C O U R S E   6   -   1 4   M A R C H   2 0 2 3

Early childhood education and care & school

3 different aspects:

• Disparities and education gap
• Role of ECEC and school
• Classroom experiences and interventions

Disparities – education gap

• Income stronger predictor of school success than migration background
• Explanatory factors » various forms of capital
  • Economic capital: financial and material resources
  • Human capital: parental education level; cognitive stimulation
  • Social capital: resources available in network
  • Cultural capital: knowledge, skills and familiarity with dominant culture
• Upward mobility (i.e. having a lot of access to different sources of capital can also allow you to go beyond what your parents or grandparents have accomplished. You are moving up the social ladder) OR cultural reproduction (i.e. because of the types of capital that you were exposed to, you stay within the same community and basically reproduce the upbringing that you had yourself)?
• To close the gap you should tackle the source

Role of ECEC – primary education

• Effects of ECEC: ECEC attendance can partly close the education gap, however several issues stand out:
  • Magnitude (=omvang) of effects dependent on:
    • Quality of the provided care
    • Duration or intensity
  • Accessibility of ECEC » negative social selection tendencies and reduced access to high quality ECEC for disadvantaged families
  • Effects strongest for cognitive and language development and weaker for social emotional development
• Effects of ECEC in the Netherlands (Dutch study):
  • Short term effects (2-4 years, before enrollment in primary school):
    
    • More guided and pretend play » better vocabulary skill development
    • Use of an education program (VVE = vroege voorschoolse educatie) » better vocabulary
    • Higher educational quality (= quality of interactions) » better attention skills
  • Long term effects (final grade primary school):
    
    • Higher intensity from 2 years » better reading skills, less externalizing problem behavior but early high intensity possible risk factor for externalizing problem behavior
    • More literacy activities (= lees- en schrijfactiviteiten) in preschool » better reading skills

Classroom experiences and interventions

Quality universal definition? (Rosenthal, 2003)

Welke oriëntatie je hebt ligt aan wat je definitie is van goede ECEC kwaliteit. Het ligt ook aan welke activiteiten je belangrijk vind en hoe je denkt dat kinderen leren (de manier waarop)

• Quality according to the Dutch Child Care Act (2005) » four pedagogical goals:
  • Physical and emotional security
  • Encouraging personal competences
  • Encouraging social competences
  • Socialization of norms and values
• Group socialization in ECEC: Common quality measurement instruments focus on one-to-one interaction between the teacher and a child » grounded in attachment theory
  • Social interactions between children
  • Togetherness in play/activities
  • Group sensitivity
• More focus on group socialization, higher levels of inclusiveness

Different teaching strategies (Cummins, 2015)

School context and multilingualism

• Monolingual education (majority language)
  • ‘Sink-or-swim’ » complete immersion in majority language
  • ‘Pull-out’ » specific language support
  • But this does not mean that students learn “monolingually” (thinking processes in L1??)
• Multilingual education
  • Additional provision and support in home language
  • Advantages (e.g. Cummins, 1979):
    
    • Dependency between L1 and L2 » spill-over effect
    • Support for home language » higher well-being » higher achievement
    • Bilinguals show more brain activity » support for ‘potential to learn’ (it would be a waste if you don’t use it)

Language education: example from Flanders (Agirdag, 2014)

• Did additional support in Dutch contribute to smaller gaps? NO
• Did additional support in home language contribute to smaller gaps? YES
• Dus: supporten van multilingual education

Discriminatory school climate and achievement (Baysuet al., 2022)

Discriminatory school climate predicts lower math and reading scores for all students (dus niet alleen de persoonlijke ervaring zorgt ervoor dat je minder goede scores behaalt, maar het veroorzaakt ook lagere prestaties als je discriminatie meemaakt in je school)

• Stronger for student with minority background
• Mediation path through ‘belongingness’ and ‘learning attitudes’
• Findings robust across countries and school contexts

Interventions to combat inequalities

• Overall more collaboration and alignment of education, youth and welfare services (e.g., integrated centres (IKC’s)) » Additional support for those most in need
• Family support programs, walk-in playgroups and ECEC for 0-4 years
• Collaboration between schools, youth and welfare organizations and after-school care for 4-12/14 years
  • Summer school, prolonged school day (verlengde schooldag)
  • Extracurricular activities by community services
  • Community schools/Broad Schools (Brede Scholen)
  • Increased focus on inclusion and cultural sensitivity

Summary

• Disparities begin early in life and are persistent, and mostly related to income and lack of (financial) resources
• ECEC can compensate a weak start, but primary education does not fulfill its promise of equalizer
• Lack of support for multilingualism, multiculturalism or even discrimination hinder further catching up of children with diverse backgrounds
• Shift in focus towards more inclusive, group-supporting classroom processes