centres were
also much more likely to move out of 'at risk' status for Pre-reading, by the time they started
primary school. Children from nursery schools were also more likely to move out of ‘at risk’ status
for Early Number Concepts. By contrast, proportionately more children who attended nursery
classes moved into ‘at risk’ status for general cognitive ability, Pre-reading and Early Number
Concepts. Children who attended local authority day nurseries showed a greater likelihood of
moving into ‘at risk’ status for Early Number concepts. Overall more children in all forms of
provision tended to move out of, than into ‘at risk’ status for Anti-social/worried/upset. For Peer
sociability relatively more children in integrated centres, playgroups, and nursery classes moved
out of, than into ‘at risk’ status.
These results suggest that certain forms of pre-school provision may be of particular benefit to
children aged 3 plus who are ‘at risk’ or more vulnerable in terms of low cognitive attainment and
poor social behaviour. Integrated centres and nursery schools show the most positive outcomes
for movement out of ‘risk’ for several measures, especially for cognitive outcomes. Integrated
centres, nursery classes and playgroups show most positive movement for the social/behavioural
outcome Peer sociability.
51