Improving early education through high-quality interactions
Published
Introduction: using evidence-informed strategies to develop everyday practice
Improving the quality of early education matters: it’s positive for every child, and especially important for socio-economically disadvantaged children.
In fact, research evidence tells us that high-quality early education is one of the best ways to ensure that children can thrive and succeed in school and beyond, regardless of their background.
Educational disadvantage starts early
The Education Policy Institute (EPI) report that by the end of the Reception year, children who are experiencing disadvantage are, on average, 4.6 months behind other children in their learning. The EPI use eligibility for Free School Meals as an approximate measure of disadvantage, and further report that this gap doubles, on average, by the end of primary school and doubles again by the end of secondary school. However, high-quality early education and childcare settings provide one of the earliest opportunities to impact children’s life chances positively.
Evidence can help to close gaps
Importantly, there are several well-evidenced programmes which can help to reduce some of those gaps. Examples include the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (a targeted programme to improve young children's language skills in Reception) and Maths Champions (a professional development programme to increase educators’ knowledge, awareness and confidence in supporting early mathematics in nurseries). Both support accelerated progress during children’s early years. Interventions work best when they work alongside and support the development of high-quality provision throughout the day.