Improving quality of the Childcare Workforce

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Improving quality of the Childcare Workforce
Social mobility and life chances Oxford
Kathy Sylva University of Oxford
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This presentation will explore

• Impact of pre-school
• Effects of quality of pre-school provision on
  children
• Staff qualifications and their effect on
  childrens learning

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Effective Provision of Pre-School EducationE P P
E
1997-2003, 2003-2008

• Kathy Sylva University of Oxford
• Edward Melhuish Birkbeck, University of London
• Pam Sammons Institute of Education, University of
  London
• Iram Siraj-Blatchford Institute of Education,
  University of London
• Brenda Taggart Institute of Education, University
  of London
• Karen Elliot Institute of Education, University
  of London

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Questions explored in the EPPE research

• What is the impact of pre-school on young
  childrens intellectual and social/behavioural
  development?
• Are some pre-schools more effective than others?
• Can pre-school experience reduce social
  inequalities?
• What is the effect of workforce qualifications on
  childrens development?

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Sample

• Six local authorities
• 141 Pre-school centres randomly selected within
  the authorities to include
• nursery classes
• playgroups
• private day nurseries
• day care centres run by local authority
• nursery schools
• fully integrated centres
• Approx 2,800 children from 141 centres and 300
  home children

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Plan of Study
Reception Year 1
Year 2 (5 yrs) (6 yrs)
(7 yrs)
Pre-school Provision (3yrs)
25 nursery classes 590
children
Baseline Assessment N 3,000 Exit Assessments
N 1500 Age 6 Assessments N 3,000 Age 7
Assessments N 3,000
34 playgroups 610 children
31 private day nurseries
520 children
20 nursery schools 520
children
24 local authority day care nurseries 430
children
7 integrated centres 190
children
home 310 children
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Child Assessments at entry to the study (age 3.0
years to 4 years 3 months)

• Cognition
• British Ability Scales
• Language
• British Ability Scales
• Social and behavioural development
  Cooperation/conformity, peer sociability,
  anti-social or upset behaviour.

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Child Assessments at entry to school (age 4 to
5 years)

• Cognition
• British Ability Scales
• Language
• British Ability Scales
• Numeracy
• Early number skills
• Literacy skills
• Letter recognition, phonological awareness
• Social/behavioural development
• Cooperation, peer sociability,
  independence/concentration, anti-social or
  upset behaviour.

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Sources of data

• Child assessments over time
• Family background information
• Interviews with staff
• Quality rating scales
• Case studies of effective centres

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Measuring Value Added

• Multilevel models established the extent to which
  the pre-school centre influenced childrens
  progress.
• Childrens progress was assessed controlling for
  prior attainment at age 3.
• Child, parent, home learning environment
  factors were included in the analyses.
• Child Measures
• controlled for
• gender
• ethnicity
• number of siblings

• Family Measures
• controlled for
• eligibility to FSM
• mothers highest level of qualification
• highest social class

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Measuring Value Added continued

• Home Learning Environment Measures
• frequency reading to child
• frequency of library visits
• frequency child paints/draws at home
• frequency parent teaches letters/numbers
• frequency parent teaches the alphabet
• frequency parent teaches songs, nursery rhymes,
  etc
• Other Measures
• length of time in months spent in pre-school

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Does type of pre-school experience matter?

• Integrated centres and nursery schools are best
  for cognitive outcomes.
• Integrated centres, nursery schools and nursery
  classes are best for social outcomes.

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The impact of quality

• How EPPE measures quality
• Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale
  (ECERS-R total subscales)
• ECERS-E (total subscales)
• Caregivers Interaction Scale (4 subscales,
  e.g., punitiveness, detachment)

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ECERS-E subscales by manager qualification
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Staff qualifications and childrens learning

• staff time at different levels (unqualified,
  level 2, level 3 4 and level 5) was tested in
  models.
• For cognitive progress, staff contact time at
  level 5 was positive significant for outcome
  (pre-reading).
• For social behavioural development staff
  contact time at level 5 was positive significant
  for Co-operation Conformity and also
  significantly associated with reductions in
  Anti-social / Worried behaviour
• Level 5 degree level teacher (QTS)

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After taking into account the impact of child,
family, home environment characteristicsat the
end of year 1

• children from high quality pre-schools had higher
  reading attainment
• children from pre-school centres with high
  ECERS-R subscale scores showed fewer Conduct
  problems
• qualified teachers made a difference in
  childrens academic and social outcomes

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A take-home message?

• Children who stayed at home were more likely to
  be identified as at risk at the beginning of
  school than children who had attended some type
  of pre-school.
• A pre-school of high quality can help children
  move out of cognitive risk by the start of
  primary school.
• This positive impact remains evident at least
  until the end of Year 2.
• The higher the staff qualifications, especially
  QTS, the more developmental progress children
  make in the pre-school period.

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For further information on EPPE

• Sammons, P., Sylva, K., Melhuish, E.,
  Siraj-Blatchford, I., Taggart, B Elliot, K.
  (2002). Technical Paper 8a Measuring the Impact
  of Pre-School on Childrens Cognitive Progress
  over the Pre-School Period. Institute of
  Education, London.
• Sammons, P., Sylva, K., Melhuish, E.,
  Siraj-Blatchford, I., Taggart, B Elliot, K.
  (2003). Technical Paper 8b Measuring the Impact
  of Pre-School on Childrens Social/behavioural
  Development over the Pre-School Period. Institute
  of Education, London.
• Sammons, P., Smees, R., Taggart, B., Sylva, K.,
  Melhuish, E., Siraj-Blatchford, I., Elliot, K.
  (2004). EYTSEN Technical Report No.2. Institute
  of Education, London.
• Sammons, P., Taggart, B., Smees, R., Sylva, K.,
  Melhuish, E., Siraj-Blatchford, I., Elliot, K.
  (2003). The Early Years Transition and Special
  Educational Needs (EYTSEN) Project. DfES Research
  Report 431.
• Sylva, K., Melhuish, E., Sammons, P.,
  Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2004). Effective
  Pre-school Education. DfES Research Report.

visit the EPPE website http//www.ioe.ac.uk/proje
cts/eppe
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For further Information about EPPE visit the EPPE
website at http//www.ioe.ac.uk/projects/eppe