Narrowing the Gap in Outcomes: Early Years (0-5 Years)

This report was commissioned by the Local Government Association (LGA) to inform the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and LGA work on "Narrowing the Gap." It focuses on early years' provision and presents findings from a review of the best evidence on narrowing the gap in outcomes across the five Every Child Matters (ECM) areas for vulnerable groups in the context of improving outcomes for all. In general, the evidence demonstrates that interventions focused on children in their early years have the potential to improve outcomes that are fundamental to their future life chances. Improvements in cognitive development, social/behavioural development and health outcomes can be achieved in the short term, and there is some evidence that these outcomes can be sustained into later life. While improvements can be achieved for all children through such interventions, the evidence indicates that they can also make a significant contribution to narrowing the gap between disadvantaged and other children. Findings from the review are presented under three chapter headings: (1) Early years' provision: has the gap been narrowed? (2) Early years' provision: how has the gap been narrowed? (3) Conclusions. Appendices provide information on the search strategy, the literature summary template and an overview of the literature in terms of the ECM outcomes and vulnerable groups focused on. (Contains 18 boxes.)