Die Effekte von vorschulischen Bildungszentren in den Niederlanden: der Einfluss von organisatorischen Merkmalen und kindlichem Familienhintergrund

Children from lower-educated and/or immigrant minority families generally start primary school at a deficit. One way of improving these children’s initial position is by stimulating the development of relevant knowledge and abilities before the start of formal elementary education, e.g. through participation in centers for preschool education. Although such centers aim to improve the school careers of all children at risk, it can be assumed that children differ in the extent to which they benefit from taking part. This paper describes the results of a study, conducted in the Netherlands, in which two variables were examined that are assumed to moderate the effectiveness of preschool center participation: (i) the (structural and process) quality of centers and (ii) the family backgrounds of articipating children. The study reveals that preschool center participation contributes to children’s early literacy development but that effects fade away over time. Furthermore, the study shows that effective-ness is partly dependent on the adult-child ratio and, for children from immigrant minority families, on their home language situation.