The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) Project

Excerpt from summary of findings

The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) project is the first major European longitudinal study of a national sample of young children's development (intellectual and social/behavioural) between the ages of 3 and 7 years. To investigate the effects of pre-school education for 3 and 4 year olds, the EPPE team collected a wide range of information on over 3,000 children, their parents, their home environments and the pre-school settings they attended. Settings were drawn from a range of providers (local authority day nursery, integrated centres, playgroups, private day nurseries, maintained nursery schools and maintained nursery classes). A sample of 'home'; children (who had no or minimal pre-school experience) was recruited to the study at entry to school for comparison with the pre-school group. In addition to investigating the effects of pre-school provision on young children's development, EPPE explores the characteristics of effective practice (and the pedagogy which underpin them) through twelve intensive case studies of settings with positive child outcomes. EPPE has demonstrated the positive effects of high quality provision on children's intellectual and social/behavioural developmental. This brief on the main findings of the research related to the pre-school period (for children aged 3 or 4 years of age to entry into primary school).