Concern for the inequality gap has increased as research finds the number of children attending ECEC was lower than expected among large ethnic minority populations and deprived areas.
‘Considerably more’ children from ethnic minority and disadvantaged backgrounds have missed out on formal early learning, new research on the impact of the Covid pandemic on Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) has revealed.
Implications of COVID for Early Childhood Education and Care in England, a study funded by the Nuffield Foundation, and carried out by the Centre for Evidence and Implementation, the University of East London, Frontier Economics, Coram Family and Childcare and the Institute for Fiscal Studies, found that the number of children attending ECEC in the autumn 2021 had dropped to 90 per cent of expected levels based on pre-pandemic patterns. The latest local authority figures continues to shows substantial variation in attendance rates.
