About the project

This study will be conducted as part of a full-year 90-point Master of Education thesis. The primary aim of this research is to investigate the relationships between children’s participation quantity in Early Learning Services (ELS, Ministry of Education) childcare participation quantity before two years old and the development of Executive Function (EF) of children growing up in New Zealand. Forty-seven percent of under twos in New Zealand participated in formal ELS (Education Counts, 2022). The high percentage of participation emphasises the need for research about the effect of ELS on EF. However, studies into the longitudinal effect of formal ELS on children’s EF yield mixed results. When it comes to the effect of childcare experience before two years of age, limited research has examined its effect on EF development.  The Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) study provides a unique opportunity to examine the longitudinal effect of ELS experience (from 9 months to 54 months) on children’s EF development with a large and diverse sample. The current study draws on childcare arrangement data collected when the children were 9 months old and 24 months old; and the EF assessment results were collected at 54 months and 8 years old. The relationship between the quantity of ESL and EF results will be investigated. Also, it will be examined whether socio-economic factors influence the association. The study results will be disseminated through a published article and thesis submission.

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Start date: 31/03/2023