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It is not always easy for policy makers to make decisions in education that are focused on the future, on what our children need from education. It is easier to rely on what has worked in the past, at least for some children, than to continuously question and try to understand how children are really faring.
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What happens early in life lays the foundations for future development. A child’s development during the first few years of life predicts their future personal and academic success. The skills they develop during those first few years also form the foundation of general well-being, including how well they will cope with successes and setbacks as adults. Providing a strong start in children’s early years is an effective investment to enhance education and later life outcomes. Seeking to improve individual or systemic learning issues at later ages is often less successful and more costly than doing so earlier.
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The International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study (IELS) puts a spotlight on how children are faring at five years of age. IELS directly measures key indicators of children’s learning, as well as collecting a broad range of development and contextual information from children’s parents and teachers.
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The International Early Learning and Child Well-Being Study puts a spotlight on how children are faring at age five. This chapter presents the rationale for focusing on children’s learning and development in the earliest years, and outlines the importance of having reliable evidence on early learning that is comparable across countries. The chapter also provides information on the overall design of the study.
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This chapter provides contextual information that helps frame the interpretation of results from the International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study (IELS) in England.Where data for England are available, these are cited. Data for the United Kingdom are only used in instances where data for England are not available. It provides demographic information about children and their families, describes the government’s strategic intent for early learning, overviews the types of early childhood education and care (ECEC) services available to parents and the levels of participation, and concludes with an overview of major issues and debates related to early learning in England.
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This chapter presents findings on the emergent literacy and emergent numeracy of five-year-olds in England. It describes how children’s scores in each of these early learning domains relate to their individual characteristics, family backgrounds, home learning environments and early childhood education and care participation.
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This chapter presents findings on the self-regulation outcomes of five-year-olds in England. It describes how children’s scores in inhibition, mental flexibility and working memory relate to their individual characteristics, family backgrounds, home learning environments and early childhood education and care participation.
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This chapter presents findings on the social-emotional outcomes of five-year-olds in England. It shows the differences in social-emotional scores across multiple subgroups of children, considering their individual and family characteristics, as well as their home learning environments. This is based on a direct assessment of children’s outcomes and reports from the children’s parents and educators.
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This technical note provides additional background information on technical aspects relating to the International Early Learning the Child Well-being Study (IELS). It sets out the rationale for the types of assessment used in the study, response rates and other factors influencing the robustness, reliability and comparability of the data. More information on the conceptual and technical aspects of the study can be found in the Assessment Framework and Technical Standards for the study.