18.04.13
£5m evaluation of early year’s education launched
A new eight-year study will examine early education in England, to help understand what constitutes good quality provision.
The £5m Evaluation of Early Years Education study will test the provision’s impact on educational development for children from just before nursery age to seven years old. Led by NatCen Social Research, in collaboration with 4Children and Frontier Economics, the research will help inform government-funded early year’s education.
Dr Jane O’Brien, director of children and young people at NatCen Social Research, said: “The Government spends nearly £3bn a year on early year’s education for very young children and is planning to spend more. This study will help us to understand what effect early years education has and if the Government is getting value for money.”
Anne Longfield, chief executive of 4Children said: “There is no bigger or more important question in public policy than how we give more children the best possible start in life. We know that what children learn and experience in those first formative years can either set them up for life or put them at a disadvantage which can be hard to overcome.
“There is now an unprecedented political consensus about the importance of the early years and we have the opportunity – with this piece of work – to ensure that future policy and practice is strongly grounded in what works”.
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