Brokering to support participation of disadvantaged families in early childhood education

Mitchell, Linda; Meagher-Lundberg, Patricia

doi:10.1002/berj.3296

Cited by 8 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Finally, some providers may be better placed than others to communicate the existence of free places and their potential benefits, particularly to low‐income families. Sure Start children's centres offer wider services for young children from birth onwards, including health clinics and ‘stay‐and‐play’ sessions, and also have a specific remit of outreach to disadvantaged groups, which evidence indicates can increase take‐up (Mitchell & Meagher‐Lundberg, ). Parents accessing Sure Start services for their babies and toddlers are likely to get to learn what is available when their child turns three.…”

Section: The Free Entitlement To Early Education: How It Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Universal’ early education: Who benefits? Patterns in take‐up of the entitlement to free early education among three‐year‐olds in England

Campbell

Gambaro

Stewart

2018

British Educational Res J

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For over a decade, all three-year-olds in England have been entitled to a free part-time early education place. One aim of this policy is to close developmental gaps between higher-income and lowincome children. However, the success of the initiative depends on children accessing the places. Using the National Pupil Database, we examine all autumn-born four-year-olds attending in January 2011, and ask whether they started attending when first eligible, in January 2010. One in five children did not access their free place from the beginning, and the proportion is much higher among children from families with persistently low incomes. We also find differences by ethnicity and home language, but these factors explain only a small share of the income gradient. We go on to explore associations between non-take-up and local area factors. In areas with higher child poverty rates, take-up is lower overall, but the gap between low-income and other families is smaller. There are also various associations between take-up and local proportions of different provider types (maintained, private, voluntary, Sure Start). In particular, the voluntary sector seems to have more flexibility than maintained provision to offer places in January, and more success than private providers in reaching children from lower-income backgrounds. The analysis also highlights how take-up overall is relatively high and the gap by income level is smaller in areas with more Sure Start provision. This suggests that aspects of Sure Start facilitated access among low-income families, and could perhaps be replicated as implementation of the free entitlement continues to be expanded.

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Section: The Free Entitlement To Early Education: How It Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Universal’ early education: Who benefits? Patterns in take‐up of the entitlement to free early education among three‐year‐olds in England

Campbell

Gambaro

Stewart

2018

British Educational Res J

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“…Similar to previous studies, the access of ECE was still significantly tied to children's socio-economic background (Bridges, Fuller, Rumberger, & Tran, 2004). Despite the fact that the overall participation rate was still below the government's official target, students from higher social status backgrounds had a significantly higher enrollment percentage than their peers from less privileged communities (Mitchell & Meagher-Lundberg, 2017;Skattebol, 2016). A previous `study found that ECE participation in formal or nonformal institutions was vary considerably by region and wealth in which the rate for the richest is almost four times higher than the poorest (National Development Planning Agency, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

The Privilege of Attending Early Childhood Education (ECE)

Senza¹,

Sikatan²,

Martak³

2020

Proceedings of the International Conference on Early Childhood Education and Parenting 2019 (ECEP 2019)

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A growing body of evidence has found that Early Childhood Education (ECE) gives longer-term beneficial effects on a student's cognitive ability. Unfortunately, in developing countries, and especially other low-resource environments, too few children have the privilege to attend ECE. Using INOVASI's 1 large-scale longitudinal datasets, this study presents the inequality issue of ECE participation and its effect on students' learning outcomes in Indonesia. The findings suggest that participation rates in ECE are significantly higher in more developed provinces in Indonesia. ECE is mainly dominated by students from higher socio-economic backgrounds, and those with more well-educated and engaged parents. ECE participation rates also have an impact on student learning achievement, with children participating in ECE having substantially better outcomes compared to their counterparts. Furthermore, students who did not enroll in ECE may lose almost two years of learning. The evidence puts forth in this paper suggests that the Indonesian government needs to improve access to ECE and its quality particularly for less advantaged children in remote areas. Inattention to this issue will only produce wider inequality in education and learning outcomes.

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“…Earlier research has suggested that access to ECEC consists of affordability, availability, amenability and acceptability of ECEC services (see e.g., Vandenbroeck & Lazzari, 2014). Acceptability of the services has been investigated from the point of view of parents (Mitchell & Meagher-Lundberg, 2017;Vandenbroeck et al, 2008). Our findings suggest that even though ECEC policies at national level can be seen as universal supporting affordability, availability and amenability of the ECEC services, we need to pay attention to how local enactments of ECEC policies might construct barriers related to the acceptability of the use of services.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, the constructed distinction found in this study between children and families 'of concern' and 'not of concern' implies a targeted rather than a universal approach in rationalising access to ECEC services. According to earlier research, parents' conceptions of the purpose of ECEC services and the target group for whom the services are intended matters in their decisions regarding childcare (Mitchell & Meagher-Lundberg, 2017;Vandenbroeck et al, 2008). The fact that the use of ECEC services might be seen as culturally inappropriate or marking the family as being 'of concern' can create a barrier to parents positioned as being 'at home' to applying for an ECEC place for their child.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Earlier studies underline the significant role of policy measures in increasing the use of ECEC services (Mitchell & Meagher-Lundberg, 2017;Vandenbroeck & Lazzari, 2014;Van Lancker & Ghysels, 2016). However, children from families with a low socioeconomic status (SES) are less likely to attend ECEC than children from higher SES families, and this is the case also in countries with a 'universal' early childhood education policy (Petitclerc et al, 2017;Schoeber & Spiess, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A matter of universalism? Rationalities of access in Finnish early childhood education and care

Fjällström

Karila

Paananen

2020

Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy

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Universal access to early childhood education and care (ECEC) has become a policy goal in many countries. In comparing and categorising national ECEC systems, Finnish ECEC has been presented as an example of a universal system. However, as municipalities are responsible for the provision of ECEC services in Finland, it is important to examine how access to ECEC is locally rationalised: how universal is Finnish ECEC after all? Drawing on discursive institutionalism, we analysed what kinds of rationalities administrators of local ECEC services constructed in terms of access to ECEC concerning four-year-old children, and what kind of possible preconditions were constructed in these rationalities. As a result, we found three different but intertwined rationalities of access to ECEC: equality of access for all children, a real need for ECEC, and the parents' choice. The parents' position in the labour market, the level of concern for the child or family, and the parents' decision emerged as constructed preconditions for access. Our examination illustrates the importance of examining local-level policy discourses in order to understand the historical and social constructions of access to ECEC.

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Brokering to support participation of disadvantaged families in early childhood education

Cited by 8 publications

References 20 publications

‘Universal’ early education: Who benefits? Patterns in take‐up of the entitlement to free early education among three‐year‐olds in England

‘Universal’ early education: Who benefits? Patterns in take‐up of the entitlement to free early education among three‐year‐olds in England

The Privilege of Attending Early Childhood Education (ECE)

A matter of universalism? Rationalities of access in Finnish early childhood education and care

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