En este trabajo se evalúa el impacto de la escolarización temprana sobre el desarrollo de las habilidades cognitivas y no cognitivas de los niños de cinco/seis años de edad. Para llevar a cabo el estudio, se hace uso de una base de datos inédita que procede de un estudio piloto llevado a cabo por el Instituto Nacional de Evaluación Educativa (INEE) en el año 2007. El análisis empírico hace uso de técnicas de Propensity Score Analysis que permiten afrontar el sesgo de selección que amenaza las estimaciones. Nuestros resultados muestran que el número de años en que un niño ha estado escolarizado en educación infantil influye positivamente en las capacidades cognitivas y no cognitivas con que éste accede a la educación obligatoria. Palabras clave: educación temprana, sesgo de selección, propensity score analysis. Clasificación JEL: I21, I29 "Si yo fuera un verdadero socialista, no gastaría ni un solo penique en educación superior; lo gastaría en educación infantil" (Charles Clarke, antiguo ministro Laborista de Educación del Reino Unido) * Los autores agradecen la cesión de los datos por parte del Instituto Nacional de Evaluación Educativa. Sin ellos y sin la desinteresada ayuda de sus técnicos este trabajo no podría haberse llevado a cabo. En especial queremos agradecer a Ismael Sanz, director del INEE entre los años 2012 a 2015, sus esfuerzos para establecer vínculos entre esta institución y los investigadores de las universidades españolas que nos dedicamos a analizar, desde diferentes ópticas, el sistema educativo español. María Jesús Mancebón, agradece asimismo el apoyo financiero recibido por parte del Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad en su proyecto EDU2013-42480 y también la ayuda otorgada por el Gobierno de Aragón, en su plan de financiación de los grupos de investigación de la Comunidad Autónoma.

Background The growth of teaching practices conducted to promote cognitive activation and active participation in the classroom in recent years has become the epicentre of an active debate regarding their effectiveness. Objectives This study is aimed to shed some light on this topic by empirically analysing the causes and consequences of more modern strategies in Spanish secondary schools. Methods The database used in the study was PISA 2018. In order to analyse the causes behind the teaching style followed by teachers, a logit model was used. Likewise, to analyze the consequences that a modern teaching style has on students at the age of 15, we used propensity score analysis techniques. Results and Conclusions Regarding the results obtained through a logit model, it is shown that the likelihood of a modern teaching style decreases if teachers work for a state school or if they usually apply traditional strategies. Similarly, this series of practices are shown to be more common in schools where teachers and students make greater use of digital devices. The second section of results, focused on analysing the effect this type of teaching strategies has on cognitive, non‐cognitive and wellbeing among students, show that, on the one hand, modern teaching style negatively affects students' performance in mathematics, science or language. On the other hand, modern teaching style has been shown to contribute to improving the students' well‐being, motivation and cooperation, only being significant the latter. Moreover, this teaching style contributes to reducing bullying among students.

El diferente ritmo de aprendizaje entre el alumnado es, y ha sido, un problema tanto para el profesor como para la comunidad educativa y académica en su conjunto. Entre las políticas públicas dirigidas a corregir esta problemática destacan dos: el agrupamiento del alumnado con base en sus capacidades-tracking- y, más recientemente, los programas de refuerzo extraescolares. En este trabajo se evalúa el impacto que, sobre la desigualdad educativa, tuvo un programa de refuerzo implantado de manera voluntaria en los institutos españoles entre 2005 y 2012: el plan PROA. Como medida de aproximación a la desigualdad educativa se ha empleado la brecha en términos de resultados existente entre los alumnos de un mismo centro, así como el índice de desigualdad de Gini. Los resultados obtenidos, a partir de la técnica de Propensity Score Matching, señalan que la aplicación del programa no redujo las diferencias en términos de puntuación entre el alumnado, de igual modo que no aumentaron las calificaciones medias en lectura en aquellos centros que decidieron participar en el programa. The need to cater to the different learning pace of students still remains a frequent problem for both teachers and the academic community. Among the public policies aimed to solve this problem, two stand out: the grouping of students based on their abilities -tracking- and, more recently, the extracurricular reinforcement programs.  This paper evaluates the impact that the PROA, a reinforcement program implemented on a voluntary basis by different High Schools in Spain between 2005 and 2012, had on educational inequality. To measure educational inequality, the gap in terms of results between the students of the same school has been used, as well as the Gini inequality index. The results obtained, which are based on the Propensity Score Matching technique, indicate that the implementation of this program did not bridge the gap in terms of marks between students. They also suggest that average reading scores did not increase in those schools that decided to participate in the program.

This study investigates the reasons behind the decision to send children aged under three to ECEC (Early Childhood Education and Care) and the causes that may explain why some families send their child to ECEC once they reach the age of two while others decide to do so at an earlier age. To answer the first question posed a probit model is used, while to answer the second query a Heckprobit model is estimated to take into account possible selection bias. The data for this study was taken from an unpublished database compiled by the Spanish National Institute for Educational Evaluation, which gathers information from 1.166 children schooled in the Infant Education stage. The results of our estimations show that the decision to enroll children under three in ECEC services depends fundamentally on the sociodemographic characteristics of the mother (educational level, employment situation and age), on household size (if it is a large family) and on the availability of ECEC services in the area in which the child lives. Our study has also shown that the only variable regarding factors that explain the differences in the age of access to ECEC services, two or under two, is the importance that parents place on their children developing empathy towards others. On the basis of our results, the study offers recommendations aimed at the progressive universalization of this initial educational stage.