Our 2025 Annual Report is now live — Read the full report
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… 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 disadvantaged children are already more than four months behind their peers by the age of five. Our work examines early years funding, the workforce, childcare entitlements and outcomes for children with special educational needs.
47 results
Our research has found that around 40 per cent of the disadvantage gap at age 16 is already evident by age 5, with disadvantaged children being, on average, over 4 months behind their more affluent peers. For more vulnerable children…
By Jon Andrews, Emily Hunt, and Education Policy Institute
It is well established that high quality early years education can play a crucial role in a child’s development. Quality provision at this education phase has also been shown to reduce social disadvantage and facilitate parental employment. Staff…
By Education Policy Institute
Today the Commons Education Select Committee has published a new report, 'Tackling disadvantage in the early years', which follows its Life Chances inquiry . The report was informed by EPI oral and written evidence, and can be read in full here…
By Education Policy Institute
New research from Education Policy Institute (EPI), supported by the Nuffield Foundation, provides a detailed analysis of the childcare workforce in England. The report compares conditions and characteristics of childcare workers with those in ‘competing’ jobs such as hairdressers and…
By Dr Sara Bonetti
Education Policy Institute (EPI) and the Early Intervention Foundation (EIF) have published two reports examining the key features of quality in early years childcare provision that have the greatest potential to maximise child outcomes. The reports undertake detailed reviews of factors relating to …
By Dr Sara Bonetti
New research project aims to improve our understanding of what makes a difference to the quality of the early years workforce and to children’s outcomes The Education Policy Institute is pleased to announce a new research project, in collaboration with…
By Education Policy Institute
Stay connected
Stay up to date with our most recent publications, reports, briefings and events on education and young people’s wellbeing.
In May 2018 the House of Commons Education Select Committee launched an inquiry into the impact that the early years of a child's life have on their life chances. The inquiry examines the Government’s current policies in this area -…
By Education Policy Institute
The Education Policy Institute has published a comprehensive analysis of the early years workforce in England. The analysis studies the latest publicly available data to build a detailed picture of the present day workforce. It examines staff composition, qualifications, pay…
By Dr Sara Bonetti
There is mounting evidence that high quality early years provision can have lasting positive effects, not only on the children who participate but on society overall. According to a recent study, children who attended high quality childcare with skilled and…
By Dr Sara Bonetti and Education Policy Institute
There is a large and stubborn gap in outcomes between disadvantaged children and their peers by age 5 in England. This is in spite of substantial early years investment over 15 years and clear evidence that regular, high-quality early learning…
By Education Policy Institute
The Queen has just delivered her Speech at the State Opening of Parliament. This Speech sets out the Government’s agenda for the coming session of Parliament, including outlines of proposed policies and new legislation. We look at what the Queen’s…
By Education Policy Institute
