Social background and equal opportunity in education

Author(s):

Kaspar BurgerMargrit Stamm

Conference:

ECER 2008

Network:

21. Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

PRE_D8, Preconference; Paper Session D8

Paper Session

Time:

2008-09-08

14:45-16:15

Room:

BE 014

Chair:

Ingrid Gogolin

Contribution

Topic: Preschool education and equal opportunities Research question: Can preschool education programmes contribute to overcome social inequality and thus ensure equal opportunities for children with different social backgrounds and heterogeneous preconditions for learning? Objective: An overview of the current research will be given: major empirical findings from the international research literature will be outlined in order to elicit whether early childhood education can compensate for differences in the starting positions for learning. Key findings from the international research literature will be reconsidered. Findings on the effect of preschool education programmes on the development of socially deprived children: The efficacy of institutionalised preschool education programmes on the development of socially deprived children was investigated in numerous Anglo-American longitudinal studies: Several studies provided evidence for positive effects in school achievement, class repetition rates, educational attainment in adulthood, health, crime rate, delinquency and employment ratio (Schweinhardt et al., 1993; Schweinhardt & Weikart, 1997; Raemy et al., 2000; Barnett, 2006). An OECD-study by Kamerman et al. (2003) and two English longitudinal studies confirmed these findings: Osborne and Milbank (1987) found further developed linguistic and mathematical capacities, lower class repetition rates and less use of special education in the children who had attended an early childhood education programme. Sylva et al. (2004) found a better cognitive and social development in the fostered children compared to the development of the children in the control group. In both studies (Osborne & Milbank, 1987; Sylva et al., 2004) especially the socially deprived children were found to benefit notably from the educational programmes. This finding is in line with an OECD-analysis (2002) according to which preschool programmes can compensate for social inequality to a large extent in the long term. Furthermore several other studies pointed out a significant correlation between the attendance at kindergarten and later school achievement (Bos et al., 2004; Spiess et al., 2003; Becker & Lauterbach, 2004). However, in some other studies only minor effects of preschool programmes on later school achievement could be found. Chances of socially disadvantaged children couldn’t be much enhanced through preschool programmes according to studies by Andersson (1992), Chin-Quee and Scarr (1994) or the English National Child Development Study by Feinstein et al. (1999). Currie and Thomas (2001) emphasised on their part that long term differences in school achievement are mostly due to differences in the quality of the education at school. This result has been confirmed in several other studies from Germany (Colberg-Schrader, 1998; Tietze, 1998; Fried, 2002; Heinrich & Koletzko, 2005; Roßbach, 2006).

Method

Methodology: A thorough literature review was undertaken. A content analysis of the latest studies in the field of early childhood education was conducted, and key findings of these studies were analysed, weighted and detailed.

Expected Outcomes

Conclusions: The findings suggest that inequality due to family background and other social differences can be overcome quite effectively by early fostering of children in preschool education programmes. Assumedly the programmes that can efficiently enhance the chances of socially deprived children can be characterized as follows: 1) They comprise all children (including a majority of the children from socio-economically disadvantaged families), 2) they prepare children for school and 3) they guarantee continuous educational promotion during the subsequent school years.

References

Andersson, B.-E. (1992). Effects of day care on cognitive and socioemotional competence of thirteen-year-old Swedish schoolchildren. Child Development, 63, 20-36. Barnett, W. S. (2006). What is the value of early childhood education for our society: maximizing returns from prekindergarten education? In J. E. van Kuyk (Ed.). The quality of early childhood education. Report of a scientific conference (pp. 57-72). Arnhem Netherlands. Cito: Arnhem. Becker, W. & Lauterbach, R. (2004). Bildung als Privileg. Wiesbaden: Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Bos, W., Lankes E. M., Prenzel, M., Schwippert, K., Valtin, R. & Walther, G. (Hrsg.). (2004). IGLU. Einige Länder der Bundesrepublik Deutschland im nationalen und internationalen Vergleich. Münster: Waxmann. Chin-Quee, D. S. & Scarr, S. (1994). Lack of early child care effects on school-age children’s social competence and academic achievement. Early Development and Parenting, 3, 2, 103-112. Colberg-Schrader, H. (1998): Kindergarten - Ort für Kinderleben und Treffpunkt für Eltern. Zur Qualität von Kindergärten. In W. F. Fthenakis & M. R. Textor (Hrsg.). Qualität von Kinderbetreuung (86-97). Weinheim: Beltz. Currie, J. & Thomas, D. (2001). Early test scores, school quality and SES: Longrun effects on wage and employment outcomes. Research in Labor Economics, 20, 103-132. Feinstein, L., Robertson, D. & Symons, L. (1999). Preschool education and attainment in the National Child Development Study and British Cohort Study. Education Economics, 7, 3, 209-234. Fried, L. (2002). Qualität von Kindergärten aus der Perspektive von Erzieherinnen: Eine Pilotuntersuchung. In B. Dippelhofer-Stiem & A. Frey (Hrsg.). Kontextuelle Bedingungen, Kompetenzen und Bildungsvorstellungen von Erzieherinnen. Empirische Pädagogik, 16, 2 (Themenheft), 191-209. Heinrich, J. & Koletzko, B. (2005). Kinderkrippen und Kindergesundheit. In Sachverständigenkommission Zwölfter Kinder- und Jugendbericht (Hrsg.). Bildung, Betreuung und Erziehung von Kindern unter sechs Jahren (S. 227-275). München: Verlag Deutsches Jugendinstitut. Kamerman, S. B., Neuman, M., Waldfogel, J. & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2003). Social policies, family types and child outcomes in selected OECD countries. Paris: OECD. OECD (2002). Bildungspolitische Analyse. Paris: OECD. Osborne, A. F. & Milbank, J. E. (1987). The effects of early education. Oxford: Clarendon. Raemy, C. T., Campbell, F. A., Burchinal, M., Skinner, M. L., Gardner, D. M. & Raemy, S. L. (2000). Persistent effects of early childhood education on high-risk children and their mothers. Applied Developmental Science, 4, 1, 2-14. Roßbach, H.-G. (2006). Effekte qualitativ guter Betreuung, Bildung und Erziehung im frühen Kindesalter auf Kinder und ihre Familien. In Sachverständigenkommission Zwölfter Kinder- und Jugendbericht (Hrsg.). Bildung, Betreuung und Erziehung von Kindern unter sechs Jahren (S. 55-174). München: Verlag Deutsches Jugendinstitut. Schweinhardt, L. J., Barnes, H.V. & Weikart, D. P. (1993). Significant benefits: The High/Scope Perry Preschool study through age 27. Ypsilanti, MI: High/Scope Press. Schweinhardt, L. J. & Weikart, D. P. (1997). The High/Scope preschool curriculum comparison study through age 23. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 12, 2, 117-143. Spiess, C. K., Büchel F. & Wagner, C. G. (2003). Children’s school placement in Germany: Does kindergarten attendance matter? Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 18, 2, 255-270. Sylva, K., Melhuish, E. C., Sammons, P., Siraj-Blatchford, I. & Taggart, B. (2004). The effective provision of pre-school education (EPPE) project: Technical Paper 12 – The Final Report: Effective pre-school education. London: Department for Education and Skills, Institute of Education, University of London. Tietze, W. (Hrsg.). (1998). Wie gut sind unsere Kindergärten? Eine Untersuchung zur pädagogischen Qualität in deutschen Kindergärten. Weinheim: Beltz.

Author Information

Kaspar Burger

Universität Fribourg

Erziehungswissenschaften

Fribourg

Margrit Stamm

Universität Fribourg, Switzerland

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