Effectiveness of Dutch targeted preschool education policy for disadvantaged children: Evidence from the pre-COOL study

Structural characteristics and process quality in early childhood education and care

“…With regard to classroom composition a number of studies have investigated effects of several classroom features, such as the mean age in the classroom or ethnic classroom composition on process quality (Early et al, 2010 [79] ; Lehrl, Kuger and Anders, 2014 [80] ; Leseman et al, 2017 [81] ; Wishard et al, 2003 [82] ). Mocan et al (1995 [83] ) found no relations between mean age in the classroom and process quality, but a recent study by Kuger et al (2015 [84] ) showed that process quality was higher in classrooms with, on average, older children.…”

“…Most research has shown that process quality was lower in classrooms with higher proportions of ethnic minority or multilingual children, for instance in Denmark (Slot et al, in press [21] ), Germany (Kuger et al, 2015 [84] ; Leu and Schelle, 2009 [85] ; Lehrl, Kuger and Anders, 2014 [80] ; Slot, Lerkkanen and Leseman, 2015 [13] ) and the United States (LoCassale-Crouch et al, 2007 [86] ; Tonyan and Howes, 2003 [87] ). However, another study from the United States showed that instructional process quality was not related to the number of children with limited English proficiency (Justice et al, 2008 [88] ).…”

Starting Strong Teaching and Learning International Survey 2018 Conceptual Framework

“…Whitehead (2007) suggested that looking at books and other texts together, even if only talking about the pictures and pointing to familiar objects, promotes emergent literacy skills. Moreover, while the Dutch pre-COOL study initially revealed no effects of the provision of academic activities, including language, literacy and mathematics activities, on the development of 2-year-old children's vocabulary or attention skills one year later (Slot, 2014); later analyses found that language and mathematics activities were related to vocabulary growth in disadvantaged children (Leseman et al, 2017). Likewise, an intervention study in toddler childcare that focussed on a responsive teaching style, in combination with a developmentally appropriate academic curriculum, also failed to reveal effects on children's cognitive and language outcomes (Landry et al, 2014, Ansari andPurtell, 2017).…”

“…The survey focusses on the characteristics of ECEC settings considered significant by societies and policy makers, as well as the research perspective on high-quality pedagogical activities, well-being and successful learning (Anders et al, 2012, Pianta et al, 2005, Pianta et al, 2009, Siraj et al, 2015, Tietze et al, 1998, Tietze et al, 2005, Hilbert and Eis, 2014, Leseman et al, 2017. It particularly focuses on aspects supported by research findings as being significant for the development, well-being and learning of children from diverse family and cultural backgrounds (OECD, 2018, Burchinal et al, 2011, NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 2006, Siraj-Blatchford et al, 2003, Hilbert and Eis, 2014, Leseman et al, 2017. To capture the diversity of factors in different ECEC systems, the survey collects data on a wide range of variables in a standardised format to ensure comparability.…”

“…Barnett, 2011, Camilli et al, 2010, Dearing et al, 2009, Melhuish et al, 2008b, Zachrisson and Dearing, 2015. Although some countries have implemented targeted equity policies such that disadvantaged children can experience higher quality ECEC (Leseman et al, 2017, Slot et al, 2015a, it is a paradox that in other countries there still remains social selection into ECEC and ECEC quality, with socio-economically disadvantaged children being the least likely to attend high-quality ECEC (Petitclerc et al, 2017). This includes countries with market-based and targeted programmes (e.g.…”