The panel, chaired by Trevor Phillips, commissioned the Effective Pre-School and Primary Education project (EPPE) to carry out an analysis of their database on a cohort of 3,000 British children and their families, with a focus on equalities.
The EPPE team's report, Promoting Equality in the Early Years, highlighted 'the critical contribution of the HLE, good quality pre-school and effective primary settings to successful educational and behavioural outcomes among young children'.
A strong HLE has 'a marked protective effect on early outcomes for children, especially those from some ethnic minorities or disadvantaged backgrounds'.
The benefits of a good HLE are particularly striking when they are combined with a good-quality pre-school experience, but the review found that only 77 per cent of three- and four-year-olds among ethnic minority children use early years provision, compared with nearly 87 per cent of white children at the same age.
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