Early Education for Disadvantaged 2-year Olds

Aug 2009 |

Researcher |

About this study

We've worked with the National Children's Bureau to research the implementation of a programme offering free early years education to disadvantaged two year-olds across a number of local authorities.

You can read the findings of this study here. Our evaluation draws out key lessons as the programme is scaled-up and offered to all disadvantaged two year-olds from 2013.

The aim of the programme is to improve children's development - specifically a child's social confidence, independence, language ability and their non-verbal reasoning skills.

Evaluating the pilot programme

We also evaluated the pilot, which provided free early-years education to 13,500 disadvantaged 2-year olds.

You can read the findings of our pilot evaluation here.

Find out more about our research into childcare

We've also published a findings summary that draws on data from this study and our other childcare surveys, which you read here.

Potential policy impact

From 2013, all disadvantaged 2-year olds will be entitled to receive free part-time early years' education.

Our evaluation suggests possible measures that the Government might need to make if they want to maximise the positive impact of this policy.

Method

We conducted eight case studies with local authorities ranging in size, childcare market and levels of affluence and deprivation. Within each authority we interviewed different types of childcare providers and local authority staff.

When we evaluated the pilot we compared 1,000 families who were taking part in the pilot with a group of 1,400 families living in a similar area where the pilot wasn't available.

We also interviewed practitioners and visited pilot settings to assess the quality of childcare on offer.

The pilot evaluation was conducted in partnership with the University of Oxford.