The NFER-led study is based on a hypothesis that children’s cognitive and behavioural skills are precursors for their Essential Employment Skills (EES). The six EES are – communication, collaboration, problem-solving, organising, planning and prioritising work, creative thinking and information literacy.
It claims that differences in children’s material, emotional and educational environments at home influence their ‘starting points’ when they enter school and progress through every stage of primary and secondary education.
Also, children’s extra-curricular engagement is positively associated with their behavioural and cognitive development between the ages of eight and 17. The report highlights how children from disadvantaged backgrounds often have less access to these opportunities.
The report suggests that inequalities in cognitive and behavioural outcomes in young children become more entrenched and harder to impact as they get older.
It says that addressing future skills gaps is likely to require a ‘systematic approach’ that addresses the ‘structural and behavioural influences’ on children’s development from the early years, both at home and at school.
The report recommends the Government take the following steps:
- Create a clearer narrative linking its growth strategy with its mission to break down barriers to opportunity.
- Consider how to expand access to rigorously evaluated and proven holistic family support programmes for disadvantaged families. Supporting more disadvantaged young people to access extra-curricular activities more frequently between the ages of 7/8 and 16/17, for example by providing additional funding to schools with disadvantaged intakes to extend the school day or by introducing a national extra-curricular bursary scheme.
- Ensure all schools explicitly support the development of EES as a critical part of a good education, including socio-emotional, self-management skills, and cognitive skills.
- Through the Curriculum and Assessment Review team, explore whether and how more emphasis could be placed on the development of EES – alongside knowledge acquisition - as part of teaching core subjects within the curriculum.
Jude Hillary, the programme’s Principal Investigator and NFER’s co-head of UK policy and practice, said, ‘Intervening at an early age to support young people who have low cognitive and behavioural skills and are at risk of falling behind is critical to improving their future outcomes. The consequence of inaction could see increasing numbers of young people leaving education without the skills and qualifications they need to enter growing occupations, which are predominantly professional occupations requiring higher skills, particularly EES. This will only add to the existing skills shortages in the UK and further constrain national efforts to stimulate growth.
‘To deliver future skills needs and grow the economy, the Government needs to adopt a ‘cradle to grave’ approach to skills development, promoting the development of a broad mix of cognitive, behavioural, and technical specific knowledge and skills, starting from the early years.’
The Education Endowment Foundation said the study provides more evidence for the ‘benefits of investing in high-quality early education’.
