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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
In Small Island States, over 80% of students from PILNA 2021 had attended at least one year of ECE. This was similar, on average, for boys (81%) and for girls (86%). There were differences, however, in the amount of time students spent at ECE prior to their schooling. Table STT1.2 shows these ECE differences by year four students and year six students in Small Island States in PILNA 2021.
Similar proportions of year four students (81%) and year six students (85%) attended at least one year of ECE. Importantly, about one out of three students in year four (34%) and in year six (36%) reported attending ECE for three years or more, but 19% in year four and 15% in year six 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.
No differences were found at year four level and for most of year six level comparisons, but differences were found at year six level in writing. Year six students who attended ECE for at least one year had higher scores in writing than year six students who did not attend 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 in writing tended to be higher for year six students who attended ECE than for those who did not. At the regional level, ECE attendance was found to be associated with higher scores in all PILNA domains at year six level.
