Preschool experiences and learning opportunities for children living in contexts of social exclusion

By looking into the earliest learning experiences of children living in poverty, this study aims at gaining understanding of what constitutes educational quality in preschool contexts of socio-cultural and socio-economic diversity. There is robust evidence that preschool participation yields beneficial effects on cognitive, social and emotional development, and academic achievements later on. These effects are particularly important for children in poverty and at risk of social exclusion (Lazzari & Vandenbroeck, 2012). The quality of educational provision matters (Sammons et al., 2012), yet there is inconsistency about what aspects of quality make a difference for learning at an early age. The study adopts a socio-constructivist perspective on equal learning opportunities (Formosinho & Formosinho, 2012, Rogoff, 2003). This multiple case study has a purposive sample of 4 different classrooms of the youngest children in preschool (2, 5 - 3, 5 years). In each class two children entering preschool were selected as focal children. Over a period of 10 months, they were filmed during everyday life in preschool, providing a total of 96 hours of video observational data. Informed consent was obtained from all parents of children in the selected classrooms, as well as from the preschool management and staff. The ethical commission of the faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences granted permission. Preliminary findings indicate that the schoolification and the predominance of learning over care disregards the needs of children living in poverty. This jeopardises equal education opportunities right from the start of preschool. Findings provide useful suggestions for teachers to improve their practices