The more time pre-schoolers spent in childcare during the first year of the pandemic, the more their vocabulary expanded, according to a new study.

Research led by the University of Leeds found that attending early childhood education and care during the Covid-19 outbreak had sustained benefits for child development.  

For each day of the week spent in early education and care, toddlers could produce an average of 29 more new words and understand an average of 16 more new words than peers who did not attend formal childcare over the first year of the pandemic.   

Children from disadvantaged backgrounds showed better communication and problem-solving skills the longer they spent in early education and childcare during the pandemic.

Dr Catherine Davies, Professor of Language Development at the University of Leeds, said: “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.”   

The research was carried out in collaboration with researchers at Oxford Brookes University, University of Oxford, Leeds Beckett University and University of Warwick.

The team of researchers is calling for better promotion of the role of early education and childcare in children’s development and support for lower-income families to access early childhood education and care, for example by simplifying application processes and increasing funding for the Early Years Pupil Premium.  

The team is also calling for a review of early years funding with the goal of ring-fencing sufficient resources for high-quality, flexible, professionalised provision, and for schools to nurture children who may not have developed pre-pandemic levels of school readiness, for example through improved parental engagement.

The research team plans to continue to follow this cohort of “pandemic babies” as they start school and advance through their education.