International joint research project: International joint research program in social science field with Europe begins -Open Research Area for the Social Sciences: ORA

Project:
The Development of Inequalities in Child Educational Achievement: A Six Country Study

*Official announcement on the European side
*Official announcement of Japan side

The purpose of this project is to understand the disparities in child development and educational achievement by parental socio-economic status (SES) and to identify the effect of national policy to break the linkage of socio-economic disparities by analyzing international comparison. Especially, with methods of harmonizing different data such as rich cohort and administrative data from six countries (3 to 16 years old) - France, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, the United States and Japan -, this research project will study how educational inequalities progresses as child development, what factors of parents and families will influence, and how and to what extent policy of each country buffer these processes. With a focus on research on expansion of inequality by age, this project will compare the relationship between child-rearing and family environment, early childhood education/ childcare facility, parent-child relationship, roles of parent and school relationship and educational pathways among the six countries. We will also clarify the trends specific in each country concerning the development of children.

Research members:
[Japan side]
Hideo Akabayashi (Principal Investigator: Keio University)
Chizuru Shikishima (Teikyo University)
Jun Yamashita (Japan Women’s University)
Kayo Nozaki (Kochi University)
Yoshio Higuchi (Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training)
Yuriko Kameyama (Keio University: Special Appointment)



[European side]
Liz Washbrook (Principal Investigator: Bristol University, UK),
16 other members