When the children's minister, Beverley Hughes, spoke at an early childhood conference in New York at the beginning of the year, her audience marvelled at the British Government's achievements for children under five. Free early education and care for all three- and four-year-olds, child trust funds and half a million fewer children in poverty all seem a remote prospect in the United States.
For the Brits in the audience, more accustomed to being unfavourably compared with Scandinavia, it was a moment to enjoy. In many respects the UK is well ahead of the US when it comes to early years policy. But a small, often overlooked, difference in research findings from the two countries provides us with an important reminder.
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