Project ESKOM-Ü4

Preschool Education and Educational Careers among Migrant Children

The foundation for ethnic educational inequality is set early in life. The previous project “Preschool Education and Educational Careers among Migrant Children” has shown that ethnic gaps in children’s skills already exist at an early age in different domains. These gaps are only partly reduced until school entry. Thus, children of immigrants usually start their school career with a clear disadvantage. The present project now aims at analyzing the longer-term consequences of these early skill differences for the educational careers of migrant children. The existing panel of about 1,000 children (half of them of Turkish origin) will be continued until a decision for a track of secondary education is made in grade four. A main research question of the project is whether differences in children’s competencies in preschool age (especially regarding German language skills) have consequences for this educational decision or whether primary school can compensate for initial differences in children’s skills and which factors are crucial for this process. In addition, the project analyzes whether preschool attendance has a (probably indirect) influence on the educational decision in grade four and whether this influence is stronger for children of immigrants compared to children of native-born parents.

Selected Publications

Becker, B. (2010). Wer profitiert mehr vom Kindergarten? Die Wirkung der Kindergartenbesuchsdauer und Ausstattungsqualität auf die Entwicklung des deutschen Wortschatzes bei deutschen und türkischen Kindern. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 62(1), 139-163.

Becker, B. (2011). Cognitive and language skills of Turkish children in Germany: A comparison of the second and third generation and mixed generational groups. International Migration Review, 45(2), 426-459. doi: 10.1111/j.1747-7379.2011.00853.x

Becker, B. (2012). Ethnische Bildungsungleichheit in der frühen Kindheit: Ergebnisse aus dem Projekt ESKOM-V. Frühe Bildung, 1(3), 150-158. doi: 10.1026/2191-9186/a000035