The effects of a large-scale school readiness intervention on Danish preschool children’s emergent mathematics skills

The study investigates the effects of a large-scale school preparation intervention on children’s early mathematics skills in Danish kindergartens. The study aims to evaluate how a skills development intervention for employees affects children’s development in mathematics, particularly in the fields of geometry and numerical skills. The study also investigates whether the intervention has varying effects for different groups of children, and how the degree of exposure and child-employee relationship can moderate these effects. The research questions are:

1. Did the intervention improve the children’s emerging mathematics skills?
2. Did all children benefit equally from the intervention, or were there variations in its effects for different groups of children?
3. Did the degree of exposure moderate the effects of the intervention?
4. Did variations in the child-employee relationship moderate the effects of the intervention?

The intervention had small but significant positive effects on the children’s geometry and numerical skills. The intervention produced a greater effect for children with non-Western backgrounds, which helped reduce the skill gap for this group. The results also showed that children who participated more frequently in activities, as well as kindergartens with lower children-employee relationships, achieved better results. The study therefore indicates that facilitating mathematics skills in kindergartens can strengthen school preparation skills regardless of social background.

The study used a cluster-randomised controlled design (RCT) to evaluate the effects of the intervention on the children’s mathematics skills. Over 5000 children in 122 Danish kindergartens participated. The kindergartens involved were randomly allocated to either a control group or an intervention group. The children’s skills were measured before and after the intervention using ‘Tools for Early Assessment in Math’ (TEAM), and data on exposure and child-employee relationships were collected through questionnaires.

Jensen, P., & Sjö, N. M. (2024). The effects of a large-scale school readiness intervention on Danish preschool children’s emergent mathematics skills. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 68(3), 488–503.

Online year: 2022

Issue year: 2024

Review year: 2022