EXTRA funding for children in early years care should be made available to benefit those from less privileged backgrounds, researchers say.

Both Oxford Brookes University and the University of Oxford have worked with colleagues from the University of Leeds, and found children who attended childcare during the first lockdown made greater gains in language and thinking skills.

This was particularly true for those from less advantaged backgrounds.

Researchers are now calling for funded places in target areas where childcare take up is low.

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Nayeli Gonzalez-Gomez, senior lecturer in psychology at Oxford Brookes, and project lead for the study, said: “Our findings add to the evidence base that providing access to properly funded, safe, and high-quality early childhood education and care may be a way to level some of the inequalities experienced by children from less privileged backgrounds, while still benefitting all children.”

Researchers worked with 189 UK families with children aged eight to 36 months old during spring and winter 2020, when nurseries were closed to all children except those of critical workers or those classed as vulnerable.

Between March and June 2020, nursery attendance dropped to less than 10 per cent of usual levels.

This was followed by an extended period of reduced attendance, and disruption to sessions.

Families answered questions about their use of formal childcare such as nursery and childminders before, during and between lockdowns, informal childcare from family members or friends, and about their income, level of education, occupation and neighbourhood.

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Parents completed surveys about the number of words that their child said or understood, and their child’s early thinking skills.

The overall findings showed that a child who regularly attended early childhood and care one day per week during the pandemic could be expected to understand an average of 24 more new words, while a child regularly attending two days could be expected to understand 48 more new words.

Furthermore, children from all backgrounds who continued to attend nursery displayed boosted growth in thinking skills.

Study co-author Alexandra Hendry, a research fellow at the University of Oxford, said: “To maintain these benefits for child development and for levelling inequalities, properly funded, high-quality early childhood education and care is crucial.”

The paper is published in the journal, Infant and Child Development.