Using Foundation Stage Profile Assessments To Assess Outcomes From Early Years Education

In the past decade early years education has expanded throughout England with progressive extensions in entitlement to some hours of free provision. Furthermore, there is consistent evidence that shows that early years education leads to improvement in cognitive and social development for children. This paper uses the latest data from the Millennium Cohort Study to consider whether, in an era of near universal provision, receipt of early years education still leads to better outcomes for children than for those who did not receive early years education and whether different characteristics of provision produce better outcomes. The outcome measures we consider are the Foundation Stage Profile Assessments that apply to all children in England.