Previous research has proved that acquisition of early literacy skills (i.e. prior school) can influence positively educational outcomes later (e.g. Bingham, 2007). Early literacy skills promote learning and the overall outcomes of education in early grades, preventing learning difficulties, language impairments, providing the fundamentals for later academic success. Children enter school with different degree of literacy skills. Those experiencing early difficulties are likely to lag behind their peers. Later, this may hinder them in the transition from learning to read to reading to learn, which starts at the fourth year of schooling (Mullis, Martin, Kennedy, Trong, & Sainsbury, 2009), affecting their later academic development not only in reading but also in other subjects.

However, literacy is not the only important early skill. Previous research has shown that early numeracy skills are also important for the academic and career development of children. Early numeracy activities provide children with basic quantitative concepts that would predict their success in mathematics in early grades. Just as with literacy, children with underdeveloped early numeracy skills can experience difficulties in early grades and lag behind their peers in mathematics and other subjects (Aunio, Hautamäki, Sajaniemi, & Van Luit, 2009; Morin & Franks, 2010).

Although literacy and numeracy seem different aspects of children’s development, some research shows there is a link between them (Perry, 2000). Early numeracy has been found to be the best predictor of mathematics, but also of reading achievement (LeFevre, Polyzoi, Skwarchuk, Fast, & Sowinski, 2010). Early number sense, for example, is found as analogous to phonemic awareness. At the same time, language abilities are prerequisites for acquiring of mathematical concepts (Lembke & Foegen, 2009). There are also authors who argue that language and mathematics are mutually supportive (Morin & Franks, 2010; Perry, 2000).

In any case, activities at home have proven their crucial role in acquiring both early literacy and early numeracy. Activities normally include great variety of literacy and numeracy interactions with children. The most important characteristic, however, seems to be the frequency with which these activities take place, and in turn, this frequency tend to be related with the level of parental education (LeFevre et al., 2010).

The purpose of this paper is to explore the association of the early home literacy (ELA) and numeracy (ENA) activities with both reading and mathematics achievement at the end of grade 4, and their variation across 22 European countries participating in the combined Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) conducted in 2011. The research questions of this study are:

1. What are the average ELA and ENA across the participating countries and what is the relationship between both constructs?

2. What is the strength of association of ELA and ENA with reading, mathematics and science achievement and how this association differs across the countries?

3. How does the relationship between ELA, ENA and achievement changes after controlling for parental education and attendance of kindergarten prior school?

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