Local geographic variations in children’s school readiness - a multilevel analysis of the development gaps in England

Purdam, K., Troncoso, P. , Morales-Gómez, A. and Leckie, G. (2024) Local geographic variations in children’s school readiness - a multilevel analysis of the development gaps in England. Child Indicators Research, 17, pp. 145-176. (doi: 10.1007/s12187-023-10081-7)

Abstract

The educational attainment levels of children in state-funded schools in England are lower than in many countries with comparable levels of economic development. There are also striking differences at the local level across England. To understand these differences it is important to examine children’s development in their early years. This research uses multilevel analysis of the National Pupil Database to investigate child development at ages 4 and 5 years old at the individual, school and local levels including within a case study urban area. Child development is assessed using teachers’ observations to measure what is termed School Readiness. This is based on a child’s communication, literacy and numeracy skills and their physical, personal and social development. The findings reveal substantial differences in School Readiness at the individual, school and local area levels including in terms of sex, ethnic background, age in the school year, welfare benefit entitlement and local area income deprivation level. Such differences are also evident across the separate Early Learning Goals that are used to assess School Readiness. Between local areas children with similar backgrounds can vary considerably in their likelihood of being categorised as School Ready. Many children face multiple disadvantages as a consequence of different interlinked factors including where they live. The gap in the levels of School Readiness has long-term implications for the individuals themselves and for society more widely. Whilst increasing the levels of School Readiness is a key target in the UK Government’s Levelling Up policy, tackling the stark inequalities will take considerable investment, highly targeted support and engagement across the home and school learning environments.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: Funding: Financial support was provided by the University of Manchester, UK and the Economic Social Research Council—grant ES/W000555/1. Dr Morales-Gómez and Dr Troncoso’s contribution to this work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council through the following grants: 1) Understanding Children’s Lives and Outcomes and 2) Scottish Centre for Administrative Data Research (grant numbers ES/V011243/1 and ES/S007407/1). Dr Morales-Gómez and Dr Troncoso are affiliated with the Scottish Centre for Administrative Data Research (SCADR), which is part of the Administrative Data Research U.K. partnership, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Troncoso, Dr Patricio
• Authors: Purdam, K., Troncoso, P., Morales-Gómez, A., and Leckie, G.
• Subjects: H Social Sciences > HA Statistics; L Education > L Education (General)
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Urban Studies
• Journal Name: Child Indicators Research
• Publisher: Springer
• ISSN: 1874-897X
• ISSN (Online): 1874-8988
• Published Online: 25 November 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © The Author(s) 2023
• First Published: First published in Child Indicators Research 17:145-176
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license