Children who attend preschool are less likely to lie, cheat or steal as adults, a conference was told yesterday. 

The annual conference of ‘youngballymun’, an early intervention programme, heard that findings from the US HighScope Perry Preschool Study, a longitudinal study into a preschool programme in the 1960s showed that children who participated tended to be more ethical and have stronger moral values, the Irish Times reports.

However, the programme was targeted only at children from high risk families meaning its finding are much less applicable to the general population.

Dr Larry Schweinhart, who pioneered the study into the benefits of early childhood education, said it was an accepted fact that those narrowly targeted programmes helped with children’s cognitive development.

Such children had higher educational attainment as adults, earned more money and were less likely to get in trouble with the law as a result.

Dr Schweinhart said the modern preschool might have a similar impact to schools from Victorian times which emphasised good manners and taught children how to be proper men and women, although both methods of learning were very different.

The research has found that every dollar spent on preschool in disadvantaged areas yielded a return of $16 in terms of increased earning power, taxes and less demand on the criminal justice system.

Dr Schweinhart compared countries which cut back on preschool funding during harsh economic times to starving people who eat their seed corn during a famine.

Other experts, however, have been more cautious about research extolling the benefits of universal preschooling.

Kevin Milligan, a professor of economics at the University of British Columbia, has noted that most of the research demonstrating the benefits of preschooling comes from studies of programmes targeting at-risk families.

Speaking in September, he pointed out that, in the Perry Study the definition of at risk was very specific. To qualify for the programme, Milligan said a child “had to have an IQ in the range of 70 to 85”.

He said: “Now IQ is not the only measure of wellbeing, far from it, but the point is that kids who have a 70 to 85 IQ are really struggling.”

Youngballymun is the early intervention programme which is jointly funded by the Office of the Minister for Children and Atlantic Philanthropies.

Dr Schweinhart recommended those involved in preschool education should have a bachelor’s degree or a teaching certificate.

Prof Nóirín Hayes, a child development expert at DIT told the conference that she expected the imminent workforce development plan from the Office of the Minister for Children will insist that those involved in preschool education have at least a post-Leaving Certificate type of qualification, most likely the Further Education and Training Awards Council (Fetac) Certificate in Childcare level 5.

Youngballymun chief executive Eleanor McClorey said society had “non-negotiable” responsibilities towards children and the economic case for funding preschool education was “watertight”.

She said the Early Childhood Care and Education scheme must be kept whatever other cuts are made in the budget.