Disadvantaged children 'positively benefit' from 20 hours a week of early years education – research

Children from less advantaged backgrounds who attend nursery and childcare settings have better cognitive development, language and communication skills and ‘positively benefit’ from provision up to 20 hours a week, according to new research from the Sutton Trust.

The analysis, conducted by Professor Edward Melhuish at the University of Oxford, looked at the impact the number of hours three- and four year-olds spend in early years education and care, with breakdowns by socio-economic background.

It found that the relationship between children’s development between the ages of three and five and children’s exposure to early childhood care and education is ‘complex’ and ‘differs substantially’ between children from disadvantaged families and their more advantaged peers.

Using data from the Study of Early Education and Development (SEED), a longitudinal study looking at the impact of early years provision, the home environment and parenting on cognitive and socio-emotional development, researchers looked at whether the 30 hours entitlement should be extended to all children, particularly those of low-income families, to ensure that all children are on an even footing when starting at school.

The authors state, ‘There have previously been concerns that disadvantaged children may have socio-emotional problems if in childcare for longer hours, however, the new data here shows that this is not the case. For disadvantaged children, there are clear benefits of time in early years provision up to 20 hours per week, and no evidence of negative impacts for longer hours, if provision is of high quality.’

They added, ‘There are also potential benefits for take-up of making the Government’s offer for early years provision universal. Currently, families can fall in and out of eligibility for 30 hours (especially those only just qualifying), leaving parents with uncertainty about their childcare arrangements, and the process is often challenging for nurseries and families to navigate.’

Earlier this week, the Chancellor was said to be considering plans drawn up by the Department for Education on whether to extend the free 30-hour-entitlement to include under-twos ahead of the Budget next month.

With just 20 per cent of families in the bottom third of the earnings distribution currently eligible for the 30-hour entitlement for three- and four year-olds, the Sutton Trust is calling on the Government to equalise access to early years provision for all families of this age group, to improve outcomes and level the playing field for children.

Sir Peter Lampl, founder and chairman of the Sutton Trust, said that the research adds ‘more evidence’ to the case for making sure that all children from disadvantaged homes have access to high-quality early years education.

‘As we see from the analysis, children from poorer families benefit the most from early years provision,' he said.

‘Giving all families access to 30 hours of high-quality early education is much fairer and would provide essential support to the children that need it most.'

Professor Melhuish said, ‘Overall, this analysis shows that children from lower-income families have potentially more to gain from the attention, support and learning of a high-quality early years setting.’

KEY FINDINGS

• Children from disadvantaged families - those in the lowest 40 percent of the income distribution - benefit from greater cognitive development if they have attended a nursery or childcare setting between the ages of three and five – and the benefits are on average substantially greater if the provision is of high quality.
  
  
• Early childhood care and education is less important for children in more advantaged families - the upper 60 per cent of the income distribution - that than for disadvantaged children.
  
  
• For better-off children, outcomes from attendance are both positive and negative. But there are fewer negative impacts when provision is of high quality.
  
  
• Most of the negative impacts seen for externalising behaviour - anti-social behaviour such as a child losing their temper or arguing with other children - are already seen by the time a child is in provision for 15 hours a week.
  
  
• Increasing hours beyond 15 to 20 per week does not appear to further increase externalising behaviour, except for non-disadvantaged children, and only if in provision for 35 hours or more per week.
  
  
• For disadvantaged children, there are no significant differences in socio-emotional outcomes between those in formal early years provision for 15 to 20 hours per week and children who attended for a higher number of hours.
  
  
• For disadvantaged children, a better home learning environment is associated with better behavioural self-regulation at age five and can also help to prevent the poorer socio-emotional outcomes which are otherwise associated with high use of lower quality early years provision.

Download the report, Equal Hours: The impact of hours spent in early years provision on children’s outcomes at age five, by socio-economic background