In this section, an attempt has been made to understand how much the Indian context of preschool choices complies with the existing theoretical discussion on early educational decision. The assumption of the study that there are two possible way through which variation in ECE may generate from the demand side in the Indian context is well supported by the empirical evidence of the study. Results confirm that there are unequal opportunities in early childhood education firstly due to the decision of sending or not sending children to preschool, and second, choosing a type of preschool among those who decided to send their children to a preschool. Results also confirm this
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assumption and show that the set of variables responsible to bring about variation in preschool decision differs depending on the decision that is considered.
Therefore, it is obvious from the findings that, separately analyzing the two different preschool decisions in the Indian context is justified, as the set of factors responsible for generating variation differ considerably for each of the decisions. Also, the way in which these factors affect parental educational decision varies depending on the type of preschool decision considered.
First, considering the parental decision of sending children to preschool or not, family of origin has been found to play a crucial role which follows previous studies. In accordance to Savit and Blossfeld (1993), this study has also found strong correlation between socioeconomic inequality and educational opportunity. Particularly, economic condition and educational background of parents were found to have important implication for preschool decision in Indian context. However, not all components of the socioeconomic status have similar effect as suggested by earlier studies. For example, mother’s occupation found to have negligible effect on the probability of preschool attendance. Also, in contrary to other studies, the effect of ethnic origin on preschool decision also differs in this study. Whereas, most of the studies suggested a higher probability of preschool attendance by children from upper
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strata of the society, findings of this study suggest an opposite relation with respect to religion, and no effect with respect to caste. Interestingly, some of these variables discussed above were found to have varied effect on preschool decision across districts. For example, religious origin and distance of preschool from residence were found to have significant effect only for a specific district. Both qualitative and empirical evidence of the study suggest that, parental belief plays an important role in preschool decision which has already been identified as an important factor by previous studies (Leseman 2002; Johansen et al. 1996; Liang et al. 2000). Unlike Singer et al. 1998, this study found no significant implication of family demography on children’s probability of attending preschool. Furthermore, it has also been found that, providers characteristic measured by the distance of the available preschool from residence has played a significant role in the decision of sending children to preschool. Also, many parents mentioned issue relating to supply side as their reasons for not sending children to preschool.
The mechanism through which these factors brings the variation in preschool decision is rather indirect which comply with the assumption and prescribed model of the study. It has been found that the impact of socioeconomic factors (which can be called as primary factors according to the model prescribed in section 3.5) come indirectly through parental attitude towards ECE (which can be
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labeled as secondary factor as per the same model). Parents’ income and educational level shapes their attitude towards early childhood education, and that attitude in turn affect the decision of sending (or not sending) children to preschool. Therefore, impact of several primary factors comes indirectly through the values they attach to early childhood education.
Now bringing in the next preschool decision i.e. choosing public or private preschool in discussion; findings also confirm the theoretical discussion and hypotheses in general, with some exceptions. As assumed, socioeconomic status of parents’ plays a deterministic role in type of preschool children attended. Families with better economic condition and higher level of education were found to prefer private preschools which are considered as superior over public ones. Clearly parents with greater income and education try to provide the best they can to their children (as also mentioned in Jonsson & Erikson 2000; Spieß et al. 2008; Schober & Spieß 2013). This may because, educated parents usually have greater motivation for education of their children and they also possess more knowledge about existing educational options. Also, they can also afford to provide their children relatively expensive options given their better economic condition. Interestingly, unlike the findings of the earlier decision, the impact of socioeconomic status on choice of a type of preschool comes directly.
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Another interesting finding in contrast to existing studies (for example Hewett et al. 2014) is that girls were found to have higher probability of attending private preschools relative to boys. However, this finding varies across different regions within India. Also, ethnic origin was found not having any significant role in choice of a type of preschool.
Further similarities have been found with existing studies with respect to provider characteristics. It has been found that the perceived quality of existing preschool by parents plays an important role for their decision. Whereas, education focused curriculum of private preschools attracts many parents, provision of free meals and other benefits also interests others.
Therefore, comparing findings of this study with previous studies on educational decisions, it can be clearly inferred that educational decisions are time and space dependent. Therefore, the set of factors bringing about variation in educational decisions with respect to one country varies considerably for another. Also, there may have variation across regions within a country as well. Factors relating to
the economic, social, cultural, and emotional
characteristics of parents seem to have important role in preschool decisions in general. However, the magnitude of effects varies considerably depending on the time and space. Therefore, it is understandable why some of the findings of this study differs from the theoretical
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discussions which is rested on previous studies based on other countries.
The discussion is further continued in the next chapter to comprehend the extent to which findings of this study complement or contrast with other existing studies on educational decision.
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