Children from disadvantaged backgrounds can lag up to 12 months behind their more privileged peers in cognitive development by the age of three and be far less ready for school, says a recent a UK-wide study.
The challenge facing Gordon Brown in combating child poverty is underlined by the second survey of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) tracking nearly 16,000 children born between 2000 and 2002. It shows a gulf by the age of three between the children of the best-educated, most prosperous parents, and those living in poverty whose parents have no qualifications.
Children classified in the first MCS survey as having one or more delays in the development of gross and fine motor skills at nine months achieved worse scores in the assessments at three years.
‘We know that not all children who are behind now are always going to be behind,’ says Kirstine Hansen, research director of the MCS. ‘There has been some work in the past that shows that some children are remarkably resilient despite a bad start in life.
‘There has been quite a lot of work that shows any gaps early on widen once children go to school and as they get older. If they are at a cognitive disadvantage before entering the education system, and somehow this actually widens during school and they are getting left further behind, then this is a cause for real concern.’
‘We are trying to compete as a knowledge-based economy and to do that, all our children have to be reaching much higher levels of educational competence,’ says Eva Lloyd, Reader in Early Childhood, University of East London. ‘These statistics show how we are failing.
‘We know from the latest Households Below Average Income statistics that the number of children living in poverty is going up again and the gap between the most advantaged and most disadvantaged has grown. The redistribution policies of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have not done enough.
‘We have policies aimed at increasing educational performance and raising skills, but they are not delivering the outcomes, which is terribly important for the economy without even talking about the day- to-day life experiences of the children in question.’
But Dr Hansen says, ‘If we are thinking about polices that could reduce the gap, we have to look to some extent at the things the Government is already doing – policies to reduce child poverty, encouraging the take-up of nursery places by disadvantaged families and Sure Start. The fact that these already exist might indicate that if they didn’t, the gap would be even bigger.’
What was measured
The researchers conducted a vocabulary test, asking the children to name a series of pictures of everyday items, and a school readiness assessment assessing their knowledge – for example of colours, numbers, sizes and shapes.
They found that the children of graduates were ten months ahead of those whose parents had no qualifications on language skills, and about a year ahead on school readiness. Children living in poverty are behind those living above the poverty line by five months in language development and ten months in school readiness.
Girls, on average, were three months ahead of boys on both measures, while children in Scotland were ahead by three months of the UK average in vocabulary and two months in school readiness.
Observers suggested a range of reasons for this difference, such as the Scottish Executive’s investment in the early years, the ‘superior’ Scottish education system and the absence of SATs testing at age seven. But Dr Hansen says, ‘Once you control for factors like ethnicity, income and access to childcare, the differences that we see in Scotland will not exist.’
Bangladeshi and Pakistani children recorded the lowest vocabulary scores, below the level expected for two-and-a-half-year-olds. Bangla- deshi children were about a year behind white children on school readiness, while Pakistani children did only slightly better.
However, says Dr Hansen, ‘Before drawing firm conclusions we will need to investigate the circumstances in which the assessments were done, allowing for whether children lived in homes where English was not the main language spoken.
‘There may also be cultural differences in children’s readiness to attempt such tasks or engage with an unfamiliar visitor. However, it is fair to comment that teachers need to be aware that many, but by no means all, Bangladeshi and Pakistani children may do poorly on similar assessments.’
Julian Grenier, head of the Kate Greenaway Nursery School and Children’s Centre in London, says, ‘We cannot underestimate the huge impact that child poverty and the other problems of disadvantage have on children. But it is very difficult to say exactly how far a child is behind their peers. There are not measures that are accurate enough to say such things as this group of children are a year behind that group of children.
‘People should always be cautious about interpreting this type of data. We should be very careful that it does not sound like we are writing these children off.
‘There is a lot of evidence to say that even where children are growing up disadvantaged, if they can attend high-quality early years provisions and go to a good primary school, their educational achievement will be as good as anyone else.’
Early intervention
The gap can be narrowed, says infant mental health specialist Robin Balbernie. ‘In our local mental health service in Cheltenham, where we see the worst at-risk children in the area, they are not falling behind. We measure their social, emotional and global development every six months. It does not need much to make a difference.
‘Being poor does not make someone a poor parent – it is what poverty correlates to that impacts on families. The help has to be tailored to the family. Generalised programmes do not touch the hardest-to-reach families, but the Government finds this hard to believe.’
‘If we are going to to have early learning that is deep and sustainable, we are going to need new ways of working,’ says Dr Margy Whalley, director at the Pen Green Research Centre in Northamptonshire. ‘It requires complex interventions.’
Pat Wills, Blackpool parenting co-ordinator, says, ‘Early intervention is absolutely key. You need people who understand what is involved in working in areas of high deprivation and can build relationships with the families. But the salaries are not good enough and you get a high staff turnover, which is the one thing these families do not need.’
Mr Balbernie says, ‘In long-term costs, early intervention will pay for itself in ten to 15 years through savings on social services, benefits, extra educational provision and the costs to society. The trouble is, governments think in four-year periods.’
Eva Lloyd adds, ‘We need to look at the experience of Bangladeshi and Pakistani children. Many of them are coming to early years settings without English and settings may have problems providing appropriate support, because they cannot easily get hold of same-language speakers. Research suggests that the language barrier is one factor interfering with these children’s opportunities to talk to and play with English-speaking children.’
‘At the primary school where I have been head, we recruited a Bangladeshi mother as a member of staff,’ says Ms Wills. ‘As a trusted member of the community she acts as link. If there are difficulties with a child coming into school, she can go into people’s homes and say, “this how the English system works”. The translation is not about the language but about what it is like to live here. She is now working with the Polish community too.’
‘I would like to see much more affordable, good quality early years education and childcare,’ says Julian Grenier, whose local authority, Islington, has been taking part in the pilot scheme to offer free part-time nursery places to disadvantaged two-year-olds. ‘We are really clear that this is benefiting the children a great deal. For the families, the fact that the place is free means they can access it without having to go through the hurdles of the working tax credit.’ NW
The challenge facing Gordon Brown in combating child poverty is underlined by the second survey of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) tracking nearly 16,000 children born between 2000 and 2002. It shows a gulf by the age of three between the children of the best-educated, most prosperous parents, and those living in poverty whose parents have no qualifications.
Children classified in the first MCS survey as having one or more delays in the development of gross and fine motor skills at nine months achieved worse scores in the assessments at three years.
‘We know that not all children who are behind now are always going to be behind,’ says Kirstine Hansen, research director of the MCS. ‘There has been some work in the past that shows that some children are remarkably resilient despite a bad start in life.
‘There has been quite a lot of work that shows any gaps early on widen once children go to school and as they get older. If they are at a cognitive disadvantage before entering the education system, and somehow this actually widens during school and they are getting left further behind, then this is a cause for real concern.’
‘We are trying to compete as a knowledge-based economy and to do that, all our children have to be reaching much higher levels of educational competence,’ says Eva Lloyd, Reader in Early Childhood, University of East London. ‘These statistics show how we are failing.
‘We know from the latest Households Below Average Income statistics that the number of children living in poverty is going up again and the gap between the most advantaged and most disadvantaged has grown. The redistribution policies of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have not done enough.
‘We have policies aimed at increasing educational performance and raising skills, but they are not delivering the outcomes, which is terribly important for the economy without even talking about the day- to-day life experiences of the children in question.’
But Dr Hansen says, ‘If we are thinking about polices that could reduce the gap, we have to look to some extent at the things the Government is already doing – policies to reduce child poverty, encouraging the take-up of nursery places by disadvantaged families and Sure Start. The fact that these already exist might indicate that if they didn’t, the gap would be even bigger.’
What was measured
The researchers conducted a vocabulary test, asking the children to name a series of pictures of everyday items, and a school readiness assessment assessing their knowledge – for example of colours, numbers, sizes and shapes.
They found that the children of graduates were ten months ahead of those whose parents had no qualifications on language skills, and about a year ahead on school readiness. Children living in poverty are behind those living above the poverty line by five months in language development and ten months in school readiness.
Girls, on average, were three months ahead of boys on both measures, while children in Scotland were ahead by three months of the UK average in vocabulary and two months in school readiness.
Observers suggested a range of reasons for this difference, such as the Scottish Executive’s investment in the early years, the ‘superior’ Scottish education system and the absence of SATs testing at age seven. But Dr Hansen says, ‘Once you control for factors like ethnicity, income and access to childcare, the differences that we see in Scotland will not exist.’
Bangladeshi and Pakistani children recorded the lowest vocabulary scores, below the level expected for two-and-a-half-year-olds. Bangla- deshi children were about a year behind white children on school readiness, while Pakistani children did only slightly better.
However, says Dr Hansen, ‘Before drawing firm conclusions we will need to investigate the circumstances in which the assessments were done, allowing for whether children lived in homes where English was not the main language spoken.
‘There may also be cultural differences in children’s readiness to attempt such tasks or engage with an unfamiliar visitor. However, it is fair to comment that teachers need to be aware that many, but by no means all, Bangladeshi and Pakistani children may do poorly on similar assessments.’
Julian Grenier, head of the Kate Greenaway Nursery School and Children’s Centre in London, says, ‘We cannot underestimate the huge impact that child poverty and the other problems of disadvantage have on children. But it is very difficult to say exactly how far a child is behind their peers. There are not measures that are accurate enough to say such things as this group of children are a year behind that group of children.
‘People should always be cautious about interpreting this type of data. We should be very careful that it does not sound like we are writing these children off.
‘There is a lot of evidence to say that even where children are growing up disadvantaged, if they can attend high-quality early years provisions and go to a good primary school, their educational achievement will be as good as anyone else.’
Early intervention
The gap can be narrowed, says infant mental health specialist Robin Balbernie. ‘In our local mental health service in Cheltenham, where we see the worst at-risk children in the area, they are not falling behind. We measure their social, emotional and global development every six months. It does not need much to make a difference.
‘Being poor does not make someone a poor parent – it is what poverty correlates to that impacts on families. The help has to be tailored to the family. Generalised programmes do not touch the hardest-to-reach families, but the Government finds this hard to believe.’
‘If we are going to to have early learning that is deep and sustainable, we are going to need new ways of working,’ says Dr Margy Whalley, director at the Pen Green Research Centre in Northamptonshire. ‘It requires complex interventions.’
Pat Wills, Blackpool parenting co-ordinator, says, ‘Early intervention is absolutely key. You need people who understand what is involved in working in areas of high deprivation and can build relationships with the families. But the salaries are not good enough and you get a high staff turnover, which is the one thing these families do not need.’
Mr Balbernie says, ‘In long-term costs, early intervention will pay for itself in ten to 15 years through savings on social services, benefits, extra educational provision and the costs to society. The trouble is, governments think in four-year periods.’
Eva Lloyd adds, ‘We need to look at the experience of Bangladeshi and Pakistani children. Many of them are coming to early years settings without English and settings may have problems providing appropriate support, because they cannot easily get hold of same-language speakers. Research suggests that the language barrier is one factor interfering with these children’s opportunities to talk to and play with English-speaking children.’
‘At the primary school where I have been head, we recruited a Bangladeshi mother as a member of staff,’ says Ms Wills. ‘As a trusted member of the community she acts as link. If there are difficulties with a child coming into school, she can go into people’s homes and say, “this how the English system works”. The translation is not about the language but about what it is like to live here. She is now working with the Polish community too.’
‘I would like to see much more affordable, good quality early years education and childcare,’ says Julian Grenier, whose local authority, Islington, has been taking part in the pilot scheme to offer free part-time nursery places to disadvantaged two-year-olds. ‘We are really clear that this is benefiting the children a great deal. For the families, the fact that the place is free means they can access it without having to go through the hurdles of the working tax credit.’ NW