A new paper has been published suggesting
that early education places in nurseries have had 'no long term
benefit' on children's development, since the Labour government
introduced free part time pre-school education in 1998.
Victoria Flint, PACEY's Head of
Communications said, "The suggestion that early years
education has a limited impact on long term outcomes for children
goes against a strong body of evidence which highlights the
extremely positive role that early years education plays in
people's lives. The recent study published by EPPSE project
highlighted that children attending early years education receive
'enduring benefits', including better GCSE results and improved
earning potential.
"Attending pre-school has a wealth of other
benefits for children that were not analysed as part of this study,
including the opportunity to mix and socialise with children of
different backgrounds and cultures.
"The vast majority of evidence shows that
high quality childcare is one of the most effective ways of helping
reduce the gap in inequality in the early years, and in boosting
children's life chances. It is important to recognise that these
high quality learning environments exist across a wide of childcare
settings, with home-based childminders as well as in nurseries.
Helping parents to access the right childcare provision to suit
their needs is vital to ensure a healthy early years sector that
delivers the best outcomes for children.
"PACEY is working with government, policy
makers and the sector to ensure we are doing all we can to support
childcare professionals and helping families to access high quality
early years care across a range of settings, especially those in
disadvantage."
The paper is based on research carried out
by the University of Surrey, University of Essex and the Institute
of Education (IOE), based upon observations of 1.2 million children
who took up their early education place at age three from
2002-2007.
22/10/2014