Pre-school Educational Inequality? British children in the 1970 Cohort
Leon Feinstein, Centre for Economic Performance, University College, London, 1999.

The British Cohort Study of those born in 1970 was analysed to consider how pre-school abilities and development are influenced over time according to different aspects of family background. Looking at the positions on an index of childhood development, it is possible to predict children's future ability when they are aged ten and aged 26, from as early as 42 months, and even earlier at 22 months, especially for girls. By the time children are three and a half, socio-economic status is an important factor, becoming more important at age ten.

Evidence was found therefore to support the investments in early development such as the Sure Start programme. With its investment of £540 million, Sure Start is devoted to bringing together child care organisations so that communities have access to a coordinated system of support, while professionals are given evidence-based guidance about practice. The paper warns that investments in human capital such as Sure Start cannot ignore the contributions of low income, unemployment, bad housing and poor health to educational inequality. However, there is evidence produced in this paper that programmes such as this might provide large potential benefits if the interventions can genuinely lead to improvements in pre-school ability.

This paper is available in pdf form from www.sussex.ac.uk/Units/economics/dp/dp.htm