This document summarizes findings from a study that examined education trajectories from early childhood to early adulthood across four countries: Peru, Ethiopia, Vietnam, and India. The study used data from the Young Lives study, which follows two cohorts of children in these countries. Key findings include: 1) Gaps in achievement already exist by age 5, with factors like gender, socioeconomic status, and preschool attendance associated with differences. 2) Educational opportunities are unequal across settings, with private and urban schools generally having better infrastructure and teachers. 3) Children's scores at age 5 predict later achievement, but education trajectories are not equal, with the most vulnerable children showing smaller gains over time. 4

1. Education trajectories: From early childhood
to early adulthood across four countries
17th GDN Annual Global Development Conference
March 18th
Santiago Cueto
Country Coordinator / Co-Principal
Investigator (GRADE)
Alejandra Miranda
Asistente de investigación (GRADE)

2. Introduction
• Access to education has expanded significantly over the past few
decades. According to the EFA Report, 91% of children are enrolled in
primary education, however, inequality remains an issue.
• Purpose of the paper: to present trajectories of two cohorts of children in
four countries and present a few variables associated to these, to assess
patterns of quality and inequity in opportunities and outcomes.
• This study used national data and also the Young Lives (YL) study dataset.
This longitudinal study follows around 12,000 children from India,
Ethiopia, Vietnam and Peru. YL follows two cohorts of children, the
younger cohort (born around 2001) and the older cohort (born around
1994). The study has information from household surveys carried out in
2002, 2006, 2009 and 2013 (and 2016), plus a school survey.

3. Educational System in four countries
In India, the
pre-primary
stage is not part
of the formal
education
structure. In
Ethiopia,
preschool
education is not
mandatory for
all, therefore
there is no
official
certification of
it.

4. Gaps in achievement already exist
by age 5 years

5. PPVT score (%) at age 5 years by
type of preschool (Peru)
PRONOEI Public Jardin Private Jardin Did not attend
Average 17.2% 23.9% 36.9% 15.9%
Gender
Boys 18.0% 24.7% 37.1% 15.5%
Girls 16.5% 23.1% 36.8% 16.3%
Gap (%) 1.6% 1.6% 0.3% -0.8%
Indigenous home
Spanish 19.2% 25.1% 37.7% 17.0%
Indigenous language 13.5% 14.6% 6.4% 12.0%
Gap (%) 5.7% 10.5% 31.3% 5.0%
Maternal education
Complete secondary or more 25.6% 31.0% 39.4% 27.6%
Incomplete secondary or less 15.1% 19.0% 29.9% 14.1%
Gap (%) 10.5% 12.0% 9.4% 13.5%
Baseline wealth index
Top quintile 36.3% 35.7% 40.1% 27.8%
Bottom quintile 12.6% 15.2% 21.8% 11.3%
Gap (%) 23.7% 20.5% 18.4% 16.5%

6. Average 10.50
Residence area
Urban 13.30
Rural 8.60
Gap (%) 4.71
Gender
Male 10.84
Female 10.11
Gap (%) 0.73
Wealth quintile (r1)
Top quintile 15.02
Bottom quintile 7.92
Gap (%) 7.10
Household head sex
Male 10.30
Female 11.35
Gap (%) -1.04
Mother's Level of education
Complete primary or above 15.72
Incomplete primary or below 9.52
Gap (%) 6.20
PPVT score (%) at age 5 years
(Ethiopia, 2006)

7. PPVT
Public Private
Average (of Younger Cohort) 18.0 25.1
Gender
Boys 18.4 26.0
Girls 17.6 24.3
Geographical
Urban 25.9 26.0
Uplands & remote coastal 16.0 NA
Maternal education
Lower Secondary or more 21.2 26.5
Incomplete primary or none 13.6 NA
Baseline wealth index
Top quintile 25.0 26.5
Bottom quintile 12.8 NA
PPVT score (%) at age 5 years
by type of preschool (Vietnam)

8. Average 22.0
Gender
Boys 22.2
Girls 21.7
Gap (%) 0.5
Place of Residence
Urban 29.0
Rural 19.8
Gap (%) 9.2
Maternal education
No Education 17.7
Primary 23.7
Middle 24.4
Secondary and above 31.5
Gap (%) 13.9
Baseline wealth index
Top quintile 32.7
Bottom quintile 18.2
Gap (%) 14.5
PPVT score (%) at age 5 years (India)

9. Achievement at age 5
predicts later achievement

10. PPVT score at age 5 and achievement at
older ages (younger cohort)
41.7%
51.2%
62.0%
48.8%
58.0%
66.2%
53.3%
62.4%
69.9%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
First tertile Second tercile Third tercile
PPVT score at age 5
Mathematics at age 8 Mathematics at age 12 Reading at age 12

11. PPVT score at age 5 and mathematics
score at ages 8 and 12 (Younger Cohort)
34.6
41.5
48.6
38.2
42.8
51.1
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Bottom Middle Top
PPVT Scores at Age 5
Maths at age 8 Maths at age 12
inPercentage

12. Educational opportunities
are unequal

13. Teacher and school characteristics (Peru)
Private Public urban Rural in Spanish Rural bilingual
School
Running water 100.0% 93.3% 38.7% 45.0%
Telephone 95.0% 71.7% 3.2% 0.0%
Auditorium 25.0% 21.7% 12.9% 0.0%
Laboratory 35.0% 35.0% 6.5% 0.0%
Court for sports 40.0% 66.7% 29.0% 30.0%
Psychologist 60.0% 11.7% 3.2% 0.0%
Auxiliary personal 75.0% 21.7% 3.2% 5.0%
Teacher
Attended university 72.4% 59.8% 31.9% 49.5%
Years of experience 10.0 20.8 14.9 16.3
Received educational support 40.0% 30.7% 24.4% 28.9%
Pedagogical Content Knowledge 7.17 5.89 5.68 4.22

14. Teacher and school characteristics
(Ethiopia)
Private Government (Urban) Government (rural)
School
Electricity 100% 91.2% 62.0%
Laboratory 23.5% 85.1% 55.0%
Piped water 94.1% 94.8% 53.9%
Sport fields 88.2% 90.8% 90.8%
Teacher
Attended University 14.3% 7.1% 1.1%
Years of experience 5.5 15.4 9.6
Missed school more than 5 days in this academic year 17.8% 40.9% 26.8%

15. Urban Delta Coastal Uplands
School
Principal with university degree 100 81.8 45.5 48.1
School owns tab water 76.3 0.0 20.0 14.3
Laboratory 97.9 88.0 73.6 59.0
Computer 97.5 23.9 41.7 12.7
Internet 97.5 19.1 20.2 12.7
Offer full-day schooling to all pupils 61.4 44.2 32.5 62.7
Teacher
Has completed university 68.2 39.4 22.8 39.2
Teaching experience (years) 17.4 17.7 17.5 17.0
Raw score in math 12.2 12.5 11.2 11.9
Raw score in Vietnamese 17.4 17.7 16.0 16.4
Does extra work to supplement income 2.1 19.9 35.1 7.8
Meet students’parents more than 3 times/year 87.3 66.1 41.6 72.6
Teacher and school characteristics
(Vietnam)

16. Teacher and school characteristics
(India)
Private Public
School
Drinking water 95.9 68.0
Toilets 83.3 64.3
Separate Staff Room 61.1 20.0
Library 39.0 3.5
Playgrounds 69.0 76.9
Covered Space for Assembly 13.5 0.7
Teacher
Average Age 28.3 33.0
Attended university 83.6 79.7
Years of experience 4.6 7.7
Have Master degree and
above
6.3 0.5
Source: Singh & Sarkar, 2012

17. Education trajectories are not
equal for all children

18. PPVT score by age for the younger
cohort (Peru)
39.7%
58.8%
80.8%
13.4%
39.7%
61.0%
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
90.0%
at age 5 at age 8 at age 12
Least vulnerable
Most vulnerable

19. PPVT score by age for the younger
cohort (Vietnam)
25
56.5
81.1
12.7
36.6
69.3
10
30
50
70
90
Age 5 Age 8 Age 12
Least vulnerable
Most vulnerable

20. How is inequality promoted in
educational systems?
Individual and
family
characteristics
Students´
educational
outcomes
Educational
Opportunities

21. Learn more:
www.ninosdelmilenio.org
(for Peru, in Spanish)
www.younglives.org.uk
(for the four countries, in English)