Estimating the Consequences of Norway's National Scale-Up of Early Childhood Education and Care (Beginning in Infancy) for Early Language Skills

Author
Dearing, E., Zachrisson, H. D., Mykletun, A. & Toppelberg, C. O.
Source
AERA Open, 4(1):1-16.
Year
2018

Purpose

The purpose of the study is to investigate the consequences of Norway expanding its universal kindergarten provision, for all children over one year of age, regarding children’s early language development. In particular, the researchers look at whether the expansion of kindergarten provision has different consequences for children that come from low-income families compared to middle- and high-income families. Focus is also placed on the potential of whether starting kindergarten at an early stage reduces the differences in early language development between children from different socioeconomic groups.

Result

The study shows that an expanded kindergarten provision improves children’s early language development, especially in children from low-income families. The results show three trends: 1) Starting kindergarten at 18 months of age predicted better language skills in kindergarten children at the age of three than in children who did not attend kindergarten. This primarily applied to children from low-income families. 2) Increased kindergarten accessibility led to improved language skills among toddlers in municipalities with many low-income families. 3) In municipalities where the use of kindergarten provision increased faster among children from low-income families than children from high-income families, the gap in language skills between these two groups of children also narrowed. In 2006, more children from high-income families than low-income families attended kindergarten (a gap of 20 percentage points). According to the study, closing this gap will even out the differences in early language development, based on parents’ income, by three percentage points. Although this is a low figure, the researchers believe that even small changes in early language development, as a result of expanded kindergarten provision, could lead to major changes in the future prospects of these children. Therefore, social differences could be reduced if all children started kindergarten early. 

Design

The researchers have carried out statistical analyses of data taken from the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Here, among other things, parents answer questions about their own health and lifestyle and their children’s development. This study focuses on the 2002 to 2006 birth groups (63,471 children). Data on demographics, use of kindergarten provision and children’s language skills were analysed.

References

Dearing, E., Zachrisson, H. D., Mykletun, A. & Toppelberg, C. O. (2018). "Estimating the Consequences of Norway's National Scale-Up of Early Childhood Education and Care (Beginning in Infancy) for Early Language Skills". AERA Open, 4(1):1-16.

Financed by

The Research Council of Norway, Norway