Webinar: Maximising the benefit of early years education for children’s language development by Prof Cat Davies

The Covid-19 pandemic adversely affected early childhood development across multiple domains, including physical, cognitive, socioemotional, and language skills. UK data indicates that a greater proportion of under-fives did not meet their expected milestones between 2020 and 2022, compared to pre-pandemic levels. 

These impacts were especially pronounced among the least privileged in society, with children from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds and those with additional needs falling further behind their peers. Despite targeted fiscal and pedagogical efforts to support educational recovery since the pandemic, there has been limited progress in closing these gaps. 

Early years education has significant power to level the playing field. This talk will review the progress of the national expansion of childcare entitlements. We will discuss recommendations for the rollout to ensure that families can make maximum benefit of quality early years education. 

Speaker biography: Cat Davies is a Professor of Language Development at the University of Leeds. Her research focuses on children’s early language, literacy, and education. She investigates the effects of the COVID-19 lockdowns on development through several ESRC-funded projects including Social Distancing and Development, the Impact of Covid on Key Learning and Education, and Born in Covid Year - Core Lockdown Effects. Cat works with psychologists, educationalists, teacher practitioners, and government policymakers to use research findings to improve policy and practice, and to boost educational outcomes for children from diverse backgrounds. 

This event is organised by Language@Leeds.