Do increased availability and reduced cost of early childhood care and education narrow social inequality gaps in utilization? Evidence from Norway.

The overall purpose of this study is to examine whether increased availability and reduced cost of early childhood education and care (ECEC) for children under the age of 3 have resulted in increased utilization of ECEC, especially among children from low socioeconomic status families. More specifically, the study seeks to investigate the relationship between parent income and education and selection or deselection of ECEC.

The study concludes unambiguously that parents who have a higher level of education and higher income are more likely to enrol their children in ECEC. The study also shows that the Norwegian policy on reducing the utilization gap between families with different socioeconomic backgrounds has succeeded. The study finds no correlation between lack of enrolment in ECEC and a number of other variables such as the mother's wellbeing or bilingual families. Finally, the study shows that a large number of children are still not enrolled in ECEC.

The background of this study is a dataset from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa) with questionnaire survey responses from 60,270 mothers from 2002 to 2006 and secondary statistical data. The questionnaires used in the study were completed over three periods: in the 17th week of gestation and when the child was six and 18 months of age.

Sibley, E., Dearing, E., Toppelberg, C.O., Mykletun, A. & Zachrisson, H.D. (2015). Do increased availability and reduced cost of early childhood care and education narrow social inequality gaps in utilization? Evidence from Norway. International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy 9(1), 1.