Nursery World - To the Point - Chances in the life race

Imagine a hundred people are setting off on a journey, a long day's walking.

You see them all ready to depart, bunched together. An hour later, and the group has started to spread out. Your eye is drawn to a cluster of eager walkers pulling ahead of most of the others, striding along purposefully. But just a short time later you notice something surprising. After making such a promising start, the group you have been watching starts to falter and lots of other walkers pass them by. You wonder what has gone wrong. What happened to all that early energy and pace?

According to research undertaken by Leon Feinstein at the London School of Economics, this is pretty much what happens to a group of children who seem to be developing very well at two, and who are living in relatively poor families. By four years old, this group of children has started to lag behind children with the same good level of development, and whose families are better off. That is clearly not fair. But there is worse news to come.

Register now to continue reading

Thank you for visiting Nursery World and making use of our archive of more than 35,000 expert features, subject guides, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:

What's included