Longitudinal studies as a part of monitoring early childhood education and care in Germany

Transcription

1 Prof. Dr. Yvonne Anders Freie Universität Berlin Department of Education and Psychology Early Childhood Education Longitudinal studies as a part of monitoring early childhood education and care in Germany Yvonne Anders Freie Universität Berlin, Germany November 17th, ICEC conference, Berlin

2 This presentation 1 The German situation 2 Methodological characteristics of longitudinal studies 3 Selected longitudinal studies on ECEC effects in Germany 4 Discussion 2

3 The German situation ECEC services are located within the child and youth welfare sector for all children before enrollment into primary school Decentralized system Socio-pedagogic tradition Situation-oriented, child-centred pedagogy with a special focus on the promotion of the socio-emotional development of the children Educational plans / curricular frameworks have been implemented in all federal states since

4 The German situation Strong influences of social and cultural origin on school achievements and school careers in Germany (e.g Levels et al., 2008; Schwippert et al., 2003) Attention for the potential in promoting early academic skills has risen, especially with regard to compensate for disadvantages of children how grow up in low SES families or have an immigration background High quality is most important to achieve beneficial effects But: The pedagogical quality of ECEC in Germany is at average low to moderate (Roßbach, 2005; Kuger & Kluczniok, 2008; Tietze et al., 2013; Tietze, Roßbach, & Grenner, 2005) 4

5 The German situation Several initiatives that aim at improving the quality of early childhood education and care in Germany were launched At the same time: Growing research interest in ECEC, especially with regard to the effects on children s development What is the potential role of longitudinal studies as part of monitoring and the development of quality of early childhood education and care in Germany? 5

6 What is a longitudinal study? Cross-sectional studies compare different population groups at a single point in time Longitudinal studies collect data for the same subjects repeatedly over a period of time Longitudinal research projects can extend over years or even decades Longitudinal studies allow researchers to study changes over time at the group and at the individual level 6

7 Challenges of empirical studies in the area of ECEC In Germany: freedom of individual settings in implementing education what is happening in the centers is less predictable than in formal schooling Study designs need to take account of variation Measurement of quantity and quality of ECEC Measurement of children s skills and competencies, especially at very young ages! Comprehensive analytical frameworks considering child, family and preschool setting are necessary 7

8 Current large studies on the nature and effects of ECEC in Germany SOEP - Socioeconomic panel study (German Institute of Economic Research, Berlin) BIKS Educational Processes, Competence Development and the Formation of Selection Decisions at Pre- and Primary School Age (University of Bamberg) NEPS National Educational Panel Study (University of Bamberg + partner throughout Germany) Evaluation of the National Initiative Schwerpunkt-Kitas Sprache & Integration (University of Bamberg, Freie Universität Berlin, PädQUIS ggmbh) 8

9 SOEP (1) Annual household panel study representative for the population in Germany Started in 1984 Currently: about 20,000 respondents from 11,000 households Extension samples exist, e.g. Familien in Deutschland Study (FiD, Families in Germany). FiD is a dataset where families with young children and those with special needs (low income, lone parents, and large families) have been surveyed since All respondents over age 16 in each household are interviewed on employment, income, childbirths, relationships, time use, personality, attitudes, health and subjective wellbeing. 9

10 SOEP (2) Since 2003, all mothers of newborn children are interviewed to obtain information on children s health, cognitive and non-cognitive development, temperament, child care arrangements, and maternal wellbeing Selected findings Childcare choices are correlated with mothers personality (Bjerre, Peter, & Spieß, 2011) Older children and children from advantageous backgrounds are the first to be sent to center-based care. These children have the lowest returns from attending child care (Felfe & Lalive, 2014) 10

11 SOEP (3) Selected findings Structural quality of ECEC may affect mothers decision to go back to work (Schober & Spieß, 2014) Children who attend childcare do better in school (Spieß & Buechner, 2009) Limitations SOEP has only very limited information on the nature and quality of ECEC. Interpretation of previous findings needs to consider this limitation But: new project adds data on preschool quality 11

12 Prof. Dr. Yvonne Anders Freie Universität Berlin Department of Education and Psychology Early Childhood Education Educational Processes, Competence Development and the Formation of Selection Decisions at Pre- and Primary School Age Principal investigators: Cordula Artelt, Peter Blossfeld, Gabriele Faust, Hans-Günther Rossbach, Sabine Weinert

13 Prof. Dr. Yvonne Anders Freie Universität Berlin Department of Education and Psychology Early Childhood Education Structure and Impact of Quality in Family and Institutional Settings at Pre- and Primary School Age BiKS Project 2 / 3 Principal investigators: Hans-Günther Roßbach, Sabine Weinert

14 Research background and main concerns Family Setting Global stimulation Domain-specific stimulation Global stimulation Domain-specific stimulation Institutional Setting 14

15 Research questions Identifying stability and changes of early learning environments long term effects of learning environments interaction effects of learning environments thresholds in quality 15

16 Design 547 children and families, who visited 97 preschool centres in Bavaria and Hesse Start: first year of preschool experience (age 3) Yearly comprehensive assessements of - children s development, - home learning environment and - preschool quality - instructional quality in primary school Mixed-methods design 16

17 Concept of educational quality Learning environments Structures e.g. SES of family, group or class size in pre- and primary school Educational beliefs e.g. perception of children, educational goals and orientations Processes e.g. parent-child interaction, teacher child interaction, activities Global aspects e.g. supportive climate Domain specific aspects e.g. literacy, numeracy Contextual characteristics Child development e.g. coping strategies in every day life, social skills, cognitive development 17 Tietze, Roßbach & Grenner (2005)

18 Process quality of learning environments: Summary: Level of quality Family Preschool Primary school 1 = inadequate, 7 = excellent Global stimulation Domain-specific stimulation: literacy Domain-specific stimulation: numeracy 18

19 Process quality of learning environments: Summary: Level of quality and stability Family low moderate low to moderate Preschool Primary school low low to moderate low to moderate low low low 1 = inadequate, 7 = excellent Global stimulation Domain-specific stimulation: literacy Domain-specific stimulation: numeracy 19

20 Quality effects on numeracy development Model 1 3 years 4 years 5 years y 11 y 13 y 15 intercept 1 Child and family background factors slope age 3 age 4 age 5 2 HLE Anders et al., Structural preschool characteristics 4 Process quality of preschool 20

21 Findings (1) Child and family background factors affect initial numeracy skills and growth HLE shows an effect on initial numeracy skills -> advantages are maintained over the preschool years Aspects of structural quality are related to initial numeracy skills No effect of ECERS-R, but ECERS-E, especially subscale mathematics is related to growth (Anders et al., 2012) The longer children experience high quality, the higher the benefit 21

22 Further Findings Domain specific quality in mathematics (ECERS-E) has an effect on development between ages 5-7 (Anders et al., 2013) Instructional quality of mathematics lessons in primary school has no effect (Anders et al., 2013) Effects of preschool quality on development in mathematics show stable at later ages, impact of instructional quality grows (Lehrl et al., in preparation) No effect of preschool quality on development in literacy (Ebert et al., 2013) 22

23 Compensatory effects for disadvantaged children? Family x Preschool Mathew effect Preschool x Primary school Additive effect Family x Primary school Compensatory effect 23

24 The Initiative Early Chances Funder: Federal Ministry of Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth 400 million to expand 4,000 daycare centres throughout Germany into so-called core daycare centres for language & integration Additional half-day professional qualified to promote language learning in the daycare centre: language expert focusses on the promotion of children under three and children from disadvantaged backgrounds Additional funding (2,500 per daycare centre) 24

25 Framework of the Evaluation Study Principal Investigators: Hans-Günther Rossbach, Yvonne Anders, Wolfgang Tietze Design Longitudinal study: 3 measurement points Sample: n=335 (daycare centres), n=1331 families and children Treatment groups Core daycare centres with normal support (n=89) Consultation daycare centres (n=82) Core daycare centres with additional professional development and training (verbal*) (n=86) Control group (n=78) 25

26 3. Framework of the Evaluation Study Research questions Changes observed at the level of the daycare centres Effect(s) of the language expert within the team Effects on children s language and social development Effects on families Mixed methods Online Survey and Questionnaires Interviews Observations (daycare centre quality) Tests 26

27 Findings High variance between centres in realizing the initiative Early Chances Implementation difficulties diminish over the course of the project, implementation depth rises The depth of implementation of language education (measured for example by team-meetings, role acceptance, in-house trainings) has impact on process quality Differences in process quality can be explained by further professional support Further analyses will link to children s development 27

28 Discussion (1) Longitudinal studies help to understand the early development of children s abilities and competences The development of social disparities can be identified and monitored very early in children s lives Existing studies highlight importance of parental activities and the quality of the home learning environment The findings can feed into ECEC policy 28

29 Discussion (2) Existing studies document that global preschool quality in Germany is moderate, academic quality is low to moderate Studies document the stabilities of the quality of different learning environments Studies underline how structural characteristics (e.g. children with an immigration background) are associated with process quality Research provides evidence on the effects of preschool quality on children s development and how learning environments interact in shaping children s development Findings support domain-specific view on children s learning and development 29

30 Discussion (3) Studies provide evidence on effective implementation of policy and professional development Discussion of innovative quality concepts and measurement of quality (e.g. via effectiveness) is needed Different types of longitudinal studies are needed for further monitoring and quality management: Large-scale studies on regular ECEC and ist effects on children s development, controlled (quasi-)experimental studies to investigate the effects of specific pedagogical approaches, longitudinal studies that attend the implementation of political strategies and initiatives 30

31 References Anders, Y., Grosse, C., Roßbach, H.-G., Ebert, S. & Weinert, S. (2013). Preschool and primary school influences on the development of children s early numeracy skills between the ages of 3 and 7 years in Germany. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 24(2), Anders,Y., Rossbach, H.G., Weinert, S., Ebert, S., Kuger, S., Lehrl, S. & von Maurice, J. (2012). Home and preschool learning environments and their relations to the development of early numeracy skills. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 27 (2), Bjerre, L., Peter, F., & Spieß, C.K. (2011). Child Care Choices in Western Germany Also Correlated with Mother's Personality. DIW Economic Bulletin, 5, Ebert, S., Lockl, K., Weinert, S., Anders, Y., Kluczniok, K., & Roßbach, H.-G. (2013). Internal and external influences on children s language development during preschool. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 24 (2), Felfe, C. & Lalive, R. (2014). Early Child Care and Child Development? For Whom it Works and Why. IZA DP, Nr : IZA, 2012, S Kuger, S., & Kluczniok, K. (2008). Prozessqualität im Kindergarten. Konzept, Umsetzung und Befunde. In H.-G. Roßbach & H.-B. Blossfeld (Hrsg.), Frühpädagogische Förderung in Institutionen (Sonderheft 11 der Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft, S ). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. Levels, M., Dronkers, J., & Kraaykamp, G. (2008). Immigrant Children s Educational Achievement in Western Countries: Origin, Destination, and Community Effects on Mathematical Performance. American Sociological Review, 73(5),

32 References Roßbach, H.-G. (2005). Effekte qualitativ guter Betreuung, Bildung und Erziehung im frühen Kindesalter auf Kinder und ihre Familien. In Sachverständigenkommission Zwölfter Kinder- und Jugendbericht (Hrsg.), Bildung, Erziehung und Betreuung von Kindern unter sechs Jahren (S ). München: Verlag Deutsches Jugendinstitut. Schober, P. & Spieß, C.K. (2014). Local Day-Care Quality and Maternal Employment: Evidence from East and West Germany. SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research, 649. DIW: Berlin. Schwippert, K., Bos, W. & Lankes, E.-M. (2003). Heterogenität und Chancengleichheit am Ende der vierten Jahrgangsstufe im internationalen Vergleich. In W. Bos, E.-M. Lankes, M. Prenzel, K. Schwippert, G. Walther & R. Valtin (Hrsg.), Erste Ergebnisse aus IGLU. Schülerleistungen am Ende der vierten Jahrgangsstufe im internationalen Vergleich (S ). Münster: Waxmann. Spieß, C. K. & Büchner, C. (2009). Children Who Attend Formal Day Care Do Better in School: Even Many Years Later in Secondary School. Weekly Report, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 5(5), Tietze, W., Becker-Stoll, F., Bensel, J., Eckhardt, A. G., Haug-Schnabel, G., Kalicki, B., Keller, H. & Leyendecker, B. (2013). NUBBEK. Nationale Untersuchung zur Bildung, Betreuung und Erziehung in der frühen Kindheit. Weimar, Berlin: Verlag das Netz. Tietze, W., Rossbach, H.-G., & Grenner, K. (2005). Kinder von 4 bis 8 Jahren. Zur Qualität der Erziehungs- und Bildungsinstitution Kindergarten, Grundschule und Familie. Weinheim: Beltz. 32

33 Thank you for your attention! 33