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Early childhood education
Early childhood education (ECE) is often seen as an opportunity to get a head start in schooling. Information gathered from the PILNA System Questionnaire shows that, although each country has policies regarding ECE, the structure and compulsory nature varies across participating countries. As part of PILNA, students were asked to indicate their ECE history using the following categories: ‘Yes, for 1 year’, ‘Yes, for 2 years’, ‘Yes for 3 years of more’, or ‘No’.
ECE attendance
Similar proportions of year four and six students (80%) attended at least one year of ECE. Importantly, about one in four students in year four (27%) and in year six (26%) reported attending ECE for three years or more, but approximately 20%, or one in five students in both year levels, reported they did not attend any ECE at all.
ECE attendance and student performance
Statistical testing was done to learn whether there was a difference in student performance between students who had attended at least one year of ECE and students who had not attended any ECE. This was done at both the year four and year six levels. Year six students who participated in ECE had higher levels of achievement in reading and writing compared to those who had not. Interestingly, for year four an opposite correlation was observed. Year four students who participated in ECE had lower levels of achievement in reading and numeracy compared to those who had not attended ECE.
What does this mean?
Most students (80%) who participated in PILNA 2021 attended ECE for at least one year. Similar proportions were observed across year four and year six students, showing ECE attendance rates were stable over time.
Student performance tended to be higher for year six students who had attended ECE than for those who had not. For year four students, the inverse was observed, with those who had attended ECE having lower levels of achievement than those who had not attended ECE. It is not known why differences were found for year six students and not year four students. The regional findings suggest the possibility that ECE has a positive effect on performance, which may only become noticeable in later years of schooling. Given the diversity of ECE throughout the region, these results should be looked at and further studied in local contexts.
