臺灣就讀幼兒園對早期幼兒發展之影響

Abstract

幼兒的早期發展在理論與實證上已被證明對個人的長期發展有深遠的影響，而早期教育是決定早期發展成敗之關鍵。然而，多數支持早期教育的證據皆來自歐美小規模、高強度、且針對經濟與社會上弱勢孩童之社會實驗。大規模的早期教育制度，特別是在東亞社會中的早期教育，則較缺乏實證研究支持其有效性。本文使用臺灣幼兒發展調查資料庫(Kids in Taiwan, KIT)的全國代表性長期追蹤資料，搭配雙重差分法(difference-in-differences)與傾向分數配對法(propensity score matching)估計就讀幼兒園對六項早期發展指標的效果。結果顯示就讀幼兒園平均而言顯著增加孩童的語言發展、社會能力、和身體動作發展達三到七個百分點，並顯著減少孩童侵略性達百分之十二。分群分析顯示效果僅能在來自中等收入家庭、男性、或與祖父母同住的孩童身上發現。本文呈現出就讀幼兒園平均而言對孩童有益。家庭收入與幼兒園效果間的非線性關係顯示就讀幼兒園在台灣既不會助長、也不會減少幼童的經濟不平等。

Early childhood development has been theoretically modeled and empirically shown to be crucial to one’s later-life outcomes, and early education is known to play an important role during this period. However, much of the empirical evidence supporting early education is based on small-scale randomized intervention programs that target disadvantaged children in the U.S. and European countries. Less is known about the effectiveness of early education in the East Asian context. In particular, Taiwan is a unique case due to its rising supply of cheap, highly accessible preschools in an ultra-low fertility society, which needs answer to whether they prepare children well given their affordability. Using the nationally representative, longitudinal Kids in Taiwan (KIT) dataset, this paper presents the causal relationships between preschool attendance and child’s early developmental outcomes in Taiwan. Difference-in-differences matching estimates present that preschools on average improve children’s language development, social competence, and motor development by 3 to 7 percent, and reduces aggressiveness by 12 percent. By conducting subgroup analyses, the effects are only found on children that are from families of medium income, male, or coresiding with grandparents. While preschools in Taiwan are moderately beneficial to their attendants in various aspects, the non-linear relationship between household income and preschool effects indicates that preschools neither increase nor decrease economic inequality.