Early Childhood Experience and Development to Adulthood
Edward Melhuish
University of Oxford
[email protected]
OECD 2012: Across OECD, 20% do not achieve basic minimum skills.
- twice as great for disadvantaged groups.
Disadvantaged groups have greater risk for:
- poor physical and mental health
- Social, emotional, behavioural problems
- Attention, cognitive and language problems - Affects educational progress, literacy,
numeracy, social skills, employability, health,
adjustment and criminality.
The impact of family disadvantage upon well- being is persistent.
Early experience is critical in this link: - because Interactions Drive Development.
Two arguments for investing in early childhood.
1. Moral – moral duty to optimise well-being.
2. Economic – we all benefit in the long-term
% developmentally delayed for income groups
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
poorest below average
average above average
advantaged
no ECEC ECEC
on for All Global Monitoring Report”, UNESCO, 2012 Overall score for Early Childhood Education -ECE
UNESCO Global Monitoring Report 2012 - Early Childhood Services
1 Finland 91.8, 2 Sweden 91.7, 3 Norway 88.9, 4 UK 87. 9, 5 Belgium 84.7
6 Denmark 83.5, 7 France 81.0, 8 Netherlands 75.6, 9 New Zealand 73.9, 10 South Korea 72.5 11 Germany 71.9, 12 Austria 70.9, 13 Switzerland 69.9, 14 Spain 69.1, 15 Portugal 68.7
16 Italy 68.4, 17 Czech Republic 68.1, 18 Ireland 67.4, 19 Hong Kong 66.2, 20 Chile 63.6 21 Japan 63.5, 22 Hungary 61.6, 23 Israel 61.0, 24 USA 60.3, UAE, 60.3,
26 Canada 59.9, 27 Greece 59.4, 28 Australia 59.1, 29 Singapore 58.8, 30 Taiwan 58.4, 31 Poland 56.1, 32 Mexico 50.5, 33 Russia 49.9, 34 Argentina 43.0, 35 Turkey 39.9
36 Malaysia 39.4, 37 South Africa 38.8, 38 Thailand 37. 9, 39 Brazil 35.1, 40 Ghana 34.3 41 Vietnam 31.3, 42 China 30.7, 43 Philippines 30.5, 44 Indonesia 22.1, 45 India 21.2
Why focus on early childhood?
Three strands of research support the importance of early years.
The why
Neuroscience shows the importance of early brain development;
The what
Developmental science shows that high quality ECE improves children’s life chances;
The payback
Economics shows that high quality ECE can save significant amounts of money over time.
Early childhood contributes to creating the kinds of workforces needed in the 21st century.
Neuroscience
Everything we do, feel and say from infancy to death reflects brain function.
Birth - 100 billion neurons – all that you get
Synapses increase – 700 per second in early years 60% of nutrition is used by the brain during the first year
By age 3, 80% of synaptic connections are made.
Pruning of synapses not reinforced by experience - use it or lose it
Synapse development influences brain plasticity – change from experience declines with age.
Synaptic Development:
(J.Conel (1939-1967) Postnatal development of the human cerebral cortex. Cambridge, MA; HUP)
Birth 2 years 6 years
0 1 4 8 12 16
AGE
Sensitive periods & Synaptic Development
Sensing Pathways (vision, hearing)
Language
Higher
Cognitive Function
3 6 9
-6 -3
Months Years
C. Nelson, in From Neurons to Neighborhoods, 2000.
0 3 6 9 1 4 8 12 16
-6 -3
THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CHILD’s LANGUAGE ENVIRONMENT
LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT UNDERPINS COGNITIVE, EDUCATIONAL AND SOCIAL
DEVELOPMENT
A CHILD WITH POOR LANGUAGE AT 3 YEARS
WILL BE AT RISK UNLESS INTERVENTION TAKEN.
Quality of Words Heard In Typical Hour
5 0 15 10 25 20 30 35
Affirmations Prohibitions
Welfare Working Class Professional Family Status
Quantity of Words Heard In Typical Hour
500
0 1500
1000 2500
2000
Welfare Working Class Professional Family Status
Words Heard In 4 Years
10
0 30
20 50
40
Welfare Working Class Professional Family Status
Million words
Achievement Gap starts early
200 0 600 400 1000 800 1200
16 24 36
Child’s Age in Months
Vocabulary: Number of Words
1,116 words
College educated parents
749 words
Working class parents 525 words
Welfare parents
From Hanson, J.L., Hair, N., Shen, D.G., Shi, F., Gilmore, J.H., Wolfe, B.L., & Pollak, S.D. (2013).
Family poverty affects the rate of Human Infant Brain Growth. PloS One, 2013; 8(12): e80954, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0080954
Infant Brain Growth - Total Grey Matter
Developmental Science
INTERVENTIONS with DISADVANTAGED GROUPS
Examples
Abecedarian Project – childcare/preschool 0-6
Perry Preschool Project – preschool 3-6 years
Abecedarian Project (Ramey et al., 2000)
RCT of day care 0-6 for disadvantaged children Results up to age 21 years
- Intervention group showed
• Higher cognitive development from 18 months
• Greater social competence in preschool
• Better school achievement
• More college attendance
• Delayed child bearing
• Better employment
• Less smoking and drug use
Early Childhood Education
Perry Preschool Study
(Schweinhart, Barnes & Weikart, 1993)
123 African-American children in extreme poverty Randomly assigned age 3 to program or no-program
Daily High/Scope classes with planned learning activities and weekly home visits to families
ECONOMICS: Return on investment
Program Benefits Versus Cost
1992 dollars, 3% annual discount rate
$0
$20,000
$40,000
$60,000
$80,000
$100,000
$120,000
$140,000
$160,000
$180,000
$200,000
Benefit by age 40 Benefit by age 21
Cost age 3-6
$185,000
$88,433
$12,356
Return on dollar invested age 21
7:1
Return on dollar invested age 40
16:1
Non-intervention studies – General population
Day Care Project – London 1980’s
Effective Preschool & Primary Education – EPPE 3000 children followed from age 3
Effective Preschool Provision in Northern Ireland EPPNI
London Day Care Project - 1980’s (Melhuish et al., 1990)
255 children studied 0-6 years,
1st child – 2 parents working til pregnancy – born in UK
4 groups
1. Home - no non-parental care
2. Relative day care - grandmother etc.
3. Child minder – individual carer 4. Nursery – Group day care
Childcare Quality
Relative C/minder Nursery
Lowest 35
5
0 15
10 25
20 30
Average Highest
Home
0-3 General Population
Melhuish et al (1990) Study of home and day care in London
Controlling for family background factors
1.Language development linked to quality of care 0-3 – particularly communication and responsiveness
2. These effects persisted
3. Stability of care associated with quality of care.
General Population - EPPE STUDY in UK
25 nursery classes
590 children 34 playgroups
610 children 31 private day nurseries
520 children 20 nursery schools
520 children
7 integrated centres
190 children 24 local authority day care nurseries
430 children
home
310 children
School starts
6yrs 7yrs (3+ yrs)
Key Stage 1 600 Schools
approx. 3,000 chd
16yrs
Key Stage 2 800 Schools
approx. 2,500 chd
Quality and Duration matter
(months of developmental advantage on literacy)
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1-2 years 2-3 years
low quality average
high quality
Effects of child, home, and pre-school compared
EFFECTS UPON LITERACY
home e
nvironm ent social c
lass quality
pre-sc hool duration
pre-sc hool low birthw
eight gender
Mean EFFECT
.6
.5
.4
.3
.2
.1
Home Learning Environment
Parents asked about activities in the home.
A home learning environment (HLE) index constructed
(Melhuish et al., 2001).
Several activities linked to development.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
not occur very frequent
Reading to child Library visits
Painting & drawing Playing with letters
Playing with numbers/shapes Songs/ poems /nursery rhymes
• Data every child in England in state school
• 600, 0000 children in each year, N = 15,771 primary schools
We used data to calculate the effectiveness of each school
Measuring the effectiveness of primary schools
EFFECTIVENESS
• Schools where children make greater progress than predicted on the basis of initial attainment and pupil and area characteristics can be viewed as more effective.
• Schools where children make less progress than predicted can be viewed as
less effective.
We have a continuous scale of school effectiveness
Child Factors
Child development:
e.g. literacy numeracy sociability
behaviour problems
Secondary School Pre-school
Primary School
Family Factors
Home- Learning Environment
Modelling later outcomes
0.7
0.1 0.0 0.3 0.2 0.5 0.4 0.6 0.8
Effect size in standard deviation units
Literacy
Numeracy
Effects upon Age 11; literacy and numeracy
Combined Impact of Pre- and Primary School - Maths
Reference Group: No Pre-School and low Primary School Effectiveness
0.09
0.35
0.59
0.41
0.46 0.59 0.59 0.56
0.63
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8
low medium high
Low Medium High
Effect Size
School Effectiveness
Pre-School Effectiveness
Pre-school Quality and
Self-regulation and Pro-social behaviour (age 11 and 14)
Self-regulation
Low
0.05 0.00 0.15 0.10 0.25 0.20 0.30
Medium High
Pro-social behaviour
Effect size
0.02
0.17
0.25
0.16
0.18
0.23
Pre-school quality
2.00
1.00
0.00
-1.00
-2.00
Residual Score 4
4 4 4 4
6 6 6 6 6
5
5 5 5 5
3
3 3 3 3
2 2 2 2 2
1 1 1 1
1
3 Years 5 years 6 years 7 years 10 years 11 years
Time
Group % 8.2% 19.6% 18.8% 17.3% 23.2% 12.9 %
-3.00
1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 6
Trajectories for Numeracy
EFFECTIVE PRE-SCHOOL PROVISION IN NORTHERN IRELAND (EPPNI)
Study in Northern Ireland
850 children followed from 3 to 11 years of age.
Similar results to EPPE in England.
At age 11, allowing for all background factors,
The effects of quality of pre-school persist until age 11 years High quality pre-school – improved English and maths,
And improved progress in maths during primary school.
Children who attended high quality pre-schools were 2.4
times more likely in English, and 3.4 times more likely in mathematics, to attain the highest grade at age 11 than
children without pre-school.
What matters
3 elements for good educational and social success Good Home Learning Environment (before school) Good preschool for longer duration
Good primary schools
Those children with all 3 will out-perform those with 2 who will out-perform those with 1
who will out-perform those with 0 All other things being equal
0.1 0.0 0.3 0.2 0.5 0.4 0.6 0.7 0.8
Effect size
Literacy Numeracy
Effect sizes for 16 year olds
Conclusions
• From age 2 all children benefit from preschool.
• The quality of preschool matters.
• Part-time has equal benefit to full-time.
• Preschool effects persist until teenage years
• High quality preschool can protect a child from effects of a low effective school.
• Primary school effects are more persistent for numeracy.
• Secondary school effects are strong
Policy Impact in the UK
• 2004 -Free ECEC place from 3 years -15hours/week
• 2013 -Free ECEC place from 2 years -15hours/week (40% most deprived)
• 2017 - 15 hours/week increases to 30 hours/week
• Maternity leave increased to 1 year
• New Early Years curriculum
• New training programs for EY staff
• Acceptance that EY is part of state responsibilities
0,0%
5,0%
10,0%
15,0%
20,0%
25,0%
30,0%
35,0%
40,0%
Inadequate Minimal Adequate Good Excellent
EPPSE (1999) SEED (2015)
Comparing ECE quality before and after policy change;
1999 versus 2015
0,0%
10,0%
20,0%
30,0%
40,0%
50,0%
60,0%
70,0%
Unqualified Level 2 Level 3/4 Level 5+
EPPSE (1999) SEED (2015)
Comparing 1999 with 2015 ECE managers’ qualifications
0,0%
10,0%
20,0%
30,0%
40,0%
50,0%
60,0%
70,0%
Unqualified Level 2 Level 3/4 Level 5 +
EPPSE (1999) SEED (2015)
Comparing 1999 with 2015 ECE staff qualifications
USA- Age 5 Reading by pre-school quality: 12,800 children - Comparison with no pre-school (Magnusson et al 2003)
READING
ALL Poverty Low Mother
Educ.
Pre-school
(High Quality) 1.66** 2.23** 3.44**
Pre-school
(Low Quality) 1.34** 1.48* 1.21
USA - New Jersey study 2 years better than 1 year
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35 0.4
Language Math
1 year ECEC 2 Years ECEC
In Norway, free preschool available to children aged 3 years during the 1960’s and 1970’s – huge increase in preschool attendance.
• Analysis showed children attending preschool:
1. had higher educational levels and 2. better job outcomes later in life.
3. higher income in later life
In France, preschool expanded in 1970’s – huge increase in preschool attendance.
• Analysis showed preschool:
1. leads to higher income in later life
2. reduces socio-economic inequalities - children
from less advantaged backgrounds benefit more.
Switzerland has also expanded preschool.
-Improved intergenerational education mobility -especially beneficial for disadvantaged children
Denmark
Bauchmüller, Gørtz and Rasmussen (2011)
http://www.cser.dk/fileadmin/www.cser.dk/wp_008_rbmgawr.pdf Danish register data on whole population
5 quality indicators of preschool:
1) the staff-to-child ratio
2) the share of male staff in the preschool, 3) % of pedagogically trained staff
4) % of non-native staff,
5) the stability of the staff (staff turnover).
Controlling for background factors, better preschool quality linked to better test results in 9th grade.
“the fact that we find long-lasting effects of pre-school even after 10 years of schooling is quite remarkable”
Benefits of preschool have also been evident in Asia Caribbean, Africa and South America.
E.g.
• In Bangladesh, children attending preschool
achieved higher attainment levels at primary school.
• Uruguay has followed suit - studies identified better attainment in secondary school for children who attended preschool.
• Argentina found increases in primary school
attainment from children who spent at least 1 year in preschool.
% in preschool
Latin America
0 60 50 40 30 20 10 100
70 80 90
% in preschool literacy 6th grade Under 5 mortality
Association between Preschool, Literacy and Under 5 Mortality
OECD 2013
“Investing in high-quality early childhood education and initial schooling,
particularly for children from socio-economically
disadvantaged backgrounds, has proved to be an
efficient strategy to ensure that all children start
strong and become effective learners.
What is the role of non-cognitive skills for educational outcomes?
Non-cognitive skills are individual attributes that are not derived from
cognitive abilities,
e.g., social skills, personality
Child’s personal resources at age 5 (non-cognitive skills)
Measures of social development
•Self-regulation (independence & concentration)
•Sociability
•Cooperation
•Antisocial/worried Behaviour
•Prosocial behaviour
•Openness
Tested for effects upon cognitive outcomes (5, 6, 7 & 10 years)
Only self-regulation had significant independent effect (similar all years)
Predicting resilience for 5 & 10 years literacy
-ethnic groups compared with white – mid/high SES
WHAT IS SELF- REGULATION?
• The ability to control one’s impulses, both to stop doing
something, if needed (even if one wants to continue doing it) and to start doing something, if needed (even if one doesn’t want to do it).
• Not to be confused with obedience or compliance; when children are truly self-regulated they behave the same way whether or not an adult is watching.
• Self-regulated children can delay gratification and suppress their impulses long enough to think ahead to the possible consequences of their actions or to consider alternative actions that would be more appropriate
Children who:
• pay attention when needed,
• remember instructions,
• manage emotions,
• Complete tasks,
• wait their turn,
• Can communicate wants and needs – are ‘life ready’.
Effects of pre-school on self-regulation at age 10
How important is self-regulation for children’s adjustment and wellbeing?
• 30% of children start school with self-regulation problems (Williams, 2014).
• Poor self-regulation associated with poor social skills and higher levels of problem behaviours.
• Predictive of academic skills (mathematical
abilities, literacy skills – phonemic awareness, letter recognition and knowledge)
Self-regulation in early childhood (aged 3-5 years) can predict multiple indicators of :
• health (substance dependence),
• wealth (poor financial planning), and crime.
(Moffit et al., 2011) NZ study across 3 decades of life.
• In NZ study - Stronger predictor than SES at origin and IQ!!
Model for understanding influences on child development
Child characteristics
e.g. Temperament gender
Interactions:
Home learning environment
Interactions:
Preschool experience
Language development
Self-regulation
Socio- emotional development
Educational development:
Literacy etc.
• The EPPSE study identified which ECE centres were having the most benefit for children’s development.
• Then case studies of very effective and average centres to ask what made a difference?
• ANSWER:-
• Interactions Drive Development
Effective ECE
Five areas differentiated effective ECEC centres:
• Quality of the adult-child verbal interaction.
• Knowledge and understanding of the curriculum.
• Knowledge of how young children learn.
• Adults skill in supporting children in resolving conflicts.
• Helping parents provide learning interactions at home.
Effective ECE
Sustained Shared Thinking
• In effective ECE centres a specific type of interaction occurred more often.
• We called this
Sustained Shared Thinking – SST
Where adult and child interact to jointly solve a
problem, the adult feeding the child the information needed for the child to come up with the solution.
Both adult and child contribute to the thinking and it must develop and extend thinking.
• Based on these studies a professional development program for ECE staff was developed.
1. Implement a comprehensive professional development (PD) intervention for ECE teachers, that was based on research 2. Evaluate the PD with a cluster randomised control trial
evaluating effects on:
– ECEC quality; and,
– Child development (e.g., literacy and numeracy)
Fostering Effective Early Learning (FEEL) study
Fostering Effective Early Learning (FEEL) study
Results: Quality Ratings
Quality ratings revealed significant improvement for PD group
• There was a significant effect of the PD on verbal comprehension
Verbal comprehension Early Numeracy
Fostering Effective Early Learning (FEEL) study
Results: Child Language
• There was a significant effect of the PD on numeracy
ISOTIS – study of inequality in Europe
(www.isotis.org)
We did a case study of a children’s centre in exemplifying good practice.
http://www.isotis.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/D6.2.-Review-on-inter-agency-working-and-good-practice.pdf
It offered:
antenatal health care (midwives) primary health care (health visitors) day care (0-5)
early education (2-5) parent support AND
primary school 5-11 years
i.e. ALL services needed from pregnancy to age 11 years.
Quotes from parents:
“It’s very easy, once you are in the centre you have midwives, support groups, health visitors, very easy access so anything you are concerned about and you can’t book one to one through the health centre just come here, speak to one of the staff, they will tell you the days.
“You would not recognise me from the person I was a few years ago. I almost live here. I am no longer isolated. The centre has helped me so much, giving me confidence. I have achieved more than I could ever believe and I am now working.”
“There has been great improvement in my sons understanding, language development and overall development since starting nursery.” Quote from staff member:
“A lot of what we do is preventive, you know mental health like postnatal depression, the staff have picked up how to spot the signs, then they will sensitively talk to parents and then draw them in. A lot of it is about them [the staff] having a huge range of skills and experience so they are able to pick things up at a very early stage and then know how to work with the parent.”
After we finished the case study DfE published the results for all primary schools in England.
This primary school was rated the best in the whole country.
“An East End state school in one of the poorest parts of England has beaten every private school to come top in the Sunday Times league tables, published today. The 11-year-olds at St Stephen’s School Primary School in East Ham — where nearly all the pupils speak English as a second language and most are from Indian, Pakistani or Bangladeshi backgrounds — were the best at reading, spelling and doing their sums. It is the first time that a state primary school has topped the tables.”
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/best-uk-schools-guide-lgh8sfr8f
Demonstating:- a full service Children’s Centre
can produce outstanding results for children and
families in deprived areas.
Model for understanding influences on child development
Child characteristics
e.g. Temperament gender
Interactions:
Home learning environment
Interactions:
Preschool experience
Language development
Self-regulation
Socio- emotional development
Educational development:
Literacy etc.
Gains from ECEC
Education and Social Adjustment
• Educational Achievement improved
• Special education and grade repetition reduced
• Behaviour problems, delinquency and crime reduced
• Employment, earnings, and welfare dependency improved
• Smoking, drug use, depression reduced
Decreased Costs to Government
• Schooling costs
• Social services costs
• Crime costs
• Health care costs
LESSONS
1. Early years are very important
2. ECEC is part of infrastructure for a successful society
(example)3. High quality ECEC boosts development 4. Parenting is also very important
– parenting support can work 5. ECEC can lift population curve.
6. Disadvantaged children benefit greatly
from high quality ECEC.
References
Melhuish, E. et al. (2008). Preschool influences on mathematics achievement. Science, 321,1161-1162.
Sylva, K., Melhuish, E., Sammons, P., Siraj-Blatchford, I. and Taggart, B., (Eds) (2010). Early Childhood Matters: Evidence from the Effective Pre-school and Primary Education Project. London: Routledge
Melhuish, E. C. (2004). A literature review of the impact of early years provision upon young children. London: National Audit Office. www.nao.org.uk/publications/0304/early_years_progress.aspx
OECD (2009). Doing Better for Children. www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/doing-better-for- children_9789264059344-en
OECD (2011). Doing Better for Families. www.oecd.org/social/family/doingbetter
European Commission (2011). Early Childhood Education and Care: Providing for all our children with the best start for the world of tomorrow. ec.europa.eu/education/school-education/doc/childhoodcom_en.pdf
Melhuish E (2011) Preschool Matters. Science, 333, 299-300.
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http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2007/a91213.pdf
UN (2010). The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development. New York: UNDP.
http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2010_EN_Complete_reprint.pdf
World Bank (2007). Early child development : from measurement to action. Washington DC: World Bank Barnett, W. S. (2011). Effectiveness of early educational intervention. Science, 333, 975-978.
Engle P.L., et al. (2011). Strategies for reducing inequalities and improving developmental outcomes for young children in low-income and middle-income countries. The Lancet, 378, 1339-53.
Havnes, T. & Mogstad, M. (2011). No Child Left Behind: Subsidized Child Care and Children's Long-Run Outcomes. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 3(2): 97–129.
Naudeau, S. et al. (2010). Investing in Young Children: An ECD Guide for Policy Dialogue and Project Preparation.
Washington, DC: World Bank.
Nores, M., & Barnett, S. (2010). Benefits of early childhood interventions across the world: (Under) Investing in the very young. Economics of Education Review, 29, 271-282.
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