The Relationship of Preschool Attendance with Academic Achievement and Socioeconomic Status in Turkey

Abstract

Preschool education plays a critical role in mitigating the opportunity gap between children through providing basic skills in early childhood. Within this scope, the G20 countries have implemented diverse policies to increase preschool attendance in their respective contexts. Turkey took solid steps to expand preschool education after 2010, leading to a significant increase in schooling rates. However, studies show that attendance in preschool education is still strongly linked with students’ socioeconomic status (SES) in Turkey. Thus, the present study aims to evaluate the relationship between preschool education attendance and students’ academic achievement in Turkey, and to determine the role of SES within this relationship. PISA and TIMSS data were used to study this relationship across age levels. Differences between schooling rates were analyzed with the z-ratio test for independent groups, and the significance of the differences between group means was analyzed through MANCOVA. The findings showed that access to preschool education increased significantly over the years, but despite these improvements, preschool attendance continued to be linked with SES. Students in higher SES quartiles demonstrated both higher schooling rates and longer participation in preschool education. The findings consistently indicated significant differences in preschool attendance between SES groups. While there were significant relationships between preschool attendance and academic achievement, these relationships were strongest for students aged 10–11. The relationship between preschool attendance and literacy for 15-year-old students was also significant, but the strength of this relationship was relatively weak. Lastly, this study revealed that the strength of the relationship between preschool education attendance and academic achievement decreases when SES is controlled. The results emphasized the importance of the recent steps taken by Turkey’s Ministry of National Education to increase access to preschool education.