Childcare at two fails to improve outcomes, reports DfE study

The study compared the outcomes of 13,500 children who took part in the Early Education Pilot during 2006 to 2008 with children who were not part of the project.

It found that at the age of five there was no statistically significant difference in the Early Years Foundation Stage profile scores of the two groups.

“For children who attended the early years education pilot when they were aged two, there is no evidence that overall they had better outcomes at age five…than children who did not attend the pilot,” the study concluded.

The findings raise questions about the likely effectiveness of the government’s plan to introduce free childcare for disadvantaged two-year-olds from September at a cost of £1.69bn between 2012 and 2015.

But the researchers did find that children who attended high-quality settings as part of the pilot did do better at the age of five than children who attended lower-quality settings as part of the pilot.

It also discovered that black and ethnic minority children who took part in the pilot were more likely to attend early education at the ages of three and four.

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Pre-School Learning Alliance, said the conclusion that high-quality settings delivered better outcomes was the important finding from the report.

“The report reinforces earlier studies which demonstrate the importance of children attending high-quality childcare provision and needs to be read in the context that Ofsted judges almost three quarters of provision to be either good or outstanding,” he said.

“This report challenges the sector to improve across the board so that every child from the age of two upwards can benefit from high-quality provision. That is why we welcome the focus of Ofsted inspections outlined in the More Great Childcare document, as there will be a stronger emphasis on re-inspecting and supporting weaker providers.”

The researchers did not reach a conclusion about why the children taking part in the pilot didn’t achieve significantly better outcomes than those who were not part of the study, but they noted that the while the pilot provided 7.5 hours of childcare a week, the new entitlement would offer 15 hours a week.

The study also pointed out that the EYFS was introduced after the pilot.