Early years workforce qualifications and children’s outcomes
Auteur(s) : Sarah Bonetti, Joe Blanden
Editeur(s) : Education Policy Institute
Date : 12/2020
This research from the Education Policy Institute, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, finds that the presence of a graduate in private, voluntary and independent (PVI) early years settings demonstrates a small but positive association with young children’s educational attainment.
Using a model that controls for children’s characteristics, and drawing on data spanning over a decade covering over 6 million children, the study finds that modest improvements in child outcomes were seen across several years of data, and persisted into primary school, remaining at age 11.
The report also finds that the association between a child attending early years settings with a graduate and improved outcomes is twice as strong for those children who spend more hours in settings – strengthening the case for an extension of the government’s 30 hours free childcare offer, so that it is open to all families.
While the new findings indicate a positive impact from graduates, the report also demonstrates that their presence is far from a “silver bullet” for improving young children’s attainment – this is also driven by a range of other factors in the early years, school and home environment. Early years graduates are also currently in very short supply: on average only one staff member in private, voluntary and independent early years settings has a degree.
In light of this, EPI calls on the government to focus on a strategy to boost the quality of the whole early years workforce, while also focusing on improving graduate take-up. It also calls for a review of early years degrees, to explore how they can be enhanced.
These recommendations follow the publication of separate research from EPI, led by researchers at the University of Plymouth and supported by the Nuffield Foundation, which demonstrates how early years degrees currently on offer are highly variable and difficult for students and employers to navigate.
Télécharger le document : https://epi.org.uk/.../
mot(s) clé(s) : diplôme et certification, petite enfance et pré-primaire (ou école maternelle), résultats scolaires
