Rising
enrollments in preschool programs and increasing use of nonparental child care
are surely among the most significant worldwide trends of the past two decades.
Demand for preschool services has also been fueled by an increased
understanding of the importance of the early years of life, as well as by
concern over the high proportions of children who are doing poorly in school.
It is generally agreed that the nations comprising the European Union have some
of the world’s most highly developed early care and education (ECE) systems and some of the best
empirical evidence on the effects of preschool experiences on children’s
development and welfare. During the 1980s and 1990s, there was a tremendous
expansion of preschool programs for children from the age of three to the age
of compulsory schooling (ranging from five to seven), and approximately
half of E.U. countries now have publicly funded preschool places available for 79%
or more of the children in this age group. Of course, as a result of the
increased dominance of free market economics, many countries are feeling
pressure to reduce social benefits to become more “efficient”—in this context,
continued support for quality preschool programs may depend on compelling
evidence of their cost-effectiveness and not on their popular support. The
information presented here may prove helpful to U.S. policymakers, researchers,
early childhood educators, and advocates seeking evidence of ECE program
effectiveness and results.
enrollments in preschool programs and increasing use of nonparental child care
are surely among the most significant worldwide trends of the past two decades.
Demand for preschool services has also been fueled by an increased
understanding of the importance of the early years of life, as well as by
concern over the high proportions of children who are doing poorly in school.
It is generally agreed that the nations comprising the European Union have some
of the world’s most highly developed early care and education (ECE) systems and some of the best
empirical evidence on the effects of preschool experiences on children’s
development and welfare. During the 1980s and 1990s, there was a tremendous
expansion of preschool programs for children from the age of three to the age
of compulsory schooling (ranging from five to seven), and approximately
half of E.U. countries now have publicly funded preschool places available for 79%
or more of the children in this age group. Of course, as a result of the
increased dominance of free market economics, many countries are feeling
pressure to reduce social benefits to become more “efficient”—in this context,
continued support for quality preschool programs may depend on compelling
evidence of their cost-effectiveness and not on their popular support. The
information presented here may prove helpful to U.S. policymakers, researchers,
early childhood educators, and advocates seeking evidence of ECE program
effectiveness and results.
International
research provides considerable evidence that high quality early childhood
programs can substantially improve children’s cognitive, social, and emotional
development. Further, it shows that such programs are especially beneficial for
children in poverty, that some of the benefits are impressively long lasting,
and that the long-term benefits of effective programs can far outweigh their
costs. Many countries are far ahead of the United States in making free or inexpensive
preschool programs available to three to six-year-olds, though ECE services for
younger children remain more expensive and less available. In France, a
Ministry of Education survey of sixth graders found that every year of
preschool in ecole maternelle reduced the likelihood of school failure,
especially for children from the most disadvantaged homes. (The French ecole
maternelle is fully funded by the national government and provide free,
full-day programs with a national curriculum developed by the Ministry of
Education; ecole maternelle teachers earn a salary comparable to that of
elementary school teachers.) In the United Kingdom, comparisons between
children who attended playgroups, private or public nursery schools, or no
preschool indicated that experience in any preschool program contributed to cognitive
development and school achievement at ages five and ten. (Public investment
in full-day child care is limited in the U.K. and many families rely on
individual childminders, who may or may not be registered with the government.)
An analysis of statistics routinely collected by the elementary schools in one
state in Germany, where 56% to 69% of children between three and six attend
half-day preschools that are provided by the government at no cost to parents,
produced similar findings. Preschool experience influenced rates of retention
in grade, assignment to special education, and other school outcomes
more consistently than any other factor studied. In Sweden, children with
extensive preschool experience (in centers or family child care) performed
significantly better on cognitive tests and received more positive
ratings from their teachers both on school achievement and
social-personal attributes than children with less or no ECE experience. In
fact, children placed in out-of-home care before age one received the most
positive ratings on verbal facility, persistence, independence and confidence,
as well as the lowest ratings on anxiety. The positive effects of day care
persisted throughout the elementary school period. (In Sweden, local
governments provide carefully supervised, subsidized child care through centers
and family child care homes to about half of the nation’s children between
birth and school entry at age seven.) Although specification of the
crucial components of program quality continues to elude ECE researchers, most
would agree that a high-quality preschool program should be based on a variety
of developmentally appropriate activities that engage children. For example,
the curriculum of the French ecole maternelle includes emergent literacy
and other activities designed to acculturate children to a formal school
setting, but gives equal attention to the cultivation of children’s curiosity,
creativity, psychomotor development, and social skills. Some indicators of
quality considered essential by American evaluators, such as class size and
child-to-staff ratios, are accorded less importance in Europe. E.U. programs
do, however, have well-trained personnel, though training requirements vary
from one nation or system to another. Not surprisingly, in nations with high
proportions of well-trained teachers and caretakers, salaries tend to be
relatively high and staff turnover relatively low. In Europe as in the United
States, the involvement of parents in their children’s preschools is often
postulated as an important element of program quality. While there is little
empirical evidence supporting the claims regarding the benefits of parental
involvement, preschool programs in European countries do involve parents in
varying ways and degrees.
research provides considerable evidence that high quality early childhood
programs can substantially improve children’s cognitive, social, and emotional
development. Further, it shows that such programs are especially beneficial for
children in poverty, that some of the benefits are impressively long lasting,
and that the long-term benefits of effective programs can far outweigh their
costs. Many countries are far ahead of the United States in making free or inexpensive
preschool programs available to three to six-year-olds, though ECE services for
younger children remain more expensive and less available. In France, a
Ministry of Education survey of sixth graders found that every year of
preschool in ecole maternelle reduced the likelihood of school failure,
especially for children from the most disadvantaged homes. (The French ecole
maternelle is fully funded by the national government and provide free,
full-day programs with a national curriculum developed by the Ministry of
Education; ecole maternelle teachers earn a salary comparable to that of
elementary school teachers.) In the United Kingdom, comparisons between
children who attended playgroups, private or public nursery schools, or no
preschool indicated that experience in any preschool program contributed to cognitive
development and school achievement at ages five and ten. (Public investment
in full-day child care is limited in the U.K. and many families rely on
individual childminders, who may or may not be registered with the government.)
An analysis of statistics routinely collected by the elementary schools in one
state in Germany, where 56% to 69% of children between three and six attend
half-day preschools that are provided by the government at no cost to parents,
produced similar findings. Preschool experience influenced rates of retention
in grade, assignment to special education, and other school outcomes
more consistently than any other factor studied. In Sweden, children with
extensive preschool experience (in centers or family child care) performed
significantly better on cognitive tests and received more positive
ratings from their teachers both on school achievement and
social-personal attributes than children with less or no ECE experience. In
fact, children placed in out-of-home care before age one received the most
positive ratings on verbal facility, persistence, independence and confidence,
as well as the lowest ratings on anxiety. The positive effects of day care
persisted throughout the elementary school period. (In Sweden, local
governments provide carefully supervised, subsidized child care through centers
and family child care homes to about half of the nation’s children between
birth and school entry at age seven.) Although specification of the
crucial components of program quality continues to elude ECE researchers, most
would agree that a high-quality preschool program should be based on a variety
of developmentally appropriate activities that engage children. For example,
the curriculum of the French ecole maternelle includes emergent literacy
and other activities designed to acculturate children to a formal school
setting, but gives equal attention to the cultivation of children’s curiosity,
creativity, psychomotor development, and social skills. Some indicators of
quality considered essential by American evaluators, such as class size and
child-to-staff ratios, are accorded less importance in Europe. E.U. programs
do, however, have well-trained personnel, though training requirements vary
from one nation or system to another. Not surprisingly, in nations with high
proportions of well-trained teachers and caretakers, salaries tend to be
relatively high and staff turnover relatively low. In Europe as in the United
States, the involvement of parents in their children’s preschools is often
postulated as an important element of program quality. While there is little
empirical evidence supporting the claims regarding the benefits of parental
involvement, preschool programs in European countries do involve parents in
varying ways and degrees.
Efforts to
use the preschool system to reduce rates of early school failures and the vast
inequalities among children from different social backgrounds are usually based
on one of two general strategies: (1) providing preschool programs as universal
entitlements, ensuring that the programs are of high enough quality so that
they are supported and used by high and low income families alike (a strategy
used in France and Sweden); and (2) developing compensatory preschool programs
targeted specifically at children in poverty. Programs aimed at children from
poor or immigrant families include home-based “enrichment” programs. In Europe,
as in the United States, preschool appears to have a greater impact on the
lives of poor children than more advantaged children. In the French and British
studies discussed earlier, preschool experience was found to be most beneficial
for the most disadvantaged. A recent German study of the effects of
kindergarten (publicly financed preschool for children age three and older) on
children’s school outcomes shows similar results. While participation in
preschool did not significantly enhance enrollment in an academic high
school or high school curriculum for native German children, it did
increase the probability that the children of guest workers or recent
immigrants would achieve a higher educational level. The United States has invested more
than any other nation in rigorous research on the effects of preschool
programs, and has produced a strong body of evidence of the long-term benefits
of good quality programs, especially for children in poverty. Yet our nation
continues to have one of the world’s most fragmented, incoherent, and
incomplete ECE systems. This is due in part to our ambivalence about large
public investments in “other people’s children” and, perhaps, to our reluctance
to learn from the experiences of other nations. This must change. Although much
remains to be done in conceptualizing and assessing the quality of E.U.
programs, the studies surveyed here provide valuable information for U.S.
policymakers, educators, and other stakeholders. The long-term costs of the
failure to provide high-quality early childhood programs—higher costs for education,
social services, police and prisons, and lost productivity and tax payments—are
likely to be far higher than the costs of these programs. The long-term
benefits of current European preschool policies and programs are by no means
decisively demonstrated, but the results thus far show the plausibility of an
array of policies and services that merit more serious consideration in this
country. The question is how a shift toward universal access to high quality
preschool programs can be made compatible with American individualism,
suspicion of governmental interference in family affairs, and demands for
choice and free association. The action plan developed by the E.U. which
attempts to combine unity of purpose with accommodation of national and
within-nation diversity, which envisions ECE systems that are coherent but
flexible, offering programs and services to all families but allowing choices
among them, seems to violate no important American values and may
constitute a lesson from Europe that Americans can accept.
use the preschool system to reduce rates of early school failures and the vast
inequalities among children from different social backgrounds are usually based
on one of two general strategies: (1) providing preschool programs as universal
entitlements, ensuring that the programs are of high enough quality so that
they are supported and used by high and low income families alike (a strategy
used in France and Sweden); and (2) developing compensatory preschool programs
targeted specifically at children in poverty. Programs aimed at children from
poor or immigrant families include home-based “enrichment” programs. In Europe,
as in the United States, preschool appears to have a greater impact on the
lives of poor children than more advantaged children. In the French and British
studies discussed earlier, preschool experience was found to be most beneficial
for the most disadvantaged. A recent German study of the effects of
kindergarten (publicly financed preschool for children age three and older) on
children’s school outcomes shows similar results. While participation in
preschool did not significantly enhance enrollment in an academic high
school or high school curriculum for native German children, it did
increase the probability that the children of guest workers or recent
immigrants would achieve a higher educational level. The United States has invested more
than any other nation in rigorous research on the effects of preschool
programs, and has produced a strong body of evidence of the long-term benefits
of good quality programs, especially for children in poverty. Yet our nation
continues to have one of the world’s most fragmented, incoherent, and
incomplete ECE systems. This is due in part to our ambivalence about large
public investments in “other people’s children” and, perhaps, to our reluctance
to learn from the experiences of other nations. This must change. Although much
remains to be done in conceptualizing and assessing the quality of E.U.
programs, the studies surveyed here provide valuable information for U.S.
policymakers, educators, and other stakeholders. The long-term costs of the
failure to provide high-quality early childhood programs—higher costs for education,
social services, police and prisons, and lost productivity and tax payments—are
likely to be far higher than the costs of these programs. The long-term
benefits of current European preschool policies and programs are by no means
decisively demonstrated, but the results thus far show the plausibility of an
array of policies and services that merit more serious consideration in this
country. The question is how a shift toward universal access to high quality
preschool programs can be made compatible with American individualism,
suspicion of governmental interference in family affairs, and demands for
choice and free association. The action plan developed by the E.U. which
attempts to combine unity of purpose with accommodation of national and
within-nation diversity, which envisions ECE systems that are coherent but
flexible, offering programs and services to all families but allowing choices
among them, seems to violate no important American values and may
constitute a lesson from Europe that Americans can accept.
Megan Wilson is a teacher, life strategist,
successful entrepreneur, inspirational keynote speaker and founder of https://Ebookscheaper.com. Megan champions a radical
rethink of our school systems; she calls on educators to teach both intuition
and logic to cultivate creativity and create bold thinkers.
successful entrepreneur, inspirational keynote speaker and founder of https://Ebookscheaper.com. Megan champions a radical
rethink of our school systems; she calls on educators to teach both intuition
and logic to cultivate creativity and create bold thinkers.
