This paper will explore various routes by which socio-economic status shapes children’s learning at preschool and throughout primary education in England. Based on multi-level models of children’s developmental progress between the ages of 3 and 11, the findings identify three drivers of academic attainment at age 11: process quality in the preschool, the home learning environment, and self-regulation at school entry. Using fixed effects models and including mediated pathways, it will be shown that interactions in the home and the preschool lead to enhanced self-regulation at the start of school. This in turn supports academic learning from 5 – 11 years. The paper will end by exploring how intentional pedagogy of teacher and parent might shape not only learning of academic skills but also ‘learning how to learn’.

Kathy Sylva is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Department of Education, University of Oxford. She has researched extensively in the education and care of young children, using both longitudinal and experimental designs. She has a special interest in pedagogical quality and in parental support for children’s learning. Kathy is a Fellow of the British Academy, the Academy of Social Sciences, the British Psychological Society, and recipient of the British Educational Research Association’s Nisbett Award. She received an OBE for services to children and families in 2008 and has honorary doctorates from the Open University, Oxford Brookes, the University of Gothenburg and the University of Jyvaskyla.