Is cognitive development at three years of age associated with ECEC quality in Norway?

Author
Eliassen, E., Zachrisson, H. D., Melhuish, E.
Year
2018

Purpose

The study investigates whether there is a correlation between the observed quality of provision in Norwegian kindergartens and the cognitive development of kindergarten children (when they are three years old). The researchers also wanted to find out whether the quality of provision has more of an impact on the cognitive development of children from families with low socioeconomic status than on children from more resourceful families. 

Result

The authors found no correlation between the quality of kindergarten provision and the cognitive skills of Norwegian three-year-olds. They also believe that the quality of provision does not have a greater impact on the development of children's cognitive skills if they come from families with low socioeconomic status. 

Design

The authors have conducted statistical analyses of data taken from the research project ‘Good kindergartens for children in Norway’ (GoBaN), which deals with the quality of Norwegian kindergartens and its impact on kindergarten children. The GoBaN project tested children’s verbal and non-verbal cognitive skills, interviews were conducted with parents and observational studies of the quality of kindergartens were conducted. This cross-sectional study has taken a sample of 800 three-year-olds who participated in the GoBaN project, from 83 randomly selected municipal and private kindergartens in seven Norwegian municipalities. 

References

Eliassen, E., Zachrisson, H. D. & Melhuish, E. (2018). “Is cognitive development at three years of age associated with ECEC quality in Norway?”. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 26(1):97-110.

Financed by

Not specified