Evidence for Learning: Extra hours

Extra hours, or intensity, refers to increasing the number of hours children spend in early childhood education (ECE) at a given time. In the Australasian context, this typically means providing children with more hours in preschool or centre-based care settings per week.

Based on strong evidence to support the benefits of ECE for children’s later outcomes, Australasian governments have made considerable investments to increase participation in early learning programs. In Australia, there is a universal entitlement of 15 hours of preschool per week in the year before children start school (i.e. at 4 years of age) (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2015). A similar entitlement is implemented in New Zealand, with up to 20 hours of preschool subsidised for children aged 3 and 4 years old per week (OECD, 2016). Recent data indicate children in Australia attend preschool for an average of almost 15 hours per week, compared to 23 hours in New Zealand (Pascoe & Brennan, 2017).

Research exploring the impact of increased hours spent in preschool on children’s outcomes in the Australasian context, however, remains limited. Harrison and colleagues (2009) utilised data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC) to explore the relationship between intensity of early education and care attendance and developmental outcomes amongst children aged 4 and 5 years. They found children who had attended between 9 – 30 hours of early education and care per week (including centre-based child care, preschool, and preparatory programs in the year before the first grade of school) had significantly better literacy and numeracy outcomes compared to those who attended between 1 – 8 hours per week. The same study, however, indicated that too many hours in early education and care seems to have some disadvantages, with children attending more than 30 hours found to have poorer receptive vocabulary skills, relative to those who attended for fewer hours.

Also using LSAC data, Gialamas and colleagues (2014) examined the effects of time spent in centre-based child care on children’s development upon school entry. Results suggest children who spend a greater number of hours in centre-based child care between the ages of 0 and 3 years have higher levels of problematic externalising behaviours and lower levels of internalising behaviours at ages 4 to 5, with no evidence to support impacts on children’s receptive vocabulary. Similarly, Coley and colleagues (2015) utilised LSAC data and found while greater hours spent in centre-based child care had small positive effects on children’s fluid intelligence, these effects did not extend to children’s vocabulary or academic abilities at age 7. Further, more hours spent in centre-based care was found to have negative impacts on children’s behavioural functioning at age 7.

Although limited, these findings reflect international evidence. Research exploring the impacts of increased preschool intensity in the US have demonstrated both positive and null effects on children’s long term cognitive abilities (Bassok, Gibbs, & Latham, 2018). There is, however, more consistent evidence to suggest children experience poorer behavioural outcomes as preschool intensity increases (Bassok et al., 2018; Loeb, Bridges, Bassok, Fuller, & Rumberger, 2007). Future Australasian research should explore optimal ECE intensity for both children’s behavioural and cognitive outcomes, and how this might differ for children from different backgrounds.