Early Years Development
The early years are a vital time for families and a crucial period of development for children. Steep inequalities emerge throughout this stage: EPI research has found, for example, that 40 per cent of the gap in educational attainment is already evident by age 5. Our work in this area considers the multiple levels of influence shaping young lives, and creating inequities in experiences and trajectories. This includes exploring the contributions of early education and care alongside social and family factors, such as poverty. It entails investigating pedagogical and assessment regimes, and the structures and provisions surrounding families and children. We assess whether policies and initiatives are facilitating or hindering child development and parent/carer wellbeing and tackling or worsening early inequalities. We aim to provide a robust and nuanced evidence-base to inform policy development.
