Policy change and inequalities in early childhood education and care

This project will provide a comprehensive, long-term assessment of how children’s experiences in early childhood education and care (ECEC) have changed, how inequalities have narrowed or widened, and how these changes are influenced by policy. 

Why this project is important

Inequalities between children from different backgrounds emerge before school. Policy reforms in recent years have focused on childcare affordability for working parents rather than providing quality ECEC or equal access to all children. Good quality ECEC has been proven to improve educational outcomes for children from all backgrounds as well as being able to narrow the disadvantage gap 

There have been significant changes to ECEC policy in recent years and further changes are being planned. In the five years to 2027/8 expenditure on ECEC will double to around £8 billion, with the majority of the increase being spent on children of working parents. 

What it will involve

The research team will answer the following questions: 

• How have inequalities in children’s experiences of ECEC changed over the past decade? 

• How does this relate to changes in policies and provisions over this period? 

• As new ECEC policies are rolled out, how will the changing landscape of funding and provision impact inequalities over the coming years? 

The National Pupil Database, which captures all children accessing a funded place in an ECEC setting, will be analysed. Specifically, the research will involve: 

• Examining and synthesising nearly two decades of data on children’s experiences, exploring: who accesses an ECEC place, for how long and of what quality; how far children from different backgrounds attend the same or different settings and the extent to which they are mixed or are socially segregated; and how stable or disrupted transitions from ECEC to primary school are for different groups of children. 

• Constructing longitudinal cohorts to investigate how economic hardship, special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), family language background, ethnicity, birth month, gender, local area deprivation, and other geographical factors inter-play with take-up of ECEC places. 

How it will make a difference

The project will explore inequalities in the experiences of young children in ECEC, looking at who is better served by existing provision and identifying unmet need. The team will monitor the impacts of and developments in ECEC policy in coming years, with the aim of informing policies that promote equitable access to high quality ECEC. Findings will be disseminated though reports, briefings, blogs, and oral briefings and presentations to select committees and stakeholders.