Eur J Population (2018) 34:147–149 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-018-9466-4
Hans-Peter Blossfeld, Nevena Kulic, Jan Skopek and Moris Triventi (eds.): Childcare, Early Education and Social Inequality. An International Perspective Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, UK, 2017 Birgit Becker1
Published online: 10 January 2018 Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature 2018
The edited volume ‘‘Childcare, Early Education and Social Inequality. An International Perspective’’ (edited by Blossfeld, Kulic, Skopek, and Triventi) is part of the eduLIFE Lifelong Learning series. This book focuses on children’s learning conditions and experiences early in life and their consequences for children’s education and the reproduction of social inequality. In between a detailed introduction and conclusion by the editors, 13 empirical chapters analyze patterns of care arrangements, quality of family care, as well as the consequences of child care and preschool for later educational outcomes in different countries. Scholars from different disciplines contributed to this book; however, the main focus is sociological. The first topic of the book addresses the association between social background and patterns of child care and early education. Empirical studies from Italy (by Brilli, Kulic, and Triventi), Russia (by Kosyakova and Yastrebov) and Sweden (by Viklund and Duvander) explicitly focus on this topic, but also some of the other chapters address it. Overall, the results show social inequality in access to early childhood education and care (ECEC) institutions below age three. However, this is not the case in each country (e.g., not in Sweden) and there is also considerable regional variation in this respect. Possible reasons for these variations are discussed in the last chapter and include differences regarding availability, costs for parents, admission criteria, family policies, historical legacies, and parental attitudes toward formal care. The book’s second topic deals with the association between social background and quality of parental care. Such an association may be expected due to differences in parental economic and educational resources as well as differences in parenting preferences and styles (e.g., material, social and psychological & Birgit Becker
[email protected] 1
Institute of Sociology, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany
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consequences of economic hardship; differences in communication styles by parental education). The two chapters on that topic with studies from Germany (by Weinert, Attig, and Roßbach) and Ireland (by McGinnity, McMullin, Murray, and Russell) clearly demonstrate social disparities in family environments (e.g., quality of mother–child interaction, provision of a stimulating home learning environment) which build the foundation for later inequalities. (Long-term) consequences of attending ECEC institutions for children’s development and later educational outcomes constitute the third topic of this book. This part starts with an international comparative study by Da¨mmrich and EspingAndersen who show that ECEC participation is positively associated with children’s reading skills in most (but not in all) countries. The country chapters with studies from the United States (by Barnett and Frede), the United Kingdom (by Del Boca, Piazzalunga, and Pronzato) and Germany (by Skopek) confirm short-term and medium-term positive ECEC effects, while the studies from Denmark (by Wahler, Buchholz, and Breinholt) and Finland (by Karhula, Erola, and Kilpi-Jakonen) cannot detect longer-term positive impacts net of parental social background. However, it is well possible that ECEC attendance is only effective for certain groups of children or only under certain conditions. The results from Del Boca et al. and Skopek support the notion that especially children from low-SES families profit from preschool attendance, while the studies from Norway (by Zachrisson, Dearing, Blo¨meke, and Moser) and the Netherlands (by Leseman, Mulder, Verhagen, Broekhuizen, van Schaik, and Slot) demonstrate that quality characteristics of ECEC institutions matter—especially for children from low-SES families. The book clearly shows that educational inequality starts early in life: Parents with more advantageous social backgrounds are more likely to provide a stimulating home learning environment and to select (high quality) ECEC institutions at an early age—and both factors positively contribute to children’s development. A great strength of this book is the collection of chapters from different countries which allows for a greater scope and consideration of the specific features of the different ECEC systems which are described in each chapter in great detail. The book also shows the ambivalent role of formal ECEC institutions as a means against social inequality: On the one hand, children from lower social backgrounds tend to profit more from attending such institutions which may lead to some (moderate) catchingup effects. On the other hand, these children are less likely to take advantage of intensive (high-quality) ECEC institutions at an early age. Thus, whether ECEC participation reduces or strengthens social inequality depends on the relative size of these compensation and selection effects. However, the findings in this book also show that both of these effects vary between countries (and regions) and may therefore be alterable by policy interventions. Regarding limitations, some chapters had to face data restrictions which limited their potential for causal inferences. In the last chapter, an outlook could have been added highlighting some related topics that may also be relevant in the context of this book, e.g., residential segregation and childcare choices; composition of children in ECEC centers and composition effects; quality of care in informal care arrangements.
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Overall, this book brings many insights regarding social differences in early education and care arrangements and their consequences for children’s development and further educational careers. It can be recommended to scientists from different disciplines who are interested in early child care and education. Moreover, it is especially valuable for researchers who are interested in the reproduction of social inequality and want to learn more about mechanisms that are already at work long before children start school.
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