Skills gap widened by free year of preschool

Ireland’s free pre-school year widens differences in children’s language and cognitive skills, a ground-breaking study reveals.

All of the children improved but those with more skills at the start of the year tended to have even more at the end while those who were less able tended to remain in a weaker position at the end.

The study, published in the current edition of Irish Educational Studies, found that family background was the single biggest influence on children’s skills throughout the free pre-school year.