Policy change and inequalities in early childhood education and care
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Project description
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.
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 team will draw on the National Pupil Database, which captures all children accessing a funded place in an ECEC setting, to examine children's experiences. They will look at 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.
Previous related work
This project builds on previous work done in CASE, also funded by the Nuffield Foundation:
- Project: Inequalities in Early Education in England
- Book: An Equal Start? Providing Quality Early Education and Care for Disadvantaged Children.
Project duration
Duration: September 2025 - March 2028
Funder
Funder: Nuffield Foundation
Partner