• To investigate the combined impact of home learning and pre-school
characteristics.
• To investigate the net influence of primary school academic effectiveness on
cognitive attainment and progress.
• To investigate the combined effect of pre-school experience and primary school
experience on cognitive attainments.
• To explore whether the impact of pre-school and primary school differs for more
and less disadvantaged children.
The impact of child, family and early years home learning environment (HLE)
characteristics
Significant variations in average attainment scores were identified for different sub-
groups of pupils in Year 5 (e.g. by gender, ethnic group, family socio-economic status
[SES] etc.). By studying the way that different groups of children’s development varies
between the end of Year 1 and the end of Year 5 it was possible to identify the groups of
children for whom the attainment gap in Reading and Mathematics has widened or
reduced during Key Stage 2 and highlight the factors most strongly associated with
better or poorer progress.
Statistical analyses investigated the influence of different child, family and early years
HLE background factors on children’s attainments at the end of Year 5. These
contextualised analyses identify the unique (net) contribution of specific factors to
variation in children’s outcomes, while other background influences are controlled. For
example, the relationship between attainment and family SES is established while taking
into account the influence of mother’s qualification levels, low income, ethnic group, birth
weight, HLE etc. This is important, because much of the apparent difference in
attainment associated with certain characteristics, for example, ethnic group
membership, is attributable to other socio-economic and demographic factors (e.g. birth
weight, income, language, family SES, parents’ qualification levels and HLE). Key
findings are reported later in this Summary.
Similar analyses have been undertaken on cognitive outcomes at the end of Year 1 in
primary school. The net effects of different child, family and HLE characteristics on the
same standardised attainment measures in Year 1 were compared to their net effects on
attainment at the end of Year 5. These analyses sought to establish the changing
influence of individual background factors while young children move through primary
school (see Section 2).
The findings draw particular attention to the importance of the quality of the early years
HLE on children’s longer term educational outcomes. A more detailed exploration of the
influence of the HLE investigates interactions between early years HLE and pre-school
effects.
The results identify the size and nature of the equity gap in achievement and how it
changes at different points in children’s pre-school and school careers. This has
informed the Government’s Equalities Review (Effective Pre-school and Primary Education
3-11 [EPPE 3-11] Team, 2007), a broad ranging enquiry into the nature and influences that
shape social inequality in Britain, that highlights the importance of children’s educational
and early years experiences.