Research Report: Pre-school and Early Home Learning Effects on A-level Outcomes

Authors Pam Sammons, Katalin Toth and Kathy Sylva, with Edward Melhuish, Iram Siraj and Brenda Taggart, University of Oxford

Published by Department for Education, October 2015

SUMMARY

This report builds on the findings of long-term study the Effective Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education Project, tracking children through different phases of education. The original sample included 3,172 children who had attended pre-school and 300 who had not. Past findings indicated children who attend pre-school were more likely to achieve higher GCSE scores and a more stimulating home learning environment in the early years had a positive impact on GCSE results later on. The quality of the home learning environment was measured by the frequency of specific activities involving the child such as library visits.

This follow-up research focused on 1,620 of the original sample. One in 10 of this group had not attended pre-school. The aim was to find out whether pre-school attendance and early stimulation at home continued to predict academic outcomes in A-level subjects. The researchers merged data on A and AS-level results from the National Pupil Database with the existing dataset from the long-term study.

The researchers started off by looking at the raw data then applied more detailed analysis, controlling for the effects of other background influences. The raw data showed students who had attended a pre-school were almost twice as likely to go on to take any ASor A-levels than students who had not attended any pre-school - 47 per cent compared with 24 per cent. Exam results were significantly higher for students who had attended a pre-school than for students who had not attended any pre-school. Students who had attended a pre-school were significantly more likely to take four or more AS-levels than those who had not - 29 per cent compared to 13 per cent. Those who went to pre-school were also more likely to obtain three or more A-levels than those who did not attend pre-school - 30 per cent compared with 13 per cent.

Those who had attended a high-quality pre-school were almost twice as likely to enter an AS-level exam than those who had not attended pre-school at all. However, the detailed analysis found pre-school attendance had no effect on the likelihood of entering A-level exams and also did not have any effect on ASor A-level results.

On the other hand, both the raw data and the detailed analysis indicated the quality of a student's home learning environment in their early years had a continuing effect at ASand A-level. One in 10 of the sample had a poor home learning environment in the early years, while 45 per cent experienced a good or very good home learning environment.

The raw data showed students who had experienced a good or very good home learning environment early on were almost three times more likely to take any AS-levels, more likely to go on to take four or more AS-levels, and were also more likely to achieve higher average results, than those with poor early home learning experiences.

The detailed analysis found students who had experienced a more stimulating early home learning environment were more than twice as likely to enter any AS-level or A-level exam than students who had experienced the least enriching early home learning environments.

IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE

According to the researchers, their findings reveal pre-school boosts a child's chances of doing well at school and going on to take advanced-level examinations. They call for investment in pre-schools, which they say would have particular benefits for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, who may not get the same support from parents as their peers.

FURTHER READING

Influences on Students' GCSE Attainment and Progress at Age 16: Effective Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education Project, Pam Sammons, Kathy Sylva, Edward Melhuish and others, Department for Education, September 2014. A previous publication from the same longitudinal study.

Subject to Background: What Promotes Better Achievement for Bright but Disadvantaged Students? Pam Sammons, Katalin Toth and Kathy Sylva, published by The Sutton Trust, March 2015. A report using the same dataset which finds pre-school attendance has a significant effect on the later academic achievements of bright children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Early Education and Children's Outcomes: How Long do the Impacts Last?, Alissa Goodman and Barbara Sianesi, published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, July 2005. An evaluation of the long-term effects of pre-school on a cohort of British children born in 1958.