EARLY LEARNING AND CHILD WELL-BEING IN ESTONIA.

Foreword
Acknowledgements
Table of contents
Executive summary
	Main findings
		Children in Estonia have particularly strong self-regulation and social-emotional skills in addition to sound levels of literacy and numeracy
		Differences between children based on socio-economic background are smaller in Estonia than in England or the United States
		Early learning among Russian-speaking children, especially girls, is stronger than among Estonian-speaking children, despite coming from lower socio-economic backgrounds
		Children’s early learning relies on the interrelated development of cognitive and social-emotional skills
		A variety of activities within and outside the home best support children’s early learning, and moderation is sometimes best.
Reader’s guide
	What is IELS?
	What aspects of learning and development were of focus in IELS?
	Who participated in IELS?
	What does this volume contain?
	A guide to interpreting findings in this report
		Data underlying the report
		Estonian and Russian-speaking children
		Overall IELS averages
		Statistically significant differences
		Interpreting correlations
		Standard deviation
		Standard Error
		Rounding figures
	Additional technical information
Abbreviations and acronyms used in this report
Chapter 1. Early learning matters: The International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study
	The early years: A window of opportunity … and risk
		Figure 1.1 Children’s early learning and later life outcomes
		Figure 1.2 Risk and protective factors affect development trajectories
		Figure 1.3 Change in enrolment rates of children aged 3 to 5 years (2005, 2010 and 2017)
	Countries can learn from each other to improve children’s early learning outcomes
		Figure 1.4 IELS approach to gathering direct and indirect information
	References
Chapter 2. The context of early learning in Estonia
	Profile of children and families
		Estonia’s population comprises Estonian-speaking and Russian speaking citizens
			Figure 2.1 Population share by primary language, Estonia
		The poverty rate for children is among the lowest across OECD countries
		Women with higher education are more likely to have children
			Figure 2.2 Education level of women giving birth, percentage by year, 2000 to 2017, Estonia
		Most parents take more than one year and up to three years of parental leave
		Estonia’s fertility rate is at the EU average, although still lower than other countries in the region
			Figure 2.3 Percentage of parents taking parental leave, by duration, Estonia
			Figure 2.4 Comparison between the number of children aged 0-14 and the number of adults aged 65–79 in Estonia, 2000 to 2018
		The immigrant population of Estonia has been increasing, while the number of students with an immigrant background seems to be decreasing
			Figure 2.5 Comparison between number of immigrants and number of emigrants in Estonia, 2005-2017
	Strategies to strengthen early learning
		Roles and responsibilities are clearly defined
			Box 2.1 Estonian Lifelong Learning Strategy 2020
		Central authorities provide local governments and preschool institutions with the national curriculum and standards for ECEC
		Every preschool institution develops its own curriculum, although it must be based on the national framework
		Teaching and learning in early education aim to foster the physical, mental and social-emotional development of children
	Early childhood education and care provision
		Types, prevalence and spread of provision
			Figure 2.6 Overview of ECEC provision in Estonia
		ECEC workforce
		Financing early childhood education and care
	Participation in preschool institutions
		The share of children participating in preschool institutions is high
			Figure 2.7 Enrolment in preschool institutions by age, 2014 to 2016, Estonia
		Most children attending preschool (96%) attend public institutions
		The number of hours three- to six-year-olds spend in ECEC is higher than the European average
	Quality and impact of preschool institutions
		The staff-child ratio is lower than the OECD average for three- to six-year-olds, but higher for those under three
		Preschool institutions are subject to internal and external evaluations
			Box 2.2 Quality of ECEC provision in Estonia against EU structural indicators
		Estonia was the highest-performing OECD country for reading and science in PISA 2018 and among the strongest across all participating countries and economies
			Figure 2.8 Average performance of Estonia in PISA, 2006 to 2018
	Policy issues and debates around early learning
		Mitigating language barriers for Russian-speaking children is a priority
		Estonia has increased spending on the ECEC workforce
		After a shortage in 2014, access to preschool education has improved over the last five years
			Figure 2.9 Comparison of childcare costs across OECD countries
		The number of hours children spend in ECEC between the ages of three and six is high compared to the EU average
			Figure 2.10 Percentage of children aged between three and the minimum compulsory school age in formal ECEC, by hours per week, 2008 to 2017
			Figure 2.11 Percentage of children under three in formal ECEC, by hours per week, 2008 to 2017
		There is little evidence on the quality of early learning internationally
	References
	Notes
Chapter 3. Children’s emergent literacy and emergent numeracy skills in Estonia
	The importance of early literacy and numeracy development
		Gaps in literacy skills require early attention
		Early numeracy outcomes are strongly predictive of a range of later outcomes
		A comprehensive assessment of early cognitive outcomes should consider a range of skills that are predictive of later competence
		IELS assessed a range of constrained and unconstrained early cognitive skills
	Emergent literacy and emergent numeracy skills of five-year-olds in Estonia
		Five-year-olds in Estonia score at or close to the overall averages for emergent literacy and emergent numeracy in IELS
		Parent and educator evaluations of children’s language development are broadly in line with children’s assessed early literacy skills, although parents tend to rate their children’s development more highly
			Figure 3.1 Distribution of emergent literacy and emergent numeracy scores, Estonia
			Table 3.1 Receptive language development as reported by parents and educators and emergent literacy scores, Estonia
		Most five-year-olds in Estonia have mastered key language skills, according to their parents and educators
			Table 3.2 Expressive language development as reported by parents and educators and emergent literacy scores, Estonia
			Figure 3.2 Mastery of key language and literacy-related skills as reported by parents and educators, Estonia
			Figure 3.3 Emergent literacy scores by reported mastery of key language and literacy-related skills, Estonia
		Similar proportions of children were reported as having below average, average and above average numeracy development by their parents and educators
			Table 3.3 Numeracy development as reported by parents and educators and emergent numeracy scores, Estonia
			Figure 3.4 Mastery of key early mathematics skills as reported by parents and educators, Estonia
			Figure 3.5 Emergent numeracy scores by reported mastery of key early mathematics skills, Estonia
	Individual characteristics and emergent literacy and emergent numeracy skills
		Russian-speaking children have better early literacy and numeracy skills at age five than Estonian-speaking children despite being, on average, of lower socio-economic status
			Figure 3.6 Emergent literacy and emergent numeracy scores by children’s language, Estonia
		Russian-speaking girls have better early literacy and numeracy outcomes than Russian-speaking boys, but there are no significant gender gaps among Estonian-speaking children
			Figure 3.7 Mean emergent literacy and emergent numeracy scores of Estonian-speaking and Russian-speaking children by gender, Estonia
		Girls are more likely than boys to have above average receptive and expressive language skills, according to their parents and educators
			Figure 3.8 Receptive language development as reported by parents and educators by gender, Estonia
			Figure 3.9 Expressive language development as reported by parents and educators by gender, Estonia
		Girls and boys are equally likely to have average numeracy development, according to their parents and educators
			Figure 3.10 Numeracy development as reported by parents and educators by gender, Estonia
		Age is positively related to emergent literacy and emergent numeracy skills in Estonia
		Having had low birth weight or premature birth, learning difficulties, or social, emotional or behavioural difficulties is associated with lower emergent literacy and emergent numeracy scores
			Figure 3.11 Emergent literacy and emergent numeracy scores by age of child in months, Estonia
			Figure 3.12 Relative associations between early difficulties and emergent literacy and emergent numeracy scores, Estonia
	Home and family characteristics and emergent literacy and emergent numeracy skills
		Socio-economic status is less strongly associated with emergent literacy and emergent numeracy scores in Estonia than in the other two countries that participated in the study
			Figure 3.13 Emergent literacy and emergent numeracy scores by socio-economic quartile, Estonia
		Children with at least one parent who mainly speaks a language other than the assessment language have lower emergent literacy scores
			Figure 3.14 Emergent literacy and emergent numeracy scores by home language, Estonia
		Family structure is not related to children’s emergent literacy and emergent numeracy skills in Estonia
		Children whose mothers have higher educational attainment have better early literacy and numeracy skills
			Table 3.4 Maternal educational attainment and emergent literacy and emergent numeracy scores, Estonia
			Figure 3.15 Emergent literacy and emergent numeracy by mother’s educational attainment, Estonia
	Home learning environment and emergent literacy and emergent numeracy skills
		Children from homes with a greater number of children’s books have higher average emergent literacy and emergent numeracy scores
			Table 3.5 Number of books in the home and emergent literacy and emergent numeracy scores, Estonia
		Children whose parents read books to them more frequently have better emergent literacy skills than those whose parents read to them less frequently
			Figure 3.16 Emergent literacy and emergent numeracy scores by number of children’s books in the home, Estonia
			Figure 3.17 Frequency of engagement in literacy-related activities at home, Estonia
			Figure 3.18 Emergent literacy scores by how often a child is read to from a book at home, Estonia
		Most children have parents who engage in numeracy-related activities with them at home at least once a week
			Figure 3.19 Frequency of engagement in numeracy-related activities at home, Estonia
		Attendance of special or extra-cost activities outside of the home is associated with higher emergent literacy and emergent numeracy scores
			Figure 3.20 Emergent numeracy scores by frequency of numeracy-related activities at home, Estonia
			Figure 3.21 Emergent literacy and emergent numeracy by frequency of participation in special or paid activities outside the home, Estonia
		Children whose parents are more strongly involved in preschool activities have higher scores, on average, than other children
			Figure 3.22 Emergent literacy and emergent numeracy scores by parental involvement in preschool activities, Estonia
		The mean emergent literacy and emergent numeracy scores of children who never used digital devices are not significantly different from those of children who did use them, regardless of frequency of use
	Assessing the combined effects of child and family characteristics on emergent literacy and emergent numeracy scores
		A range of individual characteristics and contextual factors significantly predict the emergent literacy scores of children in Estonia when examined in combination
			Table 3.6 Results of the multiple regression model of emergent literacy, Estonia
		A range of individual characteristics and contextual factors significantly predict the emergent numeracy scores of children in Estonia when examined in combination
			Table 3.7 Results of the multiple regression model of emergent numeracy, Estonia
	Relationship between early literacy and numeracy scores and outcomes in other learning domains
		Emergent literacy and emergent numeracy skills are strongly related to each other, as well as positively related to self-regulation skills and social-emotional skills
			Figure 3.23 Correlations between emergent literacy scores and other learning domains, Estonia
			Figure 3.24 Correlations between emergent numeracy scores and other learning domains, Estonia
	Summary and conclusions
		Five-year-old children in Estonia score at or close to the overall averages for emergent literacy and emergent numeracy in IELS
		Russian-speaking children, especially girls, have better early literacy and numeracy outcomes than Estonian-speaking children
		Children who have experienced difficulties before the age of five have lower literacy and numeracy skills at age five
		Relationships between early literacy and numeracy outcomes and socio-economic background are weaker in Estonia than in either England or the United States
		A child’s home learning environment is related to their emergent literacy and emergent numeracy scores
		A range of individual characteristics and contextual factors predict children’s emergent literacy and emergent numeracy outcomes in Estonia when examined in combination
		Early learning outcomes in Estonia are interrelated
	References
	Notes
Chapter 4. Children’s self-regulation skills in Estonia
	The importance of self-regulation development
		Self-regulation is a strong predictor of later health, education and labour-market outcomes
		Children’s environments are associated with their development of self-regulation skills
		Emotionally positive parenting, an encouraging home environment and high-quality early childhood education and care experiences enable the development of self-regulation skills
		The International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study (IELS) defines self-regulation skills as inhibition, mental flexibility and working memory
			Figure 4.1 The three key components of self-regulation
		IELS measures self-regulation outcomes through developmentally appropriate and engaging activities
			Table 4.1 The three skills assessed in the self-regulation domain
		IELS assesses how children’s self-regulation abilities relate to their individual characteristics, family backgrounds and home learning environments
	Self-regulation skills of five-year-olds in Estonia
		On average, the self-regulation skills of children in Estonia are above the overall mean of participating countries
			Figure 4.2 Distribution of self-regulation scores, Estonia
		Parents in Estonia are less likely than educators to report that their child, or the child they teach, is developing below average self-regulation skills
			Figure 4.3 Self-regulation development as reported by parents and educators, Estonia
	Individual characteristics and self-regulation skills
		Girls have higher self-regulation outcomes than boys
			Figure 4.4 Self-regulation scores by gender, Estonia
		Parents and educators perceive girls as more likely than boys to have developed above average self-regulation skills
			Figure 4.5 Self-regulation development as reported by parents and educators by gender, Estonia
		A child’s self-regulation outcomes increase with every month between their fifth and sixth birthday
			Figure 4.6 Self-regulation scores by age of child in months, Estonia
		Children who had experienced low birth weight or premature birth, learning difficulties, or social, emotional or behavioural difficulties have lower average self-regulation outcomes than those who had not
			Figure 4.7 Relative associations between early difficulties and self-regulation scores, Estonia
	Home and family characteristics and self-regulation skills
		Children’s working memory outcomes increase with the socio-economic status of their family
			Figure 4.8 Working memory scores by socio-economic quartile, Estonia
		Parents and educators are more likely to report a child as developing above average self-regulation skills if they are from a family in a higher socio-economic quartile
			Figure 4.9 Self-regulation development as reported by parents and educators by socio-economic quartile, Estonia
		The working memory outcomes of Russian-speaking children are higher than those of Estonian-speaking children, after accounting for socio-economic status
			Figure 4.10 Working memory scores by child language, Estonia
		There are limited differences in how educators and parents of Estonian-speaking children and Russian-speaking children perceive their self-regulation development
		Children with at least one parent who mainly speaks a language other than the assessment language have lower self-regulation scores, after accounting for socio-economic status
			Figure 4.11 Self-regulation development as reported by parents and educators by child language, Estonia
			Figure 4.12 Self-regulation scores by home language, Estonia
		The working memory outcomes of the children of mothers with at least a bachelor’s degree are higher than those of the children of mothers who have not completed any tertiary education
			Figure 4.13 Working memory scores by mother’s educational attainment, Estonia
		The working memory outcomes of children in single-parent households are higher than those of children in two-parent households, after accounting for socio-economic status
			Figure 4.14 Working memory scores of children in single-parent households and two-parent, Estonia
		The inhibition and working memory outcomes of children with one or two siblings are higher than those of children with no siblings
			Figure 4.15 Inhibition and working memory scores by number of siblings, Estonia
	Home learning environment and self-regulation skills
		The number of children’s books in the home is predictive of a child’s mental flexibility and working memory outcomes
			Figure 4.16 Self-regulation scores by number of children’s books in the home, Estonia
		The inhibition and working memory outcomes of children read to at least once or twice a week are higher than those of children read to less often
			Figure 4.17 Inhibition and working memory scores by frequency child is read to, Estonia
		The mental flexibility outcomes of boys whose parents are moderately or strongly involved in activities taking place at preschool are higher than those of boys whose parents are slightly or not involved, after accounting for socio-economic status
		The frequency with which a child is taken to a special or paid activity outside of the home is related to their inhibition and working memory skills, even after accounting for socio-economic status
			Figure 4.18 Inhibition and working memory scores by participation in special or paid activity outside of the home, Estonia
			Figure 4.19 Inhibition and mental flexibility scores by use of digital devices, Estonia
		Five-year olds who use a digital device every day have higher inhibition and mental flexibility outcomes than those who hardly ever use one
	Assessing the combined effects of child and family characteristics on self-regulation scores
		Inhibition outcomes are related to children’s gender, experience of early difficulties and the primary language of their parents
			Table 4.2 Results of the multiple regression model of inhibition, Estonia
		Mental flexibility outcomes are related to children’s gender, experience of early difficulties and access to children’s books
			Table 4.3 Results of the multiple regression model of mental flexibility, Estonia
		Working memory outcomes are related to children’s experience of early difficulties, the socioeconomic status of their households, their household structures and their access to children’s books
			Table 4.4 Results of the multiple regression model of working memory, Estonia
	Summary and conclusions
		The self-regulation outcomes of children in Estonia are above the overall IELS mean of participating countries
		The self-regulation outcomes of girls, especially Russian-speaking girls, are higher than those of boys
		Children who have experienced difficulties before the age of five have lower average self-regulation scores at age five
		The socio-economic status of a child’s family is associated with their working memory outcomes
		A child’s home learning environment is related to their self-regulation outcomes
	References
	Notes
Chapter 5. Children’s social-emotional skills in Estonia
	The importance of social-emotional development
		Early social-emotional skills are strong predictors of later health, educational, social and labour-market outcomes
		IELS included a direct measure of children’s emotion identification and attribution, and indirect measures of children’s prosocial behaviour, trust in familiar people and non-disruptive behaviour
			Box 5.1 Defining social-emotional learning
		IELS measures of social-emotional skills are interrelated
	Social-emotional skills of five-year-olds in Estonia
		The average five-year-old child in Estonia exhibit social-emotional skills at the same or higher levels than their counterparts in England and the United States, although educators in Estonia rate five-year-olds as more disruptive than educators in England or the United States rated their respective children.
			Figure 5.1 Distribution of social-emotional learning scores, Estonia
		Social-emotional learning scores are interrelated in both the direct and indirect assessments
			Table 5.1 Correlations between the social-emotional skills in each type of assessment, Estonia
		Parents give more positive ratings of their children’s empathy skills than educators but rate children’s emotional control as less developed
			Figure 5.2 Social-emotional development as reported by parents and educators, Estonia
	Individual characteristics and social-emotional skills
		Girls typically have better social-emotional outcomes than boys
			Figure 5.3 Social-emotional scores by gender, Estonia
			Figure 5.4 Social-emotional development as reported by parents and educators by gender, Estonia
		The gender gap in social-emotional skills is larger among Russian-speaking children
			Figure 5.5 Social-emotional scores by language and gender, Estonia
		Children’s social-emotional skills scores increase slightly with age
			Figure 5.6 Social-emotional scores by age of child in months, Estonia
		Social, emotional or behavioural difficulties are more strongly associated with lower social-emotional skills, especially more disruptive behaviour, than low birth weight or learning difficulties
			Figure 5.7 Relative associations between early difficulties and social-emotional scores, Estonia
	Home and family characteristics and early social-emotional skills
		Children from advantaged socio-economic backgrounds in Estonia have higher social-emotional scores, but the differences were narrower than in the other two countries participating in the study
			Figure 5.8 Russian-speaking children have better social-emotional outcomes than Estonian-speaking children
		Some family characteristics are not associated with the social-emotional skills of children.
		Russian-speaking children have better social-emotional outcomes than Estonian-speaking children
			Figure 5.9 Social-emotional scores by children’s language, Estonia
		Children whose mothers had completed tertiary education have better social-emotional outcomes than those whose mothers had not
		Being an only-child is associated with higher disruptive behaviour and lower emotion identification
			Figure 5.10 Social-emotional scores by mother’s educational attainment, Estonia
			Figure 5.11 Social-emotional scores by number of siblings, Estonia
	Home learning environment and early social-emotional skills
		The number of books children have access to at home is positively related to their social-emotional skills
			Figure 5.12 Social-emotional scores by number of children’s books in the home, Estonia
		Role-playing and having back-and-forth conversations with parents is associated with social-emotional skills, but doing it every day is not always better.
			Figure 5.13 Social-emotional scores by frequency of role-play with parents, Estonia
		Children whose parents read to them regularly have higher mean emotion identification, prosocial behaviour and trust scores.
			Figure 5.14 Social-emotional scores by frequency of being read to by parents, Estonia
		Children who regularly attended activities outside of the home are more empathetic and have stronger prosocial behaviours and trust than those who attended once a week or less
			Figure 5.15 Social-emotional scores by engagement in special or paid activities outside the home, Estonia
		According to educators, children whose parents were very involved in their child’s ECEC centre have better social-emotional scores
		Every day use of digital devices is associated with lower prosocial behaviour and trust scores than less frequent use
			Figure 5.16 Social-emotional scores by parental involvement in preschool activities, Estonia
			Figure 5.17 Social-emotional scores by use of digital devices, Estonia
	Relationship between social-emotional scores and outcomes in other learning domains
		Children’s social-emotional skills are associated with emergent literacy and numeracy, after accounting for socio-economic status
			Figure 5.18 Percentage of the variation in emergent literacy and numeracy scores explained by social-emotional skills and socio-economic status, Estonia
			Figure 5.19 Percentage of the variation in self-regulation scores explained by social-emotional skills and socio-economic status, Estonia
	Summary and conclusions
		The average five-year-old child in Estonia exhibit social-emotional skills at the same or higher levels than their counterparts in England and the United States
		Children’s social-emotional skills are related to their emergent literacy, numeracy and self-regulation skills
		The differences in early social-emotional skills by socio-economic background in Estonia are narrower than in England
		Russian-speaking children have better social-emotional outcomes than Estonian-speaking children
		Home and family learning environments have a positive relationship with children’s social-emotional scores
		Children who had experienced social, emotional or behavioural difficulties before the age of five have lower social-emotional skills at age five
	References
	Note
Chapter 6. Summary and conclusions
	Children in Estonia have strong self-regulation and social-emotional skills and sound literacy and numeracy skills
	Differences between children based on socio-economic background are smaller in Estonia than in England or the United States
	Early learning among Russian-speaking children, especially girls, is stronger than among Estonian-speaking children, despite coming from lower socio-economic backgrounds
	Children with a home language other than the assessment language have poorer early literacy and self-regulation skills in the assessment language
	Parents’ activities with their children matter for children’s learning
	Parents and educators are not fully aligned when evaluating children’s early development
	References
ANNEX A. Technical note
	Assessment methods
	Participation rates
		Table A.1 Response rates for IELS, by informant and country
	Quality assurance
	Note
Blank Page