Transforming early childhood education policy and practice

Research on early childhood education has helped shape policy and practice in the UK and beyond. Major longitudinal studies – Effective Preschool, Primary and Secondary Education Study (EPPSE) 1997-2016) and its follow up Study of Early Education and Development (SEED) – demonstrated the long-term benefits of early education, identified effective pedagogy, and illustrated the power of the home learning environment. Evidence generated has helped shape government initiatives such as the provision of free early childhood education to millions of 2-4 year olds. More recently, it has fed into the current Department of Education initiative, ‘Hungry Little Minds’ – a suite of freely downloadable resources for parents to stimulate their child’s cognitive and linguistic development at home. Internationally, governments and early education providers in Australia, Hong Kong, Norway and Japan have used the tools and findings from the research to improve the early education provision of tens of thousands of children.