In my last column I wrote about the importance of early education and the advantages this offers.
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A recent study from the UK highlighted this. Cornellissen and Dustmann looked at data from the Millenium Cohort Study (a national study of children born in the UK in 2000/2001) and found that children who attended 3 terms in an early education setting showed better academic and non-academic outcomes than children who only attended 2 terms.
The study showed that children with 3 terms of early education scored around 6% better in tests of literacy and reading at age 5. As children progress through school this initial advantage wanes, so that by age 7 these children score around 2-3% better and the difference disappears by about age 11.
The differences in non-academic areas is larger. In physical, creative, personal, social and emotional areas of development children score around 5% better and this advantage persists and is still evident by age 11. For boys from disadvantaged backgrounds the advantages evident in language and numeracy at age 5 are around 15-20%, and this advantage hovers around 10% by age 7.
For non-academic skills the difference at age 5 is about 8%. Interestingly, for boys from more advantaged backgrounds these differences hardly exist at all; in other words the children who benefit most from additional early education are those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Having three instead of two terms of early education in the UK is responsible for reducing the gap between those who are advantaged and those who are disadvantaged at age 5 by up to two thirds.
Having three instead of two terms of early education in the UK is responsible for reducing the gap between those who are advantaged and those who are disadvantaged at age 5 by up to two thirds.
These results are quite stunning as much of the research compares children who do and do not attend early education, so to show such a difference in outcomes with only one extra term is unusual. It is important to understand this study in context. Early education in the UK is not the same as early education in Australia.
Our systems are different even though we share many of the same understandings of what quality early education looks like. In the UK children move into primary schooling around age 5, so the early education to which this study refers is the pre-primary years (called reception class in the study) when children are 4.
The kind of early education that creates results such as these is play-based. Children are offered interesting and engaging activities from which they can chose for themselves what they want to do.
Educators are available to scaffold children's learning whilst they are playing. No-one is forced to take part in an activity, rather educators use their knowledge of children's interests to create opportunities in which children want to engage. Good quality early education is also holistic. It is not just about learning literacy and numeracy.
It provides learning opportunities for the whole child; opportunities for the body to move and grow, to experience a range of healthy foods, to learn hygiene, to interact with peers and learn how to avoid conflict, and solve those that are unavoidable, to learn how to demonstrate empathy and caring, and how to make (and keep) friends, to respect the world around us and care for it.
All of these things are just as important as academic learning and a good quality early education programme offers all of this and more. A good quality programme partners with families and community.
Parents feel respected and supported. In many ways the educators in an early childhood service fulfil the same function as extended family members did in the past when it was more common for extended families to live nearby and be involved in each other's lives.
Good quality programmes provide support for families; advice on managing challenging behaviours or on child development, information about local services and where to go for support, opportunities to link up with other families for friendship and support.