Moving house for education in the pre‐school years

Abstract

This paper uses data from the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) to examine house moves that take place in the pre-school years, focusing on families who move for the education of their children. We present results showing that education-related house moves do indeed occur in the pre-school years with particular types of parents making these education-related moves to ensure their children attend a good primary school. We then examine whether this demand for high quality schooling is associated with a house price premia by linking the MCS data to Land Registry data and show that parents are prepared to pay significantly more to buy a house located near to better performing primary schools, even before their children reach school starting age. We interpret this as evidence of demand for school quality in the early years as parents (especially more educated and advantaged parents) 'gear up' their quest for what they perceive to be better schooling for their children before they start school.

Cumulative, Timing‐Specific, and Interactive Models of Residential Mobility and Children's Cognitive and Psychosocial Skills

“…As such, moving residences may cause stress and disruption to children's lives and core social connections, with negative repercussions for healthy development (Anderson, Leventhal, Newman, et al., ; Coleman, ). On the other hand, moving may also bring new opportunities: Families may move to safer, more comfortable, or more affordable homes, or to communities with better schools and community resources (Hansen, ; Sharkey & Sampson, ), and thus may promote children's development. Using prospective longitudinal data on a large, nationally representative sample of American children, this study supported and extended prior research on the primarily detrimental effects of residential moves on children's well‐being.…”

“…The authors interpreted these patterns to suggest that moves during early childhood may be more proactive and child focused. For example, some research finds that families of young children may move to access a stronger school district as their child is entering formal schooling (Hansen, ), and experimental work suggests that moving to better neighborhoods in early childhood is beneficial for educational and economic outcomes in a manner not found for later moves (Chetty, Hendren, & Katz, ). In summary, results suggest that both residential and school moves during middle childhood and early adolescence may disrupt children's academic learning, with short‐term effects that fade over time.…”

“…Residential mobility thus may create stress, disrupt daily routines, interrupt children's academic work, and decrease social connections and relationships, and in turn have negative repercussions for children's successful functioning (Anderson, Leventhal, Newman, & Dupéré, ; Coleman, ). Alternately, residential moves may advance families' proximal and more distal contexts, improving home and neighborhood resources and promoting more positive development (Hansen, ; Sharkey & Sampson, ; Swanson & Schneider, ), although empirical research tends to overwhelmingly support the prior view. Indeed, a substantial body of empirical research has found that children who move show small but reliable detriments in academic skills, psychological well‐being, and behavioral and social functioning in comparison to their residentially stable peers, with results appearing more consistent for psychosocial versus cognitive arenas of functioning (Anderson, Leventhal, & Dupéré, ; Fowler, Henry, Schoeny, Taylor, & Chavira, ; Gillespie, ; Roy, McCoy, & Raver, ; Rumbold et al., ; Ziol‐Guest & McKenna, ).…”

Moving home in the early years: what happens to children in the UK?

“…As the social housing sector shrinks from the mid 2000s (as also reported in Lupton, 2016, this issue), it is increasingly catering to the more vulnerable. At the other end of the social spectrum, good schools are a magnet for moves by families in the UK (Gibbons & Machin, 2006), in particular by relatively advantaged, homeowning parents of pre-school children in the MCS (Hansen, 2014b). This behaviour boosts house prices in favoured localities, and contributes to spatial socioeconomic segregation.…”

Wskaźnik edukacyjny oraz poziom rozwoju społecznego jako tło wyników egzaminacyjnych na poziomie gimnazjalnym i ponadgimnazjalnym

“…Zdarza się nawet, że rodzice w poszukiwaniu najlepszego przedszkola dla dziecka gotowi są zmienić swoje miejsce zamieszkania (Hansen, 2014). Zjawisko takie przeanalizowano w Wielkiej Brytanii.…”