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Can preschool protect young children's cognitive and social development? Variation by center quality and duration of attendance

Can preschool protect young children's cognitive and social development? Variation by center quality and duration of attendance
Can preschool protect young children's cognitive and social development? Variation by center quality and duration of attendance

This paper illustrates how high-quality preschool has the potential to serve as an intervention within normal populations. Although it is well known that targeted Early Interventions can protect the development of young children from developmental risks, there remains less evidence concerning universal preschool education. To address this disparity, a longitudinal secondary analysis was conducted that examined the psychological development of 2,862 English preschoolers between the ages of 3 to 5 years. A series of aggregated multilevel structural equation models indicated that at age 5 years, instances of significantly protected development were more strongly evidenced when examining (a) cognitive rather than social development, (b) child rather than family-level risks, and (c) the quality of the processes taking place within preschools rather than just the structures. Finally, for preschools that featured only high-quality structures, any partial protection of development was limited to instances of longer durations of child attendance.

child development, multiple disadvantage, preschool quality, protection, risk
0924-3453
155-176
Hall, James
29e17a2b-dca0-4b91-be02-2ace4abaa6c4
Sylva, Kathy
0a7a1f5e-c538-405b-a74e-5518d0462d70
Sammons, Pam
6e0fda4f-4780-4368-a64e-637cb182428e
Melhuish, Edward
8d248900-133f-42a5-bb1a-efe1e412600f
Siraj-Blatchford, Iram
f47652c1-a493-4859-a7a0-ab6a4eafb0c0
Taggart, Brenda
18566b59-ef59-4fbb-a0a8-ae1dfdf80917
Hall, James
29e17a2b-dca0-4b91-be02-2ace4abaa6c4
Sylva, Kathy
0a7a1f5e-c538-405b-a74e-5518d0462d70
Sammons, Pam
6e0fda4f-4780-4368-a64e-637cb182428e
Melhuish, Edward
8d248900-133f-42a5-bb1a-efe1e412600f
Siraj-Blatchford, Iram
f47652c1-a493-4859-a7a0-ab6a4eafb0c0
Taggart, Brenda
18566b59-ef59-4fbb-a0a8-ae1dfdf80917

Hall, James, Sylva, Kathy, Sammons, Pam, Melhuish, Edward, Siraj-Blatchford, Iram and Taggart, Brenda (2013) Can preschool protect young children's cognitive and social development? Variation by center quality and duration of attendance. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 24 (2), 155-176. (doi:10.1080/09243453.2012.749793).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This paper illustrates how high-quality preschool has the potential to serve as an intervention within normal populations. Although it is well known that targeted Early Interventions can protect the development of young children from developmental risks, there remains less evidence concerning universal preschool education. To address this disparity, a longitudinal secondary analysis was conducted that examined the psychological development of 2,862 English preschoolers between the ages of 3 to 5 years. A series of aggregated multilevel structural equation models indicated that at age 5 years, instances of significantly protected development were more strongly evidenced when examining (a) cognitive rather than social development, (b) child rather than family-level risks, and (c) the quality of the processes taking place within preschools rather than just the structures. Finally, for preschools that featured only high-quality structures, any partial protection of development was limited to instances of longer durations of child attendance.

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More information

Published date: June 2013
Keywords: child development, multiple disadvantage, preschool quality, protection, risk

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 414677
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/414677
ISSN: 0924-3453
PURE UUID: 9fbb78db-0911-47b5-bb67-68d9aa88af8b
ORCID for James Hall: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-8002-0922

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Date deposited: 05 Oct 2017 16:31
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 04:31

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Contributors

Author: James Hall ORCID iD
Author: Kathy Sylva
Author: Pam Sammons
Author: Edward Melhuish
Author: Iram Siraj-Blatchford
Author: Brenda Taggart

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