FAMILY ENVIRONMENT, EARLY EDUCATION AND THE SKILLS ACQUIRED AT THE END OF PRIMARY SCHOOL

Abstract

Our study targeted the relationships between parents status, their early educational practices, the period spent by the child in kindergarten, some of his intellectual acquisitions that facilitate the integration in compulsory education and, finally, school performances acquired later, in 4th grade. The research was realized by analyzing some statistics obtained under the auspices of IEA (International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement) by TIMSS and PIRLS research centers that perform, at certain intervals, international comparative studies evaluating the educational skills of young people at the end of different education cycles. In consequence, we were constrained to restrict our study only to the aspects of early education that were previously selected by the research teams of the IEA. So, there weren't information on forms of education / early childhood care from first years of children life or about the ones used by parents as a possible alternative to kindergarten. International comparability of data allowed us to reveal significant Romanian features which are related especially to kindergarten participation rate, parental involvement in early childhood education and children "school readiness" at the beginning of first grade (and, not at least, of the skills acquired in primary school). Child kindergarten participation and parent involvement in early education depend on their status (as well as the readiness of children to start primary school). The inequality of educational opportunity (in relation to parents training), is intense even in primary and this inequality is mediated probably by early education (more adequate for children having parents with higher education). Growth of the participation rate in kindergarten, over time, was not accompanied by improving the skills of students in grade IV, which suggests that those who most need formal early education are still deprived of it. Are needed, perhaps, educational centers aiming to "equalize opportunities" for these children.