Early childhood inequalities

The environment that children are raised in, and their development of cognitive, and social and emotional skills affect the subsequent trajectory of their lives. Inequalities between children in these domains open up very early in life.

At this online event we discussed a number of questions. How large is the variation in early child development and in the environments that young children are raised in? What are the most important features of children’s early environment for their development? What do the latest data tell us about what is happening to inequalities in the development of these inequalities, and why? What is the role of family and early years policy to tackle early childhood inequalities?

This event was chaired by Paul Johnson, IFS Director, and featured talks from:

• Sarah Cattan, IFS
• Alissa Goodman, UCL
• Carey Oppenheim, Nuffield Foundation