A study of the long-term influence of early childhood education and care on the risk for developing special educational needs

Preschool programs were already viewed in the 1960s as important for preventing or correcting the cognitive deficits found in disadvantaged children (Weikart, 1966 reprinted 2016). This paper explores the possible influence of group-based early childhood education and care (ECEC), offered to the general population, on the risk for special educational needs (SEN) drawing from a large-scale longitudinal study in England. Overall, the results point towards the provision of high quality ECEC for children significantly decreasing the risk of SEN in later years. Children who had high quality (or effective) ECEC showed a 40-60% lower level of risk for cognitive SEN. The results are not so clear-cut for socio-emotional outcomes but overall the pattern is similar with children who had high quality (or effective) ECEC showing a 10-30% lower risk of developing socio-emotional SEN.