IPPN

Our early-years research does not contradict the government [Guardian.co.uk]

Published: 28 April 2011

Our early-years research does not contradict the government

We do, though, show it's a myth that bright poor children lose their talent as they develop.Allegra Stratton discussed our research into the development of the cognitive skills of young children from different socioeconomic backgrounds (Inside politics: Feinstein's theory, 14 April). "The central assumption of government thinking about social mobility might be statistically invalid," she said. "That is the striking conclusion of a new paper from the Institute of Education." But that is not what our work discovered.

Stratton went on to claim that our research meant that "the entire basis for the government's social mobility strategy is wrong". However, far from undermining the coalition's social mobility strategy, our study actually confirms the previous research evidence on which the strategy is based – which has shown that children from disadvantaged backgrounds have very poor cognitive skills compared to their richer contemporaries, and that this socioeconomic gap emerges early in childhood.

Full Story: www.guardian.co.uk