Peer-reviewed article
Inequalities in pre-school learning contexts by immigrant background
Andreas Ljungström, Carina Mood ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study examines differences in pre-school learning environments for children with immigrant backgrounds compared to native-born children in Sweden, using full population register data. While children from immigrant families have slightly lower overall pre-school enrolment, those who do attend experience somewhat different conditions: higher teacher density but lower qualified teacher density, higher teacher turnover and absence, and much higher ethnic segregation of both children and staff. The researchers conclude that simply increasing pre-school enrolment or adjusting structural indicators is unlikely to reduce school performance gaps; instead, reducing segregation in pre-schools may hold greater potential.
Key points
- Pre-school enrolment is lower for children of immigrants overall, but this is driven primarily by non-refugee immigrant families, while refugee-background children have high enrolment
- Children with immigrant backgrounds attend pre-schools with somewhat higher teacher density but lower density of qualified teachers
- Teacher turnover and sickness absence rates are somewhat higher in pre-schools serving immigrant-background children
- The largest difference is ethnic segregation: immigrant-background children attend pre-schools with much higher proportions of immigrant-background teachers and children
- Hopes that pre-school enrolment alone can equalise school outcomes are unlikely to be realised without addressing segregation
Limitations
The study is cross-sectional and describes associations rather than causal effects of pre-school contexts on child outcomes. It does not measure actual learning outcomes or development of children attending different types of pre-schools.
Abstract
In many Western countries, children with foreign-born parents are lagging behind children with native-born parents in school performance. In the policy debate much hope is placed on the potential of pre-schools to remedy this, by providing a learning and language environment that can compensate for the disadvantages that these children face. We study inequalities in pre-school learning contexts by immigrant origin, using full population register data that matches all children to their families and pre-schools. Enrolment in pre-school is lower for children of immigrants, but this is – surprisingly – almost entirely driven by low enrolment of children in non-refugee families. Contrary to expectations, children from origin groups with larger school difficulties have high pre-school enrolment rates. Our results suggest that explanations for low enrolment should primarily be sought in intentions to remain long-term in the host country.In pre-schools, immigrant background children have a somewhat higher teacher density, but a somewhat lower density of qualified teachers, and a somewhat higher turnover rate and sickness absence among teachers. These differences are however small. Where we see large differences is in the composition of the child and teacher group: Immigrant-background children go to pre-schools where a much higher proportion of teachers and children have immigrant background. We conclude that hopes to equalize school outcomes through encouraging pre-school enrolment are misplaced, and equalizing structural indicators is unlikely to make a big difference. The compensatory potential of pre-schools lies primarily in a de-segregation of staff and children across pre-schools.