Research report - Institute of Education, University of London

I think that it‟s very important. I think that‟s very important for any child. I think it‟s a
kind of a positive influence. It‟s what you see... I used to have neighbour who didn‟t
used to work „cause she had health problems and her daughter at age 14 wanted to
have a child. And then she said to me, “But can you please talk to her?” and you
know, she‟s helpless. And I did sit with her and I said: “Look at me, I‟m like, your
mum‟s age, I‟ve got the job, I‟ve got the house, I‟ve got a car. Do you want that or do
you wanna just be on the streets, only 16 with a child on your hands?” And she said,
“Oh, yeah, definitely, I definitely want that”. I found that she felt that it was much
better than just sitting down there, but I‟ve always known that anyway. It‟s one of the
reasons why I decided I wanted when my children start school, that I‟m gonna go to
work because, I don‟t want them thinking that it‟s the norm, an‟ that mum‟s don‟t do
anything. Mum‟s do it if they can. Mother of Ife, girl, Group 1 (low SES,
attainment higher than predicted).
Although such examples of personal development were also found in the low SES homes
with children achieving as predicted, they were less common.
5.3 The pre-school environment
The EPPE research has shown that pre-school education can help to alleviate the effects of
social disadvantage and can provide children with a better start to school (Siraj-Blatchford &
Sylva, 2004; Sylva et al., 2006). The final report of the first phase of the study (Sylva et al.,
2004) provides an extensive overview of how parent‟s choices regarding pre-school affect
their child. For instance, pre-school experience, compared to none, enhances all-round
development in children at entry to primary school and children attending pre-school before
the age of 3 show better intellectual development. However, full-time attendance led to no
better gains for children than part-time provision. All but two children in the CFCS (a boy and
a girl with Asian heritage from Group 1: Low SES, higher attainment) had participated in
some form of pre-school education.
5.3.1 Effective pre-school settings
By extending the EPPE project‟s quantitative data with qualitative data on pre-school
settings, the Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years (REPEY; Siraj-Blatchford &
Sylva, 2004) research has shown that the most effective pre-school settings (in terms of
intellectual, social and dispositional outcomes) achieved a balance between the
opportunities provided for children to benefit from teacher-initiated small group work and in
the provision of freely chosen, yet potentially instructive play activities. The REPEY study
also showed a positive association between higher scores on dimensions of pedagogic
practice such as curriculum differentiation and matching in terms of cognitive challenge and
„sustained shared thinking‟ and its effectiveness. The most effective settings adopted
social/behaviour policies that involved staff in supporting children in rationalizing and talking
through their conflicts (Siraj-Blatchford & Sylva, 2004). The final report on the primary phase
of the EPPE 3-11 project showed that the benefits of pre-school education largely persisted
through to the end of Key Stage 2 (age 11), particularly for children who had attended high
quality pre-school settings (Sylva et al., 2008). The EPPE project showed that good quality
can be found across all types of early years settings but overall, quality was higher in
settings integrating care and education and in those prioritising educational experiences
such as Nursery Schools (Sylva et al., 2004).
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