Children Who Do Not Attend Day Care: What Are the Implications for Educational Outcomes?

Abstract

Earlier studies have shown that participation in public day care can enhance school performance especially among disadvantaged children. Child home care allowance scheme supports home care of six-year olds if they have a younger sibling who is also staying at home and not attending public day care. This study asks how Finnish six-year-olds with younger sibling(s) who stay at home perform in school when compared with children attending public day care. As outcome variables we used the two dichotomous variables measuring school performance at age 15 to 16 and entry into further education by age of 21. The study utilized birth cohort 1987 (N=7910) data. The overall results did not show statistically significant differences between the day care and home care groups. Among disadvantaged families the home care group had more often poor grades.

Full text (familiesandsocieties.eu)

Authors

Heikki Hiilamo, Anita Haataja, Marko Merikukka

Additional Information

• Peer-Reviewed: no.
• Open Access: yes.
• Cite as: Hiilamo, H., Haataja, A., & Merikukka, M. (2015). Children Who Do Not Attend Day Care: What Are the Implications for Educational Outcomes? FamiliesAndSocietes. http://www.familiesandsocieties.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/WP42HiilamoEtAl2015.pdf