The Benefits of Investing in Early Childhood Education
As the global economy slows down, every country is tightening its expenditure and saving wherever possible. Should expenditure on early childhood education also be decreased when it “seems comparatively unimportant?”
No, definitely not!
Annual Returns of 7–10%
Professor James J. Heckman, winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2000 and Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, concluded the findings of the 40-year-long Perry Preschool Project. When he advised the United States government in 2008 to increase its investment in early childhood education, he said, “Investing in quality pre-school education has higher returns than any other investment. The estimate of the overall annual social rate of return is in the range of seven to ten per cent. And this investment should start when the child is as young as possible. The rate of return has an inverse relationship with the age of the child.”
Professor Heckman found that investment in early childhood education benefits the child immensely. Children who have gone through quality pre-school education will grow up to be more confident, do better in school, get better jobs, be more productive and earn higher salaries. Because society has groomed good citizens, crime rate will fall, resulting in a drop in numbers of those on welfare and hence also in expenditure on welfare. The burden on the country will therefore be lightened.
Professor Heckman’s conclusion is based on Dr David Weikart’s 1962–65 Perry Preschool Project, which involved 123 poor three- and four-year-old African American children. These same children were then tracked through their 27th and 40th birthdays in order to see how their lives had progressed.
All 123 children had low IQ scores, poor family backgrounds and uneducated parents. Researchers randomly assigned 58 participants to the programme group. Four experienced teachers trained in early childhood education gave lessons to small groups of these participants for two and a half hours a day. Weekly home visits were also conducted to follow up on the children’s academic development. The other 65 children were in the control group that did not go through the programme. All participants went to the same kindergarten and later, school.
Evidence of Effectiveness at Ages 27 and 40
The follow-up at age 27 (outcomes for pre-school group vs. control group) produced the following data:
- Completed an average of almost one full year more of schooling (11.9 years vs. 11 years).
- Spent an average of 1.3 fewer years in special education services — e.g. for mental, emotional, speech, or learning impairment (3.9 years vs. 5.2 years).
- 44 per cent higher high school graduation rate (65 per cent vs. 45 per cent).
- Much lower proportion of out-of-wedlock births (57 per cent vs. 83 per cent).
- 50 per cent fewer teen pregnancies on average (0.6 pregnancies/woman vs. 1.2 pregnancies/woman).
And at age 40 (outcomes for pre-school group vs. control group):
- 46 per cent less likely to have served time in jail or prison (28 per cent vs. 52 per cent).
- 33 per cent lower arrest rate for violent crimes (32 per cent vs. 48 per cent).
- 42 per cent higher median monthly income ($1,856 vs. $1,308).
- 26 per cent less likely to have received government assistance (e.g. welfare, food stamps) in the past ten years (59 per cent vs. 80 per cent).
This early childhood education experiment surely proves that pre-school education is of vital importance.
The Lien Foundation’s Early Childhood Education Survey of 45 Countries
In 2011, the Lien Foundation, one of Singapore’s leading philanthropic organisations, commissioned the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) to conduct a survey of early childhood education in 45 countries. Although the global economic outlook wasn’t very rosy, countries had nevertheless adopted different attitudes towards early childhood education. Although European countries had been worst hit in terms of economic growth, they had maintained their belief in the importance of early childhood education and its subsequently beneficial effects, so funding in this area had not been seriously affected.
The report found that early childhood education is critical in terms of neuroscience, sociology and economics. Neuro-scientific research tells us that early brain development is critical; social science research tells us that high quality programmes improve children’s readiness for school and life; econometric research tells us that high quality programmes save society a significant amount of money over time. Early childhood education contributes to creating the kinds of workforces that are going to be needed in the 21st century.
On top of these benefits, it helps facilitate greater female participation in the workforce which in turn bolsters economic growth. Early childhood development is also a major force in helping overcome issues relating to child poverty and educational disadvantage. This is especially so in societies with generational and cyclical repetitions of poverty and low achievement.
Accessible Pre-school Education Makes for Social Equality
The report also pointed out that the availability of early childhood education has an important role to play in helping to reduce social inequality. This is especially true for immigrant families, those with low incomes, and single-parent households. This not only means that mothers can continue to work and that parents can work more, but that pre-school also better prepares children for formal education, improving educational outcomes later in life and enhancing their future earning potential.
In addition, going to pre-school allows children from poorer families to access better food and nutrition, thus helping them to build a stronger body for better education. This is clearly of long-term benefit to the country that invests in early childhood education.
The report concluded that early childhood education should always be on the policy radar and not overlooked in the battle for funding. Greater attention should be given to the research that highlights how investment in the early years can in turn help cut costs for both the individual and society in later years. Another lesson is that while the quality of provision is crucial for developing such benefits, human capital development should be prioritised ahead of infrastructure and technology. “The learning happens because the teacher is trained to help facilitate development in such environments. You can pour equipment and computers into schools as much as you like, but it is to no avail if the appropriate adult-child interaction is overlooked.”
Fees Must Be Affordable for All Parents
Since early childhood education is of great significance to both individual and country, the report pointed out that school fees must be affordable for all. Of the 45 countries surveyed, the richer ones typically provide affordable early childhood services but pre-schools in lower-income countries tend to be highly priced precisely because these countries have fewer government kindergarten places, and the vacuum is filled by private profiteering operators.
In terms of affordability, China came in last. The survey showed that in China pre-school fees were higher than university tuition fees. In 2010, tuition and accommodation at Peking University, one of the country’s best, cost just US$102 (S$128) a month but leading pre-schools were charging up to US$660 (S$826). The Chinese government also provides little by way of subsidies, which also contributed to China’s ranking.
Although American pre-schools rank among the most expensive in the world when measured at an absolute level — a number of pre-schools in New York charge in excess of US$30,000 (S$37,555) per year — the country is nevertheless among the more affordable for private pre-schools as a proportion of per capita income measured at purchasing power parity rates.
Teacher Quality Most Important
In the report, the EIU said that high quality teachers must be employed in order to maintain the quality of pre-schools. An inspirational teacher can make a substantial difference to a child almost regardless of the quality of the environment and resources at hand. The government of every country therefore needs to ensure that the quality of pre-school teachers continually meets a high standard.
The report pointed to many ways of raising the quality of teachers: increasing teacher salaries and social status, promoting skills development, setting professional development frameworks, reducing student-teacher ratios in classes, setting clear curriculum guidelines, bolstering parental involvement and awareness, ensuring good health and safety measures, creating clear links between pre-school and primary school and putting in place robust data collection mechanisms.
Countries as Case Studies
Quality early childhood education has positive effects on adulthood and can directly cut a country’s expenditure, therefore it needs to be readily available. Unsurprisingly then, the EIU has suggested asking every country to draft a law for everyone to have at least one year of free pre-school education.
Finland
Finland, which took first place in the report, has provided a significant amount of free pre-school education to every child since the 1960s. Every six-year-old child enjoys a year of free half-day classes which is complemented with day care for the other half of the day. Coupled with a programme that gives parents very affordable access to full-day childcare from birth to the age of six, all Finnish children enter primary school having had a comprehensive six years of pre-school education.
Since the 1960s, when the government invested heavily in the training of teachers, pre-school teachers in Finland have all been graduates and teachers at the primary level and above have had a Master’s degree. Teachers are accorded the same respect as lawyers and doctors. They enjoy good wages, low class ratios and are the recipients of strong institutional trust. The high quality of Finnish education means the students aren’t asked to sit for standardised exams and their teachers are neither assessed nor evaluated.
Chile
Chile, located in South America, is not a rich country. However, it has made a concerted effort in its pre-school provision in recent years in order to increase social mobility. This has led to the country placing 20th on this report, surpassing many wealthy nations.
Between 2006 and 2009, the number of pre-schools increased from 781 to 4,300 and about 85 per cent of four-year-olds and 90 per cent of five-year-olds now attend pre-school. Two principal providers of early childhood education — JUNJI and the Integra Foundation — offer free education for children from three months to four years old, and account for about 50 per cent of pre-school places in the country.
However, while pre-school education is becoming very much more accessible, education specialist Dr Cortazar said, “They talk about the importance of early childhood, but they are reluctant to put in all the money required to achieve high quality. Everyone wants to help young children and everyone talks about brain development, but the problem is that it is still difficult to make society realise that early childhood education entails much more than opening early childhood slots.”
Greece
Greece came in 27th overall in the ranking, and 23rd in quality but the EIU report still showed that Greece’s early childhood education surpassed that of Australia and Singapore.
In the 1990s, the government made the bold decision to turn kindergarten teaching into a graduate profession. The government invested heavily in sending teachers on development courses which resulted in the quality of the nation’s pre-schools being raised.
Top 3 Spots Occupied by Nordic Countries
Of the 45 countries surveyed, the top three were all Scandinavian: Finland, Sweden and Norway. These countries’ high standard of living is the result of decades of emphasis on early childhood education. They have complete and comprehensive early childhood development strategies as well as legislation to guarantee children’s rights to early childhood education. All children aged three to six enjoy a pre-school education. Low-income families receive heavy subsidies from the government for their children to go to kindergarten. Even private providers charge fees which are affordable. Most importantly, they require teacher qualifications to be high, and offer competitive wages, high social status as well as low student-teacher ratios.
The experiences of these countries serve as a good reference as Singapore is preparing to embark on developing its early childhood education.
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