The Institute of Fiscal Studies' report, which looks at the effects of early education on a cohort of children born in 1958, found that adults who received schooling before the age of five were more likely to be employed, hold qualifications and earn higher salaries. Those who attended a nursery or playgroup also had a marginally significant wage gain at age 33.
The report, Early Education and Children's Outcomes: How long do the impacts last?, assesses the long-term impact of early education on 12,000 children. It looks at how early education has affected their cognitive and social skills at school and their educational attainment and labour market outcomes in adulthood.
Alissa Goodman, one of the authors, said, 'Children aged seven who started education before the compulsory school starting age at five showed large improvements in cognitive tests, including maths and reading. These results remained significant, although diminished, up until age 16. However, for those who attended a nursery or a playgroup, test scores were positive but short-lived.'
At the age of seven, the children who attended a nursery or playgroup had an advantage over their peers who did not attend. But when they reached the age of 11, or certainly 16, their peers had caught up with them.
Ms Goodman said, 'For all but the test scores at age seven, we cannot find significant effects of pre-school education for first-borns at all, while we find positive and significant effects for second-and later-born children in their test score results.'
Ms Goodman said, 'We were surprised at the findings because we didn't know if early education would have any long-lasting effects. But it's important to note that the quality of pre-school education is likely to have improved over the last 40 years. If a similar evaluation took place today, it may yield different results.'
Details of the research are reported at www.ifs.org.uk.
