by Robert Cassen and Geeta Kingdon Joseph Rowntree Foundation This report looked at low educational achievement and what factors underpin this problem. It found that almost half of underachievers are white working-class British boys, that boys outnumbered girls in underachieving and there were also achievement problems amongst some ethnic minority groups. Interestingly one of the factors highlighted was the impact of early years and language development. Below are some extracts from the report that highlight the factors from this perspective.
"A key
factor is the 'home learning environment': the amount parents read to their children,
the number of books in the home, the degree to which parents support their
children’s education in and out of school (Sylva et al., 2004). In the study cited, the
home learning environment was only moderately associated with factors such as
social class and parental education levels, and what parents did with their children
had a more important impact than their own background or circumstances.....The critical impact of parenting
is noted in a number of studies, especially in helping children to overcome early
disadvantage.
The effect of social class emerges clearly in other research. Educational performance
has been strongly linked with cognitive factors measured in children as early as age
three; cognitive deficits have been found to be much more common among children
of 'manual' parents than among children of 'professional' parents (Feinstein, 2003;
see also Melhuish et al., 2001). Language development is a further factor: a young
child in a professional-class home will hear every day more than three times the
number of words heard by a child in a home where the parents are of low socioeconomic
status; parents in such homes also tend to interact verbally with their
children less than professional parents. Slow language development can impair later
comprehension and learning, even the acquisition of numeracy (Clegg and Ginsborg,
2006).
Perhaps the most important of government efforts to address pre-school experience
is Sure Start, which began in 1998. It brings a variety of services to families in
disadvantaged areas. Early evaluations show modest positive results (contrary to
some press reports), though not reaching the most disadvantaged. A particular
issue is whether Sure Start local programmes or Children's Centres are providing
the kind of intensive child development that shows results in effective early learning
programmes, as opposed to childcare concentrating on health and preparing and
releasing mothers for employment. The evaluations which will assess contributions
of this kind lie in the future, as does the full implementation of staffing and provision
under the programme of Children's Centres (NAO, 2006b).
At least it could be said last year that 'the programme is exceeding its target to reach
650,000 children by the end of March 2006' (NAO, 2006b). In January 2006, the total
number of three year olds benefi ting from some free early education in maintained
schools, the private or voluntary sector or independent schools was 541,700 or 96
per cent of the three-year-old population (DfES, 2006a). This includes everything
from reception classes for children in schools to nurseries and childminders. It is
difficult to assess from this how much intensive child development is going on –
some of the numbers are on the basis of 'at least one session a week'. A large range
of other measures provided through social services under the Every Child Matters agenda are also aimed in part at improving the home environment and parenting
(DfES, 2004b).
Many of these background, household factors do not appear in our study, as they
are not directly represented in our data. Nevertheless they provide important clues
to where action is needed. Our findings and those in other research on differences
in performance between ethnic groups indicate the importance of values and
aspirations, and point clearly to the significance of home background."
(p.1-3)
"Low achievement may start in the home. A difficult home life or unsupportive parents
can give a child a poor start. Physiological or clinical factors, which we have not
been able to cover in this report, play a part in some of the conditions underlying low
achievement – but they can create greater or lesser problems depending on whether
they are identified early and treated effectively. If special educational needs are found
to be more common amongst poor people, it is often because of the double effect
of these factors together with disadvantage. Obviously the large range of measures
in hand to support parents must be strengthened. As already noted, pre-school
education, parenting help, income support and everything which improves the home
learning environment have major parts to play."
(p.39)
"The agenda lies in pre-school, primary
schools and secondary schools. Early years provision has to do better in reaching
the most disadvantaged, particularly with early learning."
(p.44)
To read the full report visit: www.jrf.org.uk/bookshop/details.asp?pubID=901
A four page summary is also available.
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