What is EPPE?

The Effective Provision of Pre-School Education (EPPE) project is the first major European longitudinal study of a national sample of young children’s development between the ages of 3 and 7 years. To investigate the effects of pre-school education, the EPPE team collected a wide range of information on 3,000 children. The study also looks at background characteristics related to parents, the child’s home environment and the pre-school settings children attended. Settings (141) were drawn from a range of providers (local authority day nurseries, integrated1 centres, playgroups, private day nurseries, nursery schools and nursery classes). A sample of ‘home ’ children (who had no or minimal pre-school experience) were recruited to the study at entry to school for comparison with the pre-school group. In addition to investigating the effects of pre-school provision, EPPE explored the characteristics of effective practice (and the pedagogy which underpins it) through twelve intensive case studies of settings where children had positive outcomes. EPPE has demonstrated the beneficial effects of high quality provision on children’s intellectual and social/behavioural development measured at primary school entry as well as at the end of Years l and 2 of primary school. This research brief describes the effects of education in the pre-school period (ages 3 and 4) as measured at primary school entry (rising 5) and in Years 1 and 2 (ages 6 and 7). The brief summarises the empirical work published in eleven Technical Papers (www.ioe.ac.uk/projects/eppe). Those interested in statistical methods or detailed findings should consult the Technical Papers