As another cohort of four-year-olds starts Reception this month, Dr Sandra Mathers , Associate Professor at the University of Oxford's Department of Education and a co-developer of the Talking Time early language programme, argues that closing the disadvantage gap at age five, now at its widest for over a decade, will require investment in early language support and in the adults who provide it.
As the summer turns to autumn, another cohort of four-year-olds starts Reception. But not all will have an equal chance to benefit from what school has to offer.
A recent report by the Education Policy Institute (EPI) shows that disadvantaged children start school behind their peers, with an attainment gap of almost 5 months. Worse: the gap is widening and is now at its widest point for over a decade.
Why the disadvantage gap matters
This matters because children's development at age five is strongly associated with their later educational outcomes and wider life chances. The gap between disadvantaged children and their peers rises to 10 months by the end of primary school and 19 months by the end of secondary school. In 2024/25, only 44% of disadvantaged pupils achieved grade 4 or above in both GCSE English and maths, compared with 73% of pupils who were not eligible for free school meals.
The 2026 Schools White Paper has committed to halving the disadvantage gap. This is an important but ambitious goal - and meeting it will need action in the early years before gaps become more deeply established.
"If England is serious about narrowing early inequalities, we need to invest not only in giving children access to early education, but in equipping the adults they talk, play and learn with every day to make those interactions count."
What we can do about it: boosting early language skills
One important place to start is to boost children's early language skills. Language allows children to express thoughts and feelings, make friends, understand others and, later, learn to read and write. Language skills at school entry are strongly associated with later learning, relationships and educational success . Yet children enter early education with widely differing language skills : children growing up in economic disadvantage are at greater risk of starting school with weaker skills.
Supporting language development before children start school has the potential to make a real contribution to narrowing early inequalities. The question is how best to do it.
Recent evidence from our early language programme, Talking Time , co-developed alongside Dr Julie Dockrell , Professor of Psychology and Special Needs, UCL, and Wendy Lee, Professional Director at LINGO , shows that children's language skills can be improved through effective support in preschool. Talking Time uses small-group activities built around conversation, storytelling and play. Educators also receive training and mentoring in research-informed ways of supporting language, including adapting interactions to different children.
Talking Time was recently tested in a large independently evaluated trial involving around 1,700 preschool children in 123 early-years settings in England, funded by the Education Endowment Foundation.
Children in preschools using Talking Time made, on average, around one additional month of progress in language development. Children eligible for the Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) and children with English as an Additional Language (EAL) made around two months of additional progress.*
Principles for narrowing the gap
The Talking Time findings point to some important principles for tackling early inequality.
First: closing gaps need not always mean identifying children who are struggling and separating them out for additional intervention.
Talking Time takes a 'universal targeted' approach. It's designed to strengthen language support for all children in a setting while being particularly relevant in contexts where many children are at risk of language delay.
Second: improving children's language means investing in the adults who support it.
The professional development element builds educators' knowledge, confidence and repertoire of language-supporting strategies. The aim is for high-quality language interaction to become a part of everyday practice rather than being confined to 'intervention' sessions.
Third: equity means giving each child what they need rather than every child receiving the same.
Talking Time does not simply provide educators with activities or a script to follow. It equips them to use language-supporting strategies flexibly - following children's interests, extending their language and thinking and adjusting the level of support or challenge according to need.
These principles matter because children differ in their language experiences, knowledge and skills. Educators therefore need both a strong repertoire of evidence-informed practices and the expertise to adapt them. The goal is not simply more talk, but richer, more responsive conversations that help each child participate and progress.
This aligns closely with current policy but raises the stakes for quality. The Government has substantially expanded funded early education and childcare, with eligible working parents now able to access up to 30 hours a week from nine months, alongside plans for more nursery places. If this expansion is to contribute to narrowing the disadvantage gap, investment in access needs to go hand-in-hand with investment in the quality of children's everyday experiences. The Best Start in Life strategy recognises that access alone is not enough, identifying adult-child interaction, workforce skills and evidence-based programmes as important levers for improving children's outcomes.
In summary
The disadvantage gap is already substantial by age five, but that does not mean children's trajectories are fixed.
Talking Time provides encouraging evidence that high-quality conversations can make a difference, with promising signs of larger benefits for some groups of children. If England is serious about narrowing early inequalities, we need to invest not only in giving children access to early education, but in equipping the adults they talk, play and learn with every day to make those interactions count.
*These subgroup findings are based on smaller samples and are therefore less secure than the overall result, so they should be viewed as promising rather than definitive.
