Preschool Education and Educational Careers among Migrant Children

Research question/goal: 

The main goal of this project is the explanation of ethnic differences in the acquisition of cultural and linguistic skills during preschool age. This is a very important question because these skills are the key to future educational success. A second goal of the project is the detailed analysis of the determinants of skills, their relative impact und their relationship to each other. Further, a theoretical model of educational investment during preschool age has to be developed and tested empirically. Finally, the role and effects of preschool attendance are examined.

Current stage: 

 In August 2012, interviews of families with third-graders were finished (about half of the families). A parent was interviewed face-to-face at home (CAPI); subsequently the standardized developmental test K-ABC and the school achievement tests DEMAT 3+ and WLLP were conducted with the target child. In September, preparations of the postal survey of elementary schools visited by participating children began. It will start in spring 2013. Simultaneously, the survey of the remaining third-graders as well as the sixth survey wave, a telephone interview of families with fourth-graders, is prepared. The two surveys will start in March 2013.

Fact sheet

Funding: 
DFG
Duration: 
2006 to 2014
Status: 
ongoing
Data Sources: 
Primary data collection
Geographic Space: 
Germany

Publications

Books

Becker, Birgit, and David Reimer (Eds.) (2010): Vom Kindergarten bis zur Hochschule. Die Generierung von ethnischen und sozialen Disparitäten in der Bildungsbiographie. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. more
Biedinger, Nicole (2010): Ethnische und soziale Ungleichheit im Vorschulbereich. Leipzig: Engelsdorfer Verlag. more
Esser, Hartmut (2006): Sprache und Integration. Die sozialen Bedingungen und Folgen des Spracherwerbs von Migranten. Frankfurt am Main und New York: Campus. more