The economic importance of early childhood education in a European perspective Torberg Falch Department of Economics Norwegian University of Science and Technology and EENEE

International research Consensus across several disciplines that early intervention has a large potential Children are susceptible to influence in early ages Little evidence of the effect of European type Early Childhood Education and Care systems on outcomes like school achievement, educational attainment, and labour market performance

Experiments and early intervention Much of the present evidence on the effect of early intervention is based on randomized experiments Targeted children in the experiments have typically a disadvantaged background Can the evidence from this research be generalized to European systems?

European Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) systems ECEC in Europe is typically universal, enrolling children independent of their background The main motivation for extensive ECEC in Europe has been to increase the labour supply of females The care aspect of ECEC has probably been more important than the education aspect Enrolment in ECEC is higher in Europe than in the US

ECEC enrolment rates and PISA scores

ECEC enrolment rates and PISA scores cont. The relationship in the figure cannot be interpreted as a causal relationship The enrolment rate does not distinguish between part-time and full-time enrolment ECEC enrolment and student achievement measured for different cohorts The figure indicates that there is no automatic gains of increasing ECEC enrolment

Evidence from European universal ECEC systems Limited evidence - Hard to conduct experiments - Little data available

UK evidence 1.Goodman and Sianesi, Fiscal Studies, Investigate long term effects (labour market outcomes) Investigate an old system (cohort born in 1958) Find positive effects on educational attainment and labour market performance

UK evidence cont. 2. Effective Pre-school and Primary Education 3-11 Project Investigates medium term effects (age 11) Investigates a ’modern’ ECEC system (cohort born ) Finds positive effects on ’pro-social’ behaviour and cognitive ability

German evidence Spiess, Büchel and Wagner, Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 2003 Investigate medium term effects (tracking at age 11) Investigates not a very ’modern’ ECEC system (cohort born ) Find positive effects on the probability to be enrolled in the high-ability tracks for immigrants. No effects for native Germans

Interpretations Careful interpretations of these studies are important because - the control groups are not ideally constructed - few observations in the studies In general positive effects, but much smaller in magnitude than in some US experiments Seems to be strongest effects for disadvantaged children

Other relevant evidence Leuven, Lindahl, Oosterbeek and Webbink, Working Paper. - In Holland, starting school earlier increases language skills for disadvantaged children. Magnuson, Ruhm and Waldfogel, Economics of Education Review, In the US, only a positive effect of prekindergarten on academic skills for disadvantaged children Dhuey, Working Paper. - In the US, kindergarten attendance reduces later grade failure, and mainly for children with low socioeconomic status

Implications Is it the education aspect or the care aspect that is important in ECEC? The main potential of ECEC seems to be in stimulation of disadvantaged children The important distinction in ECEC systems seems to be between ‘high-quality stimulation’ of disadvantaged children and just ‘looking after’ the children

Conclusion The evidence clearly suggests that stimulation and education of disadvantaged children boost their school readiness Both cognitive, social and emotional stimulation are beneficial ECEC may compensate for lack of stimulation in some children’s homes How able are the European ECEC systems to compensate?