In a recent study published in Journal of Early Childhood Research, researchers investigated the benefits of early childhood education and care (ECEC), especially during the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. They used data from 171 children aged 5 to 23 months to demonstrate the effects of early childhood care on language development and executive function in childhood and to assess whether pandemic-related disruptions negatively affected “school readiness.” Their findings reveal that children receiving early childhood care demonstrated better vocabulary, communication, and problem solving than those who did not, with these findings being more prevalent in socially and economically backward families. This study highlights the importance of ECCE and early childhood development and discusses how to adapt expectations and learning conditions to account for the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
Study: Sustaining benefits of early childhood education and care (ECEC) for young children’s development during COVID-19. Image credit: Famfield/Shutterstock
What is ECEC, and what are its supposed benefits?
Early childhood education (ECE) is a branch of education theory relating to a child’s education (formal and informal) from birth to the age of eight. Also called “nursery education,” this theory recognizes that early childhood is a period of rapid and profound mental development, and that children in this age group learn differently from their older peers.
Early childhood education is by no means a new concept—it first emerged independently in several European countries during the Age of Reason (17y And 18y Centuries). Based on the theories of intellectuals including Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson, John Dewey, and Lucy Sprague Mitchell, early childhood development centers around the idea that children’s development (physical, social, emotional, linguistic, and cognitive) is fueled by experience-based learning. , not the text book theory.
A wide range of studies, particularly those conducted between 2000 and 2020, have demonstrated the benefits of early childhood education on childhood development, with participants in early childhood education programs showing significantly higher social and cognitive development than those who did not. Research indicates that these benefits are linked to the social and economic background of the child’s parents, with disadvantaged children benefiting more than others. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) cites this research in its Memorandum and, as of 2010, has made it necessary for Member States to strive towards a universal nursery education policy.
In the United Kingdom, this policy is called Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), and studies (scientific and social) of its results have unanimously agreed that it should be adopted by all families. Unfortunately, ECEC has been significantly affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, with the UK Government imposing a blanket lockdown of all schools and ECEC centers on 20 March 2020 as part of the Coronavirus Action Plan. Even after centers reopened, intermittent closures due to recurring waves of COVID-19 led to estimates that only 5-10% of children were receiving early childhood care during 2020-2021.
To date, studies examining the effects of these disorders on children’s development are still lacking. These studies may reveal changes in education policies in kindergarten and grades 1-3 to account for potential slowdowns in childhood development during the pandemic.
About the study
The current study evaluates the effects of COVID-19-related ECEC disruptions on children’s development as a means of informing early education policy for the wave of children who have missed routine ECEC programming to date. The study had two main goals – 1. to investigate the effects of a lack of ECEC on cognitive development, and 2. to track children’s developmental milestones and how ECEC disturbances affect them, as a way to provide teachers with the information they need for early school adjustment. Established.
The data set consists of families with children aged 8–36 months, recruited from Scotland, Wales and England in the spring of 2020. Data collection consists of three online questionnaires, administered in the spring and winter of 2020 and spring 2021. Initial screening ensured that children were excluded Suffering from genetic learning abnormalities of analyses. The final data set contains 171 children (100 females).
Data collected included child age, family socioeconomic status, language ability, executive functions, and cognition. Socioeconomic status was measured using standard socioeconomic status (SES) indicators – household income, educational status of caregivers, professional status of caregivers, and postcode-derived index of multiple deprivation (IMD). The Oxford Communicative Development Inventory (O-CDI) was used to measure the child’s language proficiency. Executive functions were measured using the Early Executive Functions Questionnaire (EEFQ).
The Ages and Milestones Questionnaire (ASQ-3) was used to assess overall personal and social skills, problem-solving skills, and communication skills and check that participants were achieving age-appropriate developmental milestones (to inform future education policy). Multiple linear regressions were used for statistical analyses.
Results
5-10% of children who attended ECEC sessions despite the disruptions caused by COVID-19 showed significant improvements in all indicators measured (communication, personal and social skills, problem solving) compared to those who did not. This group also depicted significantly enhanced growth in receptive vocabulary. However, the latter results were related to socioeconomic background, with children from affluent backgrounds showing significant improvements even when compared to other ECEC participants.
“Taken together, these findings suggest that ECEC has maintained the language benefits for young children growing up during the pandemic despite ongoing disruption to settings, and also has specific language benefits for children from less affluent settings. There was no effect of attending SES or ECEC on the growth Any of our measures of executive function.
Time-stratified analyzes revealed that when adjusting for duration of exposure to extrauterine care, children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds benefited more than at least 6 months from ECCE sessions. Surprisingly, the 12-month analysis showed no association between executive function improvements and exposure to ECEC.
“This is somewhat surprising given that the common features of ECEC (e.g., provision of developmentally appropriate learning materials and high-quality adult-child interactions) have been shown to support learning and enhance EFs in children.”
Conclusions and recommendations
The current study revealed that COVID-19 led to a significant decline in rates of cognitive, linguistic and social development for children unable to attend early childhood care sessions. The results of the study revealed that while socio-economically affluent children benefit from ECCE faster (higher increase in initial development rate), children from lagging families need the ECCE system more (highest overall improvements among those attending in early childhood care and education and those who did not attend the program).
“…We suggest that increasing access to ECEC is a way to provide post-pandemic opportunities for socialisation, emotional wellbeing, physical development and basic academic skills, rather than compensating for ‘lost skills’. Increasing these opportunities and caring for children through responsive support should address concerns related to school readiness and helps reduce social and economic achievement gaps.
Magazine reference:
- Davies, C., Kong, S. B., Hendry, A., Archer, N., McGillion, M., and Gonzalez-Gomez, N. (2023). Sustaining benefits of early childhood education and care (ECEC) for young children’s development during COVID-19. Journal of Early Childhood Research. doi – https://doi.org/10.1177/1476718X231213488, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1476718X231213488#bibr27-1476718X231213488
Early childhood education and care have been found to play a crucial role in the development of young children’s language and problem-solving abilities, according to a recent study. The study’s findings highlight the importance of providing high-quality early childhood education and care programs, particularly for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The research suggests that early exposure to structured learning environments and supportive interactions with caregivers can significantly impact a child’s cognitive development and set the stage for future academic success. These findings underscore the significance of investing in early childhood education and care as a means of promoting healthy development and preparing children for future success in school and beyond.