ERIC Number: EJ923921
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Jun
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0256-2928
EISSN: N/A
French Nursery Schools and German Kindergartens: Effects of Individual and Contextual Variables on Early Learning
Tazouti, Youssef; Viriot-Goeldel, Caroline; Matter, Cornelie; Geiger-Jaillet, Anemone; Carol, Rita; Deviterne, Dominique
European Journal of Psychology of Education, v26 n2 p199-213 Jun 2011
The present article investigates the effects of individual and contextual variables on children's early learning in French nursery schools and German kindergartens. Our study of 552 children at preschools in France (299 children from French nursery schools) and Germany (253 children from German kindergartens) measured skills that facilitate the learning of reading, writing and arithmetic at primary school. We also evaluated educational family practices and parents' expectations of their children's pre-school education. In order to take into account the hierarchical structure of our data, multilevel models were used in the analysis, which was carried out using MLwiN software version 2.02 (Rasbash et al. 2005). Although French nursery schools emphasise academic learning, we did not find any significant differences in overall performances between the French and German samples. However, significant differences were obtained for some subscale results. In addition, our results indicate that individual and contextual variables have an impact on the differences observed between children from the two countries.
Descriptors: Nursery Schools, Foreign Countries, French, German, Kindergarten, Language Acquisition, Expectation, Preschool Education, Parent Attitudes, Computer Software, Individual Differences, Cultural Context, Cross Cultural Studies, Reading Skills, Writing Skills, Arithmetic, Skill Development, Family Environment
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Kindergarten; Preschool Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: France; Germany
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A