less academically effective primary school; in terms of fostering better Reading
and Mathematics outcomes in Year 5.
• Overall the results indicate that the combined influence of attending a better pre-
school and a more academically effective primary school can give a significant
boost to children’s later cognitive outcomes at age 10, especially for Mathematics.
This effect is similar in size to the impact of having a high rather than a low Home
Learning Environment or a mother with the highest level of educational
qualifications (a degree or above) rather than none.
Implications
The new evidence on the size and significance of the extent to which individual child,
family and HLE background factors are predictors of differences in children’s academic
attainment and progress and the way such influences change over time is relevant to the
monitoring of equity in education.
The study of the net influence of particular factors indicates that much of the apparent
difference in attainment associated with certain characteristics, for example, ethnic group
membership, is attributable to the impact of other socio-economic and demographic
factors (e.g. birth weight, income, language, family SES, parents’ qualification levels and
HLE). Such findings are important to inform thinking on appropriate policy and practical
strategies to reduce the achievement gap and enhance outcomes for vulnerable groups
and the results have contributed to the evidence base for the Government’s Equalities
Review (http://www.theequalitiesreview.org.uk/).
The research also provides new evidence concerning the combined effects of pre-school
and primary school in shaping children’s educational outcomes. The results demonstrate
that it is important to raise the quality and effectiveness of both pre-schools and primary
schools in order to raise attainment standards in basic skills, especially for
disadvantaged groups of pupils who are at risk of under achievement.
The results show that for more disadvantaged children high quality and high
effectiveness of the pre-school seems to be necessary to obtain long-lasting benefits in
terms of improved Reading and Mathematics outcomes. For less disadvantaged groups
pre-school generally shows a more positive effect, irrespective of quality. The research
also reveals the strength of the influence of early years HLE, which is found to be the
strongest predictor of higher attainment especially in Reading in Year 5. It also highlights
interesting interactions between the quality of the pre-school and early years HLE
indicating that the HLE is likely to moderate the influence of pre-school. Again this points
to the important role of parents and other carers in providing rich home learning
experiences during the sensitive pre-school period of young children’s development.