An analysis of FSP scores found that the average score was higher for children who had been in early years education before they started school and was ‘statistically significant’.
The findings by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research are based on a sample of 7,939 children from the Millennium Cohort Study, with ‘sweeps’ of the data at three different stages, with the last one taking place when the children were five-years-old.
They chime with those of an study done before, which found that children who are exposed to any kind of formal childcare are at an advantage in all aspects of development before they start school.
No significant relationship was seen between the characteristics of children and the different settings they were in. There also was no correlation between quality in early years settings and outcomes.
It was, however, found that in naming vocabulary tests, when you look at those outcomes it looks like children in nursery schools and classes perform better.
But the study also found that children in maintained settings had ‘significant worse scores on the pro-social behaviour scale than those in private settings.’
Researchers were able to identify the age at which children
started attending formal childcare, which was categorised by nursery school or class, playgroup, pre-school, childminder or day nursery. The majority of children surveyed started early years provision between the ages of two and four: 31 per cent started at two and 27 per cent when they were three. Thirty per cent of children were attending early years settings before their second birthday and just three per cent started after they turned four.
The National Day Nurseries Association said they have long understood the benefits of high-quality care and early learning, and we are pleased that new research demonstrating this has been released.
It is safe to confirm evidence that settings of all types – maintained, private and voluntary, had a similar positive impact on children’s outcomes, reflecting the importance of a thriving mixed economy in early years to benefit children and families.
Read the full story at: http://www.nurseryworld.co.uk/news/bulletin/NurseryWorldUpdate/article/1008693/?DCMP=EMC-NurseryWorldUpdate.
Source and thanks to www.nurseryworld.co.uk.
