The Paradox of Public Preschools in a Familist Welfare Regime: the Italian Case

Hohnerlein, Eva Maria

doi:10.1057/9780230232778_6

“…In 1963, Reggio Emilia constructed its first municipal preschool for children aged 3-6 years; by 1975, the municipality offered 19 preschools [4]. In 1965, the municipality legislated funding for infant-toddler centers for children aged 3 to 36 months.…”

Section: Early Childhood Programs In Northern Italymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 1968, Law 444 ensured access to a system of free state preschool for all families that applied. 10 It is considered a key shift in Italian policies for early childhood because it legitimized state involvement in public and private education for children ages 3-6 years [4]. The law made the state responsible for school construction, materials and equipment.…”

Section: Early Childhood Programs In Northern Italymentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of the Reggio approach to early education

Biroli

¹

,

Boca

²

,

Heckman

³

et al. 2018

Research in Economics

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in Evaluation of the Reggio Approach to Early Education APRIL 2017Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but IZA takes no institutional policy positions. The IZA research network is committed to the IZA Guiding Principles of Research Integrity. The IZA Institute of Labor Economics is an independent economic research institute that conducts research in labor economics and offers evidence-based policy advice on labor market issues. Supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation, IZA runs the world's largest network of economists, whose research aims to provide answers to the global labor market challenges of our time. Our key objective is to build bridges between academic research, policymakers and society. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author. Evaluation of the Reggio Approach to Early Education *We evaluate the Reggio Approach using non-experimental data on individuals from the cities of Reggio Emilia, Parma and Padova belonging to one of five age cohorts: ages 50, 40, 30, 18, and 6 as of 2012. The treated were exposed to municipally offered infant-toddler (ages 0-3) and preschool (ages 3-6) programs. The control group either didn't receive formal childcare or were exposed to programs offered by the state or religious systems. We exploit the city-cohort structure of the data to estimate treatment effects using three strategies:difference-in-differences, matching, and matched-difference-in-differences. Most positive and significant effects are generated from comparisons of the treated with individuals who did not receive formal childcare. Relative to not receiving formal care, the Reggio Approach significantly boosts outcomes related to employment, socio-emotional skills, high school graduation, election participation, and obesity. Comparisons with individuals exposed to alternative forms of childcare do not yield strong patterns of positive and significant effects.This suggests that differences between the Reggio Approach and other alternatives are not sufficiently large to result in significant differences in outcomes. This interpretation is supported by our survey, which documents increasing similarities in the administrative and pedag...

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“…10 It is considered a key shift in Italian policies for early childhood because it legitimized state involvement in public and private education for children ages 36 years (Hohnerlein, 2009). The law made the state responsible for school construction, materials and equipment.…”

Section: State Preschoolsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By providing funds only to construct state preschools where local demand was not met by existing non-state systems such as municipal and religious schools, Law 444 resulted in disparate numbers of state preschools in Reggio Emilia, Parma, and Padova for each of the cohorts in our evaluation sample (Hohnerlein, 2009). Historical records indicate that state preschools rst appeared in Reggio Emilia and Padova between 1973-1975(Municipality of Padova, Italy, 2011Municipality of Reggio Emilia, Italy, 2006;Istituzione del Comune di Reggio Emilia, 2011).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…And, at 30 hours per week, state teachers work 6 hours less than their municipal counterparts who work 36 hours child ratios to reect national standards(Malizia and Cicatelli, 2011). Religious programs that succeeded in achieving equitable status would thus, like state preschools, reect the inuence of municipal systems in the Province of Emilia Romagna, including Reggio Emilia(Hohnerlein, 2009; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2001).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluation of the Reggio Approach to Early Education

Biroli

¹

,

Boca

²

,

Heckman

³

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in Evaluation of the Reggio Approach to Early Education APRIL 2017Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but IZA takes no institutional policy positions. The IZA research network is committed to the IZA Guiding Principles of Research Integrity. The IZA Institute of Labor Economics is an independent economic research institute that conducts research in labor economics and offers evidence-based policy advice on labor market issues. Supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation, IZA runs the world's largest network of economists, whose research aims to provide answers to the global labor market challenges of our time. Our key objective is to build bridges between academic research, policymakers and society. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author. Evaluation of the Reggio Approach to Early Education *We evaluate the Reggio Approach using non-experimental data on individuals from the cities of Reggio Emilia, Parma and Padova belonging to one of five age cohorts: ages 50, 40, 30, 18, and 6 as of 2012. The treated were exposed to municipally offered infant-toddler (ages 0-3) and preschool (ages 3-6) programs. The control group either didn't receive formal childcare or were exposed to programs offered by the state or religious systems. We exploit the city-cohort structure of the data to estimate treatment effects using three strategies:difference-in-differences, matching, and matched-difference-in-differences. Most positive and significant effects are generated from comparisons of the treated with individuals who did not receive formal childcare. Relative to not receiving formal care, the Reggio Approach significantly boosts outcomes related to employment, socio-emotional skills, high school graduation, election participation, and obesity. Comparisons with individuals exposed to alternative forms of childcare do not yield strong patterns of positive and significant effects.This suggests that differences between the Reggio Approach and other alternatives are not sufficiently large to result in significant differences in outcomes. This interpretation is supported by our survey, which documents increasing similarities in the administrative and pedag...

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