The long-term contribution of early childhood education to children's performance - evidence from New Zealand
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Early years
What difference did the length of children's early education experience make?
Children who had three or more years of early childhood education, regardless of type, tended to have higher scores at age ten for mathematics, communication, logical problem solving and reading age, but not for reading comprehension, reading vocabulary tests or writing.
The researchers suggested two reasons why three years of early childhood education was advantageous to children, whichever type of centre they attended:
Most centres had similar emphases, for example:
- many had programmes offering a similar range of activities and equipment and had similar rules of behaviour;
- children had plenty of opportunities to talk and to listen to each other and staff;
- many interactions took place in small groups;
- few offered any formal teaching of number or alphabet;
- most of the learning was informal, through play;
- books and print were often used, including children's own names; and
- there was ample scope for the development of mathematical understanding through games and activities.
High standards on one indicator for success were not matched by high standards on another, for example:
- the kindergartens employed only fully qualified teachers on higher pay rates, but they worked with the largest group sizes and had the highest child: staff ratios; and
- child care centres had small group sizes and ratios, but it was rare for all staff to be fully qualified.
However, centres serving children from mainly middle-class families tended to be rated more highly than those serving children from mainly low-income families or those with a wide social mix.
Children in the higher quality centres were more likely to explore their environment and have challenging conversations with adults. Aggressive behaviour shown by individual children was greater in lower quality centres.
