Fostering Effective Early Learning: A review of the current international evidence considering quality in early childhood education and care programmes - in delivery, pedagogy and child outcomes

There is a large body of international academic research literature which examines the relationship between (i) early childhood education and care (ECEC) and (ii) children's developmental and learning outcomes. Decades of sustained international research by many different research groups demonstrate that children who attend ECEC are likely to experience better behavioural and learning outcomes than those who do not attend. The research findings are, of course, not always consistent, and are more robust over shorter measurement periods. Nevertheless, major national surveys (e.g. OECD, 2011) and ambitious longitudinal research projects (e.g. the EPPSE study, Sylva et al., 2014) document that the benefits of ECEC attendance last into adolescence. There is now a consensus that, relative to no ECEC, attendance at ECEC is likely to confer a benefit on children (Melhuish et al., 2015