The Agder Project

Can Norwegian daycare centers improve children's developmental trajectories by more systematically cultivate key school readiness skills known to promote future learning?

Published Updated on
Facts
Location

Agder, Norway

Sample

About 100 daycare centers

Timeline

The project is completed

Facts
Target group

Five-year-olds at Norwegian daycare centers

Outcome of interest

To understand whether Norwegian daycare centers can improve children's developmental trajectories by more systematically cultivate key school readiness skills known to promote future learning

Intervention

Cultivating four sets of school readiness skills – self-regulation, interpersonal, vocabulary and numeracy skills

Leveling the playing field

Norway's gaps in learning outcomes between children of advantaged and disadvantaged families are substantial, despite its generous welfare system.

To barn leker ved en huske.
The Agder project is an intervention to promote school readiness and human potential. Photo:

 

Research shows unequivocally that high-quality early-childhood preschool programs can have substantial impacts on children's learning trajectories.

Norway may be missing a key opportunity to close the gaps between children of advantaged and disadvantaged families. This is because the learning framework of Norwegian daycare centers (Early Childhood Education and Care, ECEC) does not reflect international empirical evidence from the early childhood education literature linking key curricular foci to successful child development.

Cultivate key school readiness skills 

Our project aims to understand whether Norwegian daycare centers can improve children's developmental trajectories by more systematically cultivate key school readiness skills known to promote future learning. To do so, we will design and implement a randomized field experiment in which we offer five-year-olds at Norwegian daycare centers a school readiness intervention program.

Intervention program 

The development of the intervention program will be done in collaboration with Norwegian daycare teachers. The intervention program will cultivate four sets of school readiness skills – self-regulation, interpersonal, vocabulary and numeracy skills – which numerous studies have identified as foundational for future learning and development.

About 100 daycare centers will participate in the field experiment, with 50 randomly selected centers in the treatment group.

School readiness for all children 

We will examine program effects by assessing children's skills with official mapping tests in first grade and more intensive measuring instruments utilized both at the end of day care and at the end of first grade. Important questions are: Can a more systematic cultivation of self-regulation, interpersonal, vocabulary and numeracy skills of five-year-olds in Norwegian daycare centers improve these children's success in the transition to formal schooling? Is the program particularly beneficial for children from disadvantaged families?

Read more about The Agder project

The project group:

Professor i økonomi
51833721
UiS Business School
Department of Economics and Finance
Professor i psykologi
51832934
Læringsmiljøsenteret, avd. Stavanger
Faculty of Arts and Education
Norwegian Centre for Learning Environment and Behavioral Research in Education
Seniorrådgiver
51833747
UiS Business School
Fakultetsadministrasjonen HH-UIS
Førstelektor i spesialpedagogikk
51832954
Læringsmiljøsenteret, avd. Stavanger
Faculty of Arts and Education
Norwegian Centre for Learning Environment and Behavioral Research in Education
Førsteamanuensis i samfunnsøkonomi
51833771
UiS Business School
Department of Economics and Finance
Førsteamanuensis i pedagogikk/spesialpedagogikk/psykologi
51832947
Læringsmiljøsenteret, avd. Stavanger
Faculty of Arts and Education
Norwegian Centre for Learning Environment and Behavioral Research in Education
Førsteamanuensis i pedagogikk/spesialpedagogikk/psykologi
51832943
Læringsmiljøsenteret, avd. Stavanger
Faculty of Arts and Education
Norwegian Centre for Learning Environment and Behavioral Research in Education
Per Sigurd Hundeland
Førsteamanuensis i matematikkdidaktikk
Institutt for matematiske fag
Ingvald Erfjord
Førsteamanuensis i matematikkdidaktikk
Institutt for matematiske fag
Martin Carlsen
Førsteamanuensis i matematikkdidaktikk
Institutt for matematiske fag
Svanhild Breive
Stipendiat
Institutt for matematiske fag

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