Predškolski odgoj i obrazovanje kao socijalna investicija

• Main Author: Baran, Jelena; Department of Social Work, Faculty of Law, University of Zagreb; [e-mail]
• Format: Text
• Language: Croatian; English
• Published: University of Zagreb, faculty of Law, Study centre for Social Work; [e-mail] 2013
• Subjects: predškolski odgoj i obrazovanje; kognitivni razvoj; socijalni razvoj; programi ranog razvoja; analiza troškova i koristi; early childhood education and care; cognitive development; social development; compensatory programs; cost-benefit analysis; sami
• Online Access: http://hrcak.srce.hr/100482; http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/148063

U radu se razmatra institucionalizirani predškolski odgoj i obrazovanje kroz pregled postojećih istraživanja o utjecajima pohađanja predškolskih ustanova na kognitivni i socijalni razvoj djeteta te kroz pregled analiza troškova i koristi programa ranog razvoja za djecu slabijeg socio-ekonomskog statusa. Pohađanje predškolskih ustanova pozitivno je utjecalo na kognitivni razvoj djeteta u smislu bolje pripremljenosti polaznika za školu, pri čemu se posebno ističe važnost kognitivno usmjerenog kurikuluma i veličine grupe. U pogledu socijalnog razvoja ishodi su ovisili o kvaliteti predškolske ustanove te o tome jesu li sami autori tumačili određeno ponašanje kao problematično ili kao socijalno kompetentno. Predškolski programi ciljani na djecu vrlo slabog socio-ekonomskog statusa polučili su visoke stope povrata jer su proizveli značajne promjene u životnim šansama polaznika, dok su za univerzalne programe u literaturi izrađene tek procjene te nema jedinstvenog odgovora o tome proizvode li ekonomski povrat uloženih sredstava. The paper reviews available evidence on the impact of child-care centers attendance on children’s cognitive and social development as well as cost-benefit analyses related to compensatory programs for disadvantaged children. Most research found a connection between child-care centers attendance and more favorable cognitive development in terms of school readiness, in which the literature particularly emphasizes importance of cognitive-oriented curriculum and the group size. In the area of social development, outcomes depend on the quality of a child-care center and on the authors’ interpretation of a certain behavior as problematic or socially competent. Preschool programs targeted to very disadvantaged children obtained high rates of return as they managed to significantly improve life chances of their participants, while universal programs’ potential rate of return has been only roughly estimated and there is no an unambiguous answer as to whether do they produce an economic return on invested means.