Summary:

The Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) project investigated the effects of preschool education and care on children's development for children aged 3-7 years old. The EPPE team collected a wide range of information on 3,000 children who were recruited at age 3+ and studied longitudinally until the end of Key Stage 1. Data were collected on children's developmental profiles (at ages 3, 4/5, 6 and 7 years), background characteristics related to their parents, the child's home learning environment, and the pre-school settings children attended.

Settings (141) were drawn from a range of providers (local authority day nurseries, integrated1 centres, playgroups, private day nurseries, nursery schools and nursery classes). A sample of 'home' children, (who had no or minimal pre-school experience) were 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, EPPE explored the characteristics of effective practice (and the pedagogy which underpins it) through twelve intensive case studies of settings where children had positive outcomes.