Pre-primary education and long-term education performance: Evidence from Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Thailand

Abstract

Several research papers have assessed the long-term benefits of pre-primary education in terms of academic performance and labor market outcomes. This study analyzes data obtained from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to estimate the effects of preschool enrollment of Thai students on producing long-term benefits in their academic performance. Results show that a mother’s educational attainment has a significant impact on the decision to enroll her child in preschool. Regarding the long-term benefits, our findings show that pre-primary education bears a significant and positive association with cognitive skills in all three areas of literacy tested under PISA, namely, reading, mathematics, and sciences. Regarding the economic status of students’ families, results indicate that the benefits of pre-primary education in cognitive skill improvement tend to be greatest in the case of students from low- to middle-income families. Evidence supports the promotion of long-term benefits of pre-primary education and, thus, the universal early childhood education policy. In particular, support should be given to childhood education programmes that specifically target children from disadvantaged groups and low-income households.

Análisis de las pruebas externas de evaluación de la competencia científico-tecnológica de 6.º de Educación Primaria en España (2016)

“…El tratamiento de estos datos permite la generación de investigaciones, como las realizadas por Vidal, Díaz y Jarquín (2004), que establecen relaciones entre el desempeño escolar y determinados factores demográficos. Este tipo de investigaciones son de reconocido interés debido a que brindan información sobre los factores que influyen en el rendimiento escolar del alumnado y permiten a las instituciones educativas gestionar mejor sus recursos al orientarlos a determinados colectivos (Benavides, León y Etesse, 2014) o fomentar innovaciones y mejoras en determinadas etapas educativas (Pholphirul, 2017).…”

Enhancing pre-K-12 student learning outcomes: The need for synergies of policy-makers, school administrators and parents

“…Unfortunately, some school going children are constrained to join parents to fend for daily bread (Gbollie and Keamu, 2017), contrary to the advice to keep children free from economic activity (Wrigley, 2016), because it is gradually becoming an obstacle to children accessing education (McKinney, 2014). On the other hand, evidence has revealed that socio-economic status of parents and other characteristics plays an important role in promoting quality education and better learning outcomes for students (Fasina, 2011;Center on Education Policy, 2012;Cetin and Taskin, 2016;Pholphirul, 2017).…”

“…As a result, many schools operate under difficult circumstances ranging from poor learning facilities to unqualified teachers. To change the trend requires more practical and action-oriented financial and moral support from government to resuscitate the sector (Gbollie and Keamu, 2017;Pholphirul, 2017).…”

“…Experiences children encounter significantly contribute to economic development and growth (Sahlberg, 2006). Besides, it is associated with better cognitive skills in reading, mathematics and science (Pholphirul, 2017), and improvement in social skills (Nokali et al, 2010). But the contrary may have serious negative consequences on children (Moore et al, 2014).…”

Early Childhood Education and Child Development Outcomes in Least Developed Countries: Empirical Evidence from Lao PDR

“…Corresponding to the advantages of early childhood education, Pholphirul (2017) assessed the access to and the long term benefits of pre-primary education for Thai students by using test scores from PISA. Even though results indicated that early childhood education had a significant effect on scoresin reading, mathematics, and science when the children reached age 15, unequal access to pre-primary education remained a major obstacle for Thai children to reap benefits from attending preschool.…”