Nursery is better for children’s development than a nanny, a major Oxford University study has found.
Regardless of how rich the home learning environment is, it is more beneficial for a two-year-old’s development for them to be sent to nursery school, a playgroup or a child minder, according to a new piece of research.
A study of 6,000 children has found that sending toddlers to some form of creche has a “significant positive effect” on their language and socio-emotional development.
“The benefits of early education and care were found regardless of a child’s family level of disadvantage,” the report found. “Specifically education and care with childminders at age two had a significant positive effect on children’s language development and behaviour at the age of three.
“Group based settings such as nurseries and playgroups were also shown to have positive effects on children’s socio-emotional development including how well they get along with other children.”
The research showed that it is beneficial for toddlers to spend anything up to 35 hours per week in nursery or with a childminder, but any more than this has a negative effect on development.
The Study of Early Education and Development follows 6,000 children in England from age two to age seven, and is funded by the Department for Education.
The research, which is conducted by the National Centre for Social Research in collaboration with the University of Oxford, Action for Children and Frontier Economics, is the biggest longitudinal study of its kind into early years education.
Professor Edward Melhuish, a researcher from Oxford University’s Department of Education who wrote the report, said: “The results from our study show how important children’s early environments, both at home and out-of-home, are for helping their development and well-being.”
Research by the Institute of Education in 2009 showed that babies that are looked after by their grandparents while their mothers are out at work are less ready for school than if they went to nurseries or crèches.
Source: telegraph.co.uk
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