How children under two can benefit from going to nursery everyday

Many working parents feel guilty about leaving their children in nurseries. But they may not need to worry. According to one academic, children can actually benefit by spending hours away from home each day.

Kathy Sylva, professor of educational psychology at Oxford University, said that in nurseries of an average to high standard, children who start attending under the age of two go ton to form better relationships at primary school. She said her research shows that nursery does the ‘vast majority’ of children under two no harm at all. Professor Sylva bases her claims on data from Effective Provision of Pre-school Education project, the largest study in Europe on the impact of early education and care on development. In has followed the progress of 3,000 children since 1996.

The findings will come as relief to guilt ridden parents after a flurry of previous research suggesting a link between early nursery attendance and aggression in later childhood or impaired social skills. Professor Sylva, who has carried out various studies on the subject, said. ‘A lot of parents worry unnecessarily about this issue but my research shows that the vast majority of children are to impaired on any measure by attending nursery under the age of tow.’ She said she received regular calls and emails from parents anxious about the possible negative effects of nursery in their child. ‘I tell them that the research shows that the vast majority of children under two in nurseries are fine.’

Professor Sylva admits her own research shows that some children placed in nurseries before the age of two shows ‘slightly higher’ levels of aggression at primary school. And three years ago, she was involved in Government-funded research while found that children at nursery full-time were ‘more likely to display attending. But she said that any higher aggressions levels disappear by the time the children reach 11. Her standpoint leaves her at odds with other experts such as Dr Penelope Leach who claims that children under tow develop better, both socially and emotionally, at home, preferable with their mother.