Childcare Gave Pre-Schoolers’ Vocabulary A Boost In Pandemic, Research Shows

Formal childcare gave pre-schoolers’ vocabulary a boost during the first year of the pandemic, according to new research.

Young children could produce an average of 29 more words for each day they spent in childcare, and understand an average of 16 words more than toddlers who did not spend time in childcare settings.

Communication and problem-solving skills also improved for children from less affluent homes who attended early childhood education and care (ECEC), the U.K. study found.

Disruption and the closure of many settings as a result of Covid-induced lockdowns raised fears that children’s language skills would suffer during the pandemic.

But the results suggest that formal childcare had sustained benefits for children who were of pre-school age, according to researchers.

“Our findings demonstrate the importance of early years education for children born without social advantage – helping to narrow the gap in early development and level socioeconomic inequalities,” said Dr Catherine Davies, professor of language development at Leeds University and one of the authors of the study.

“It’s essential that we facilitate access for the families who will benefit most from this support, at this crucial stage in youngsters’ lives.”

High-quality pre-school childcare and education is known to boost children’s language skills, but researchers wanted to find out to what extent this was maintained during the pandemic.

The study followed more than 600 children aged between eight months and 36 months in England, Scotland and Wales over the U.K.’s three lockdowns in 2020 and 2021.

Parents completed questionnaires on their child’s vocabulary, as well as their thinking skills, attention, behavior and emotion for the study, published in the Journal of Early Childhood Research.

The findings illustrate the importance of increasing access to formal childcare settings as one way to address concerns that lockdown has led to delays in children’s development, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“Supporting these opportunities and nurturing children via responsive support should address concerns about school readiness and help to mitigate socioeconomic attainment gap,” said Prof Davies, who carried out the study alongside colleagues from Oxford Brookes, Oxford, Leeds Beckett and Warwick universities.

The research also found that attending formal childcare had a positive impact on children’s personal and social skills.

The fact that childcare settings still had a positive impact despite the disruption caused by the pandemic illustrated their key role in children’s development, said Dr Nayeli Gonzalez-Gomes, reader in psychology at Oxford Brookes University and principal investigator on the study.

Researchers called for better promotion of formal childcare, including an emphasis on education as well as care, and support to help lower-income families access pre-school provision, while additional funding should be set aside to expand childcare places.

Kathryn Ingold, public health consultant at Leeds City Council, said the findings echoed their own research which found that children’s communication and language skills were particularly affected by the pandemic.

The U.K. Government earlier this year announced plans to expand free childcare to children from nine months, to enable parents of young children to enter the workforce, although critics claimed it would make little difference and proposals to increase the child:adult ratio would compromise quality.