The impact of pre-school on young children's cognitive attainments at entry to reception.

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Early years

How did family background affect children's development?

Differences in family background were investigated and a few were found to be linked to children's learning.

Family social economic status, based on parental occupation, indicated that non-manual professional and managerial status was linked to higher attainment upon starting school.
Children who were eligible for free school meals, (an indicator of low income and socio-economic disadvantage) scored lower than other children, but the impact of this was fairly small – for example, it was less than the effect found for gender on pre-reading scores.
There was no evidence that children whose mothers worked part time or full time had lower scores at the start of primary school.
Father's employment status had no significant effects.
The factor which had the strongest and most significant impact on attainment scores in all areas was the mother's level of qualification. The net impact was about twice that of the gender gap for pre-reading and early number concepts.
Father's level of qualification was only linked to pre-reading.

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Research Home Themes \| Find digests \| About the digests resources glossary researchers contact TRIPS Introduction What were the main factors that affected children’s early progress? How did the home learning environment affect children's development? How did family background affect children's development? How did individual differences affect children's development? How did the length of time that children spent attending pre-school affect their attainment? What conclusions did the researchers draw from their study? What were the aims of this study and how was it designed? What are the implications of the study for practitioners? Where can I find out more? Send us your feedback Collated digests To view/remove/add notes and save your collated digests click here Get Word Reader The impact of pre-school on young children's cognitive attainments at entry to reception. This digest found in Early years Send to a friend Word doc 70KB Printer friendly Collate for later How did family background affect children's development? Differences in family background were investigated and a few were found to be linked to children's learning. Family social economic status, based on parental occupation, indicated that non-manual professional and managerial status was linked to higher attainment upon starting school. Children who were eligible for free school meals, (an indicator of low income and socio-economic disadvantage) scored lower than other children, but the impact of this was fairly small – for example, it was less than the effect found for gender on pre-reading scores. There was no evidence that children whose mothers worked part time or full time had lower scores at the start of primary school. Father's employment status had no significant effects. The factor which had the strongest and most significant impact on attainment scores in all areas was the mother's level of qualification. The net impact was about twice that of the gender gap for pre-reading and early number concepts. Father's level of qualification was only linked to pre-reading.