Open Access
Privatization of preschool education : the implications for educational inequalities in cross-national perspective
Loading...
Files
Privatization_of_preschool_education_Art_2023.pdf (1.19 MB)
Full-text in Open Access, Published version
License
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Cadmus Permanent Link
Full-text via DOI
ISBN
ISSN
0001-6993; 1502-3869
Issue Date
Type of Publication
Keyword(s)
LC Subject Heading
Other Topic(s)
EUI Research Cluster(s)
Initial version
Published version
Succeeding version
Preceding version
Published version part
Earlier different version
Initial format
Citation
Acta sociologica, 2024, Vol. 67, No. 3, pp. 282-300
Cite
JANSSEN, Lisa, ZWIER, Dieuwke, VAN DE WERFHORST, Herman G., Privatization of preschool education : the implications for educational inequalities in cross-national perspective, Acta sociologica, 2024, Vol. 67, No. 3, pp. 282-300 - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/75941
Abstract
Preschool education is regarded by many researchers and policymakers as a potential equalizer of educational opportunities. Yet, cross-national research shows that there exist large variations in the equalizing effects of preschool education across countries. In this paper, we study to what extent the national level of privatization of the preschool sector can explain these cross-national differences by examining its impact on the equalizing effects of preschool education. For this purpose, we use data from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2016 for 24 countries. The results show that having spent more time in preschool is more strongly associated with primary school achievements for children of disadvantaged families. We find some modest support that this compensatory pattern—in which preschool compensates for a reduced set of resources in the home environment—is somewhat weaker in societies with higher levels of privatization, though not reaching conventional standards of statistical significance. The study highlights the relevance of considering the impact of national preschool settings on the distribution of preschool benefits across children with varying socioeconomic backgrounds.
Table of Contents
Additional Information
Published online: 9 October 2023