Transcript Slide 1

Oxford
Social mobility and life chances
Improving quality of the
Childcare Workforce
Kathy Sylva
University of Oxford
This presentation will explore
Impact of pre-school
Effects of quality of pre-school provision on
children
Staff qualifications and their effect on
children’s learning
Effective Provision of Pre-School Education
EPPE
1997-2003, 2003-2008
Kathy Sylva University of Oxford
Edward Melhuish Birkbeck, University of London
Pam Sammons Institute of Education, University of London
Iram Siraj-Blatchford Institute of Education, University of London
Brenda Taggart Institute of Education, University of London
Karen Elliot Institute of Education, University of London
Questions explored in the EPPE research
 What is the impact of pre-school on young
children’s intellectual and social/behavioural
development?
 Are some pre-schools more effective than others?
 Can pre-school experience reduce social
inequalities?
 What is the effect of workforce qualifications on
children’s development?
Sample
 Six local authorities
 141 Pre-school centres randomly selected
within the authorities to include:
 nursery classes
 playgroups
 private day nurseries
 day care centres run by local authority
 nursery schools
 fully integrated centres
 Approx 2,800 children from 141 centres and
300+ ‘home’ children
Plan of Study
Pre-school Provision
(3+yrs)
25 nursery classes
590 children
34 playgroups
610 children
31 private day nurseries
520 children
20 nursery schools
520 children
24 local authority day care nurseries
430 children
7 integrated centres
190 children
home
310 children
Reception
(5 yrs)
Year 1
(6 yrs)
Year 2
(7 yrs)
Child Assessments at entry to the study
(age 3.0 years to 4 years 3 months)
 Cognition
British Ability Scales
 Language
British Ability Scales
 Social and behavioural development
Cooperation/conformity, peer sociability, antisocial or ‘upset’ behaviour.
Child Assessments at entry to school
(age 4+ to 5+ years)
 Cognition
British Ability Scales
 Language
British Ability Scales
 Numeracy
Early number skills
 Literacy skills
Letter recognition, phonological awareness
 Social/behavioural development
Cooperation, peer sociability, independence/concentration,
anti-social or ‘upset’ behaviour.
Sources of data
 Child assessments over
time
 Family background
information
 Interviews with staff
 ‘Quality’ rating scales
 Case studies of effective
centres
Measuring Value Added
 Multilevel models established the extent to which the pre-school
centre influenced children’s progress.
 Children’s progress was assessed controlling for prior attainment
at age 3+.
 Child, parent, & home learning environment factors were included
in the analyses.
Child Measures
controlled for:
 gender
 ethnicity
 number of siblings
Family Measures
controlled for:
 eligibility to FSM
 mother’s highest level
of qualification
 highest social class
Measuring Value Added
continued
Home Learning Environment Measures
 frequency reading to child
 frequency of library visits
 frequency child paints/draws at home
 frequency parent teaches letters/numbers
 frequency parent teaches the alphabet
 frequency parent teaches songs, nursery
rhymes, etc
Other Measures
 length of time in months spent in pre-school
Does type of pre-school experience matter?
Integrated centres and
nursery schools are best
for cognitive outcomes.
Integrated centres,
nursery schools and
nursery classes are best
for social outcomes.
The impact of quality
How EPPE measures quality
 Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale (ECERS-R
total + subscales)
 ECERS-E (total + subscales)
 Caregivers Interaction Scale (4 subscales, e.g.,
punitiveness, detachment)
ECERS-E subscales by manager qualification
ECERS-E s core
5
4
3
2
1
0
Literacy
Science and
environment
Mathematics
Level 2
Level 3 / 4
Level 5
Diversity
Staff qualifications and children’s
learning
 % staff time at different levels (unqualified, level 2, level 3
& 4 and level 5*) was tested in models.
 For cognitive progress, % staff contact time at level 5 was
positive significant for outcome (pre-reading).
 For social behavioural development: % staff contact time
at level 5 was positive significant for ‘Co-operation &
Conformity’ and also significantly associated with
reductions in ‘Anti-social / Worried’ behaviour
*
Level 5 = degree level teacher (QTS)
After taking into account the impact of
child, family, home environment
characteristics…at the end of year 1
 children from high quality pre-schools had higher
reading attainment
 children from pre-school centres with high ECERS-R
subscale scores showed fewer Conduct problems
 qualified teachers made a difference in children’s
academic and social outcomes
A ‘take-home’ message?
Children who stayed at home were more likely to be
identified as ‘at risk’ at the beginning of school than
children who had attended some type of pre-school.
A pre-school of high quality can help children move
out of cognitive risk by the start of primary school.
This positive impact remains evident at least until
the end of Year 2.
The higher the staff qualifications, especially QTS,
the more developmental progress children make in
the pre-school period.
For further information on EPPE
 Sammons, P., Sylva, K., Melhuish, E., Siraj-Blatchford, I., Taggart, B & Elliot, K.
(2002). Technical Paper 8a: Measuring the Impact of Pre-School on Children’s
Cognitive Progress over the Pre-School Period. Institute of Education, London.
 Sammons, P., Sylva, K., Melhuish, E., Siraj-Blatchford, I., Taggart, B & Elliot, K.
(2003). Technical Paper 8b: Measuring the Impact of Pre-School on Children’s
Social/behavioural Development over the Pre-School Period. Institute of Education,
London.
 Sammons, P., Smees, R., Taggart, B., Sylva, K., Melhuish, E., Siraj-Blatchford, I.,
Elliot, K. (2004). EYTSEN Technical Report No.2. Institute of Education, London.
 Sammons, P., Taggart, B., Smees, R., Sylva, K., Melhuish, E., Siraj-Blatchford, I., &
Elliot, K. (2003). The Early Years Transition and Special Educational Needs
(EYTSEN) Project. DfES Research Report 431.
 Sylva, K., Melhuish, E., Sammons, P., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2004). Effective Preschool Education. DfES Research Report.
visit the EPPE website: http://www.ioe.ac.uk/projects/eppe
For further Information about EPPE visit the
EPPE website at:
http://www.ioe.ac.uk/projects/eppe