Coming from a low SES family is the most significant risk factor affecting children’s early development. There are however, also a number of other risk factors that are negatively associated with children’s early learning. These factors are where children have:
a low birth weight,
learning difficulties,
social-emotional difficulties,
a home language that is different from the language of the ECEC centre or school the child attends.
More than three times the percentage of disadvantaged children experience all of these factors compared with the percentage of advantaged children.
Children from low SES backgrounds are much more likely to experience each of the above risk factors than children from high SES backgrounds, with more than three times the percentage of disadvantaged children experiencing all of these factors compared with the percentage of advantaged children who do so (Figure 2.1).