Early learning and childcare funding: Primary 1 deferral pilot evaluation

Appendix 1: Detailed objectives

In order to meet the aims set out, the specific objectives for the research were:

1. To draw together information from local authorities (LAs) about uptake of an additional year of funded ELC for children deferring entry to P1, in relation to previous trends and the wider national context:

a. How many families enrolled their child for an additional year of funded ELC in the pilot LAs in 2021/22 and 2022/23? How did this compare to previous years and to non-pilot LAs?

b. How did take up vary by child/household characteristics?

2. To provide information about implementation of the policy in the pilot areas in order to help inform full roll-out:

a. What methods for advertising and communicating about the automatic entitlement were used and which were considered most impactful?

b. How well did the process for requesting a deferred year / admissions work in the pilot LAs, and how could it be improved?

c. What challenges did LAs experience during the pilot and how did they manage them? What changes have they made during the pilot period? What worked well?

d. What are LAs' experiences of how the number of families taking up an additional year of funded ELC affected current capacity within their areas? How did this vary across the LAs? Did the pilot have any impact on placement of other (e.g. younger) children?

e. Consider how relevant and applicable information about implementation of the policy in the pilot areas are to the wider LA context.

3. To explore the impact of the pilots on parental awareness, decisions and perceptions of the entitlement, both for parents who decided to defer their child's school start and those who did not

a. Were parents aware of the pilot and their options? What information did they base their decision on and where did they get information from / who were they influenced by? What were the key factors in making their decision? Did they have access to adequate information about deferral, ELC access, and the experience of education generally (e.g. transitions to P1, the experience of P1, impacts on school leaving)? Did this vary in different LAs / for different family types?

b. Did the decision have the outcome parents anticipated for their child? Perceptions of their child's experience of additional time spent in funded ELC / the transition to P1?