Pre-Primary Project

PPP (1986—2003)

The IEA Pre-Primary Project was a longitudinal study designed to explore the quality of life of preschool children in the various care and education environments provided for them (such as preschools, child care centers, or family day care centers), and to assess how these environments affect their development. The study was conducted in three phases:

Phase 1 produced profiles of national policies on the care and education of young children, and applied a household survey to identify and characterize the major early childhood care and educational settings used by families with four-year-old children in each nation.

Phase 2 explored the impact of programmatic and familial factors on the development of children at age four using extensive observational and interview methods.

Phase 3 completed the project by documenting how early experiences affect children’s development at age seven, an age when all children in the participating countries have had at least one year of formal schooling. The purpose of this final phase was to examine the relationship between early childhood experiences at age four and children’s cognitive and language development at age seven, all of which are relevant to primary school performance and success.

The data for Phase 1 was collected in 1986-1994, Phase 2 in 1989-2003 and Phase 3 in 1993–2003.

Target Population

This consisted of a total of 5,000 four-year-old children (with a follow-up at age seven) in nearly 2,000 educational settings.

Participating Educational Systems

Phase 1: Belgium (French), China (PRC), Finland, Germany (FRG), Hong Kong, Italy, Nigeria, Portugal, Spain, Thailand, United States.

Phase 2: Belgium (French), China (PRC), Finland, Greece, Hong Kong (SAR), Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Thailand, United States.

Phase 3: Finland, Greece, Hong Kong (SAR), Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Nigeria, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Thailand, United States

Key Findings

In every country in the study, irrespective of its stage of economic development, mothers had the most responsibility for the care and supervision of young children. Fathers took only a minor part.
The trend from parental care to the use of external parental care and education services for children of preschool age was related to the movement of women into the formal, paid workforce.
Out-of-home child care and educational services in most countries were sponsored primarily by governmental or religious organizations. Employer-provided care was uncommon except in China.
Those children who experienced extra parental care and educational services spent substantial periods of time in these settings. These experiences played a large part in each child’s physical, intellectual and socio-emotional development.
In most types of early childhood settings, the adults working with children included both professional staff (i.e., lead teacher, teacher) and less trained staff (i.e., teacher aide, day care assistant). About 90 percent of teachers were female. The average age of teachers was between 26 and 43 years; their average education ranged from 12.6 years to 16.7 years. More than 80 percent of the teachers were certified.
The group size for early childhood programs ranged from 11 to 30 children per group. The larger group sizes were found in Asian and African countries. The median staff: child ratio was between 1:10 and 1:20.
Both teachers and parents considered the most important skills for young children to learn to be social skills, language skills, and self-sufficiency skills. There were many patterns of teacher-parent congruence concerning the order of importance of these skills. These patterns ranged from a very high level of agreement (Finland, Romania, and Poland) to extensive disagreement (China, Indonesia, and Ireland).
At least 90 percent of parents in every country reported that they were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the care and educational services that their children received.

Major Publications

Phase 1

Olmsted, P.P., & Weikart, D.P. (1989).

How Nations Serve Young Children: Profiles of Child Care and Education in 14 Countries.