Important linguistic and social skills are established early on in the interaction between parents and their young children – and with them, educational inequalities. A new transfer report highlights important influences of the early family learning environment on the development of children in their first years of life. Analyses of data from the National Education Panel Study (NEPS) show that unequal social and economic starting conditions in the parental home play a significant role in this regard and can help to counteract early educational inequalities through targeted support measures.
At the age of two, there are already significant differences in children's vocabulary and grammatical competence – influenced by their parents' social and economic background. Two-year-olds from disadvantaged families had a vocabulary of around 97 words (from a list of 260 words). In contrast, children of the same age from more affluent households used 158 of these words, according to their parents. The authors of the report, Dr. Manja Attig (LIfBi – Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories) and Prof. Dr. Sabine Weinert (Otto Friedrich University of Bamberg), emphasize that differences in linguistic and social-emotional skills and the associated educational inequalities do not only arise in preschool or school age, but have their roots in the very first years of life.
Quality of parent-child interaction: sensitivity and stimulation as important early influences
Sensitive and stimulating interactions between parents and children are very important for children's linguistic and social-emotional development. Joint activities such as looking at picture books are also particularly helpful. “Good language skills enable children to have better social contacts, better social problem-solving skills, and better control of their own emotions,” says Professor Sabine Weinert, co-author of the transfer report. The research results paint a nuanced picture of the various characteristics of the early learning environment (stimulating and sensitive interaction behavior; looking at picture books together) that children experience and the effects these have. However, significant correlations with the social and economic resources of parents can already be observed in the first year of life—even if there are large differences within social groups.
Accumulation of stress factors is particularly critical
Analyses of NEPS data suggest that parents facing socio-economic challenges – such as low income and low educational attainment – are often less successful in responding to their children in ways that promote their development. The situation becomes particularly critical when several stress factors coincide. In such cases, parents were only able to respond to children with challenging temperaments in a sensitive and stimulating manner to a very limited extent. The authors point out that this problem may even be underestimated, as the NEPS sample did not focus on high-risk families. “Our study clearly shows that differences in child development arise in early childhood. The goal must be to provide all children with fairer educational opportunities and therefore to provide support to parents in risk situations as early as possible in order to compensate for unequal starting conditions,” says Dr. Manja Attig, co-author of the study.
Setting the course for educational success – does early support pay off?
The findings, which were based on data from observations and surveys of 3,500 infants and their parents over a two-year period, underscore the importance of measures that provide early support to families and their children. Projects such as the Bremen Initiative for Strengthening Early Childhood Development (BRISE) build on the findings of the National Education Panel and examine how support programs can have a targeted impact on at-risk groups. The results offer valuable insights into how to counteract educational inequalities in Germany. According to Weinert and Attig, it is particularly important to create support and assistance opportunities for families in the early years of life, given the poor performance of German schoolchildren in international comparative studies such as PISA.
Transfer report as PDF
Fact overview:
- These results were compiled based on the “Newborns” starting cohort of the National Education Panel Study (NEPS-SC1). The starting cohort comprises approximately 3,500 children who have been monitored by the National Education Panel since the age of 7 months or since 2012. Further details can be found at www.lifbi.de/neps
- Important aspects of the early childhood learning environment were recorded using questionnaires and analyzed through observations of parent-child interactions. At three measurement points (when the children were 7 months, 17 months, and 2 years old, respectively), everyday interactions between the children and their parents were recorded on video and subsequently evaluated in terms of both the children's behavior and various parental behaviors (e.g., with regard to their sensitivity and stimulation behavior). To this end, the participating parents (mainly mothers) were given play materials and asked to play with their child for 8 to 10 minutes as they normally would.
- These results were also published in international journals::
http://doi.org/10.1026/0049-8637/a000181
https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000950
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.557751