Download The importance of preschool education for child

The importance of preschool
education for child development
and international experiences in
expanding coverage
Presentation by Jan van Ravens at the conference on:
“Investing in Early Childhood Education in Serbia”
25 September 2012
Hotel Park, Belgrade
Economics of Early Childhood
“On a purely economic
basis, it makes a lot of
sense to invest in the
young… Early learning
begets later learning. And
early success breeds later
success.”
--James J. Heckman, Ph.D.
Nobel Prize Laureate
Economist
Early Intervention and Early Childhood
Ramey & Ramey (1999). American Psychologist. Engle, P. (2005). Developmental Readiness.
Approach 1: comparing countries
• This analysis was published in the leading journal The
Lancet (23 September 2011)
• Authors compared low and middle income countries
with a total of 2.7 billion inhabitants
• Used three scenarios: 25% , 35% or 50% increase in
preschool enrolment
• Estimated the gains in terms of educational
attainment and, from there, of GNP growth
• And found a benefit to cost ratio of 6.4 to 17.6
(depending on initial preschool enrolment; on discount rate; and on which scenario)
Approach 2: comparing children
A preschool program in the USA
Comparing treatment group and control group
Benefit to cost ratio of 17, by the age of 40
Benefits and costs per participant in US$ (constant 2000) and with 3% discount rate
Welfare
Education
Earnings
Taxes paid
Crime
$15.166
Benefits
Costs
$0
Total return = $258,888; $17.07 per dollar invested:
$12.90 to the public, $4.17 to participants
$50.000
$100.000
$150.000
$200.000
$250.000
$300.000
Disadvantaged children benefit most
A quick look into the “Black Box”
Looking to the West......
For Serbia: enrolment in pre-primary in 2009 at ages 3-5.5: 48%
For EU-countries: enrolment in pre-primary among 3 and 4 year olds in 2005-2006.
For UK: only 3 year olds. At age 4, 90% of children are either in pre-primary or primary
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Austria Denmark France Germany
Italy
Spain
(UK)
Serbia
... and looking to the East
Enrolment at ages 3-6 by GDP per capita
Note: from international data-base. Data for Serbia may differ from national sources.
Wealth disparities
(% children 36-59 months attending early education)
Short programs seem 4 to 6 times less
costly than full-day programs
Currency
Unit cost
full-day
Unit cost
half-day
Ratio:
full / half
Armenia
US$
216
34.2
6.32
Kyrgyzstan
Som
6010
1670
3.60
Macedonia
Denar
71590
11139
6.43
Poland
Zloty
4500
1200
3.75
Short or Fullday: some examples
• Kyrgyzstan: rapid expansion of short programs,
initiated by NGOs but taken ove by Government
• Poland: “where there are no Preschools”
• Big differences in West-Europe, for example:
– Belgium. From age 2.5 onwards: fullday care in
small groups with close to 100% enrolment in
public institutions. Same in France and Italy.
– Netherlands. Only from age 4: school-based
program of 5 hours per day on average in large
groups. No meals or beds. Childcare mainly
private. Special programs for disadvantaged.
How to finance scale up
• Expand gradually: first from age 4, then from
age 3
• Use existing preschool budget:
– Raise efficiency
– Raise full-day fee selectively (social justice)
• Use ‘demographic dividend’:
– Use existing space in schools
– Retrain primary teachers
Main conclusions
• Serbia has every chance to expand coverage of
preschool education, provided that we:
– promote enrolment in short programs, and
– convince parents who do not need daycare
• Serbia should first focus on the poorest but
eventually aim at universal coverage:
– 48% of the children are already on board!
– children in the middle groups benefit as well
(A Vision for Universal Preschool Education. Zigler, Gilliam and Jones, 2006)