Center Care and Education in Bahrain: Does It Benefit Children's Development?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of preschool education in Bahrain by studying the effects of three different preschool settings (care‐oriented, educationally‐oriented, and home) on children's cognitive and socio‐emotional performance. A profile of six culturally adapted and translated (Arabic) parametrical instruments were used to measure children's progress (W = 140; M age = 48.7 months) over one academic year. Multiple regression analysis which considered several family and school background factors indicated that children attending preschools performed significantly better on language, memory, vocabulary, counting, and conceptual maturity measures when compared with children who stayed at home. Children attending educationally oriented centers significantly outperformed children at care‐oriented centers and at home on all cognitive function and ability measures, including self‐esteem, self‐confidence, and emotional conduct. Most family background variables (mother's years of schooling, mother's age, months in preschool at entry and father's occupation) were not significantly related to outcome measures. Gender had a positive effect on some outcomes (language, perception, counting and emotional conduct problems) with boys scoring higher than girls. Age was a positive predictor of higher scores for children on the perceived competence outcomes.