Researchers measured the progress of 150 reception class children who had attended High/Scope nurseries in three developmental areas: mathematical, social and emotional, and communication, language and literacy. They were then compared with national averages.
In emotional development, High/Scope girls scored three percentage points higher than boys, compared with 13 points nationally. In reading, the gap was three percentage points against eight points nationally.
Moreover, both boys and girls from the High/Scope sample were found to perform at a higher standard overall in the three developmental areas.
Pam Lafferty, senior staff consultant at High/Scope UK, said, 'The High/Scope approach allows children to plan and develop their own interests with support from adults. Practitioners can respond to children's different learning styles, and this may have helped reduce the gender bias.'
Sherwin Knight Infants School in Kent was one of the schools that took part in the study. Headteacher Lorna Walker said, 'We use the High/Scope approach in the nursery and in years 1 and 2. Our Key Stage 1 results even show the boys are now outperforming the girls.'
Meanwhile, a study funded by the Economic and Social Research Council found four- and five-year-olds missing out on imaginative play under the demands of the school curriculum.
Dr Sue Rogers, lead researcher from the University of Plymouth, said, 'It is important that children are allowed to play for sustained periods without interventions from adults. Unfortunately, pressures on time and space, as well as the need to teach literacy, mean that playing at shops, pirates and hospitals is difficult to fit into the timetable. Listening to children's views on use of space and layout could raise the value of play in the curriculum.'
For more information visit www.high-scope.org.uk and www.esrc.ac.uk.