Appendix A
Effective Pre-school Provision in Northern Ireland (EPPNI)
The Effective Pre-school Provision in Northern Ireland (EPPNI) project is a parallel project to the
Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) project in England. EPPNI is a major
longitudinal study of a sample of children (Northern Ireland) followed from age of 3 to age 8
years. The focus of the study is the effects of pre-school education for 3 and 4 year olds. EPPNI
studied a range of different types of pre-school settings and 850 children from differing social
backgrounds. The research team collected information on children’s parents, home
environments and the 80 pre-school settings they attended. Northern Ireland has a different
pattern of pre-school provision from England. There are neither Local Authority day nurseries
nor integrated centres and hence EPPNI did not include consideration of such settings.
However, 3-year-old children in rural areas may be in primary schools either in a specific pre-
school aged group, termed a reception class or in a group within a class containing school aged
children, a reception group. These alternative forms of provision were included in the EPPNI
study, and the pre-school settings studied included playgroups, private day nurseries, nursery
schools, nursery classes, reception classes and reception groups. A sample of ‘home’ children
(who had no pre-school experience) was recruited to the study at entry to school for comparison
with the pre-school group.
EPPNI set out to investigate:
❖ What is the impact of pre-school on young children’s intellectual and social development?
❖ What aspects of pre-school experience were related to change in children’s development,
including type quantity and quality?
❖ What is the impact of the home, childcare history (before aged 3) and area level of
deprivation on children’s intellectual and social development?
EPPNI has sought to ensure that fair comparisons are made between settings and types of
provision. Hence, the differences in the characteristics of the children attending different settings
and types of provision need to be taken into account. Such differences include background
factors such as birth weight, gender, parental qualification/occupations and the home learning
environment. Where pre-school effects are reported they are net of child and family factors.
This ‘value added’ approach ensures appropriate comparisons across pre-school settings.
Methods
EPPNI researchers assessed children individually at three/four years old when they joined the
study, subsequently at the start of primary school, and thereafter annually until the end of Key
Stage 1 (age 8 in Northern Ireland). Assessments provided a profile of each child’s intellectual
and social/behavioural development using standardised assessments and reports from a staff
member familiar with the child. Also interviews were conducted with parents when their child
entered the study (with follow-up questionnaires when the children were in school).
EPPNI considered whether higher quality pre-school provision makes a difference to the
intellectual and social/behavioural development of young children, and if so, what is essential in
ensuring quality? To this end observations using standardised rating scales, and interviews were
used to assess the quality and other characteristics of each setting. In addition there were 3
case studies. The case studies included detailed documentation of naturalistic observations of
staff pedagogy, and systematic structured target child observations of children’s learning.
Findings
Effects of pre-school
From analyses of children’s development during pre-school compared with ‘home’ children,
EPPNI found that pre-school attendance improves all children’s cognitive development and
aspects of social behaviour, such as independence and concentration, co-operation, conformity
and relationships with other children (peer sociability). Moreover, individual settings vary in their
effectiveness with some settings fostering better child outcomes than others.
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