Analysis: Early education pilot for two-year-olds - No gain for some children

The key role of quality as the lynchpin of effective early years provision has been underlined by an evaluation of the pilot project offering free places to the most disadvantaged two-year-olds in England. But the researchers found that only one-fifth of the pilot settings they assessed offered good-quality provision.

The pilot provided 7.5 to 12.5 hours of free early education and childcare a week to 13,500 disadvantaged two-year-olds, as part of the Government's drive to eradicate child poverty and improve the life chances of the most disadvantaged. It aimed to improve the children's social confidence, independence, verbal skills and reasoning ability.

However, the evaluation highlights the stark differences in what can be achieved in best-practice settings compared with their weaker counterparts. It shows that there was a positive impact on the language ability of the toddlers attending higher-quality settings and on the relationship between the parents and children. Yet on average, there was no significant improvement in the cognitive and social development of the children enjoying the free entitlement compared with a matched comparison group.