One in ten nursery children lack skills to succeed

The report, Ex Curricular, which was funded by the Private Equity Foundation, found that more than ten per cent of five-year-olds start school without the necessary behavioural and social skills to succeed.

Without these skills, children are more likely to become disengaged with education and end up Neet, according to the study.

Ex Curricular author Sonia Sodha said: "One in ten children lack the tools to benefit from education. These nursery [children] show the same behaviour problems as older Neets, such as difficulty making friends and bad behaviour."

The research draws links between poor behaviour and poor outcomes, such as truanting, which are associated with Neets, added Sodha. "It's setting these children up for failure," she said. 

Researchers cite poor parenting and teaching practices as the key reasons behind the problem. And children from deprived backgrounds are the most vulnerable, with 18 per cent of nursery Neets coming from the poorest fifth of families, compared with four per cent from the richest fifth, the report found.

"We need more investment into the nurseries based in deprived areas to ensure that the highest possible quality of care can be provided to the children who need it most," said Sodha.

The study criticises policy towards young people who have fallen out of education, arguing that early identification could reduce the 260,000 young people aged 16 to 18 who are currently classified as Neets. 

Private Equity Foundation chief executive Shaks Ghosh said: "There is currently an obsession with how to deal today's Neet statistics, which is justified, but we need to place more emphasis on the importance of getting the early years right too.

"What we need is a more careful screening practice to identify problems at an early age and a central body of good practice to look into solutions that really work."

A universal screening tool for children aged between six months and five years old would help to identify at-risk children, the research recommends.

The risk factors outlined are poor literacy and numeracy, communication problems, mental health problems or poor wellbeing.

The report is based on the Millennium Cohort Study, a research project based on 15,000 children born at the turn of the millennium.