The Effect of Preschool Education on Non-cognitive Skills of Middle School Students: Empirical Study Based on CEPS

Preschool education has been being seen as a crucial factor of individual cognitive skills, but it is yet clear regarding its effect on children’s non-cognitive skills. Apart from cognitive skills, the “capabilities” in the human capital model should also include non-cognitive skills. Using the baseline data of the “China Education Panel Survey”, this study explored the influence of preschool education experience on the non-cognitive skills of middle School students by using the method of propensity score matching. The results showed that children’s chances of receiving preschool education has been affected by factors like the health status of the children before schooling, family economic status, and parents’ education level. More importantly, preschool education had a statistically significant positive impact on the students’ ability of curiosity, acceptance of new things and self-discipline, and showed a negative impact on negative emotionality. Best Evid Chin Edu 2019; 3(1):287-303. Doi: 10.15354/bece.19.ar1070