Unequal starts: the role of different learning environments in the development of inequalities in skills during early childhood

Educational credentials have a central role in contemporary societies. However, social origins continue to affect educational performances and transitions well before children enter compulsory school, thus threatening future outcomes and development. By interacting research streams from economics, psychology, and pedagogy, this dissertation locates within the literature on child development, early education, and social stratification, and it aims at further contributing to the sociological evidence on the mechanisms that lead to inequalities in skills. The core of this dissertation lies in the analysis of the characteristics of the early childhood educational system (ECE) and of the home learning environment (HLE), as growth-promoting or unfavourable contexts for the development of both cognitive and noncognitive skills. Adopting recent cross-national and longitudinal data, this dissertation asks (1) whether and how much ECE matters in the lives of children around Europe, leaving long-lasting traces on their achievements once adolescents; (2) whether and how much parental social position, beliefs, and other family and child characteristics play a role in the care selection process in Germany; and (3) whether and how much quality in HLE and ECE contributes at explaining differences in skills before entering primary school in Ireland.