Gratis kjernetid i barnehager. Sluttrapport.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the "gratis kjernetid" (free core time) initiative. The initiative consists of a free offer of 20 hours of preschool ("barnehage") a week and is aimed at all 4-5-year-olds in selected districts of Oslo, Norway. The initiative is a means to reach the goal that all children should master Norwegian before starting school. The initiative is to contribute to integration and social levelling at district level by preparing children for school start through increasing their use of preschool.

The study includes three main research questions:

1. Does the initiative contribute to more children with an immigrant background attending preschool?
2. How do Norwegian preschools work with the goal that children should master the Norwegian language when they start school?
3. How do parents view the use of preschool? Special focus here is on the difference between parents with and without an immigrant background.

The register-based analyses of the study show that the more years a child attends preschool before school start, the less likely the child is to score "disturbingly low" in the tests in the first year of primary school .

The study identifies large differences between different socio-economic groups in the use of preschool in terms of whether and how much preschools are being used. Children with an immigrant background and children of mothers with a weak attachment to the labour market spend, on average, almost one year less in preschool before starting school compared with the overall average.

The impact analysis shows that the initiative has led to an increase in the use of preschools of about 15% among 4-5-year-old children with an immigrant background. However, the initiative has not had significant impact on children without an immigrant background. This is primarily due to the fact that the latter group already uses preschools at the ages of 4-5 to a great extent. Moreover, the analysis shows that children with an immigrant background in the districts testing the initiative fair better in reading and mathematics (arithmetic) in the first and second years of primary school than immigrant children in comparable districts. Such an impact is not seen for children without an immigrant background.

The results of the interviews and surveys of preschool managers show that the managers have different approaches to the goal of mastering the Norwegian language before school start. Some managers work with specific targets, whereas others have a process-oriented approach and focus on progression in language development. The study indicates that this difference may be linked to the type of children attending preschool and to how the preschools apply their resources; both financial and competence resources. Both these factors can influence work on achieving the language goal. The study finds that there is a difference between private and municipal preschools. For instance, it is much easier for managers of private preschools to find substitutes in connection with illness and similar.

Finally, the study focuses on the parents' view of using preschools, particularly on differences between parents of children with an immigrant background and parents of children without an immigrant background. The parents all agree that attending preschool improves children's language and social development. Among parents without an immigrant background, there is a pronounced norm dictating that mothers should return to the labour market one year after the birth of their child. A similar norm does not exist among interviewed parents with an immigrant background. The study suggests that this difference can contribute to the difference in the use of preschools among children with and without an immigrant background.

The evaluation was based on detailed data on the use of preschool by children aged 4-5 years in 2004-2007 and resident in the City of Oslo as at 1 January in the relevant year. Data was collected from the preschool register ("barnehageregister") for the City of Oslo. Data was coupled with information about the children and their parents from Statistics Norway's population register. This information includes the parents' income, their attachment to the labour market and their use of social benefits. The information also includes the children's results from national tests in reading and mathematics (arithmetic) in the first and second years of primary school. The main analysis includes 10,266 children from districts testing the initiative (of whom 5,721 children had an immigrant background and 4,545 were without an immigrant background) as well as 13,441 children from districts not testing the initiative (of whom 3,229 children had an immigrant background and 10,212 children did not).

The impact evaluation was conducted as a difference-in-difference design in which children who live in districts testing the initiative are compared with children who live in districts not testing the initiative.

Moreover, a survey was conducted among all preschool managers ("barnehagestyrere") in Oslo, and a broad range of qualitative material was collected through interviews with the district administration, 19 managers of Norwegian preschools ("styrere") as well as parents (two group interviews with four parents in each group as well as 12 individual interviews).

Bråten, B., Drange, N., Haakestad, H. & Telle, K. (2014). ”Gratis kjernetid i barnehager. Sluttrapport”. Oslo: Fafo-rapport 2014:44.