Developing skills through non-formal learning activities. Four essays in the economics of education.

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Autor/in	Hille, Adrian
Titel	Developing skills through non-formal learning activities. Four essays in the economics of education.
Quelle	Berlin: Freie Universität Berlin (2016), xxvi, 277 S. PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (1); PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (2) Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit Dissertation, Freie Universität Berlin, 2016.
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; Monographie
URN	urn:nbn:de:kobv:188-fudissthesis000000102663-0
Schlagwörter	Evaluation; Non-formale Bildung; Sozioökonomisches Panel; Kognitive Kompetenz; Ungleichheit; Dissertation; Deutschland
Abstract	Chapter 2: Despite numerous studies on skill development, we know little about the effects of extracurricular music activities on cognitive and non-cognitive skills. This study examines how music training during childhood and youth affects the development of cognitive skills, school grades, personality, time use and ambition using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Our findings suggest that adolescents with music training have better school grades, are more conscientious, open and ambitious. These effects are stronger among adolescents from lower socio-economic status. In order to address the non-random selection into playing music, we take into account detailed information on the child and its parents, which may determine both the decision to pursue music lessons and educational outcomes. While lacking truly exogenous variations in music activities, our results are robust to a large range of sensitivity tests. We thereby approach causality better than previous observational studies. Chapter 3: Using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, this paper analyses the effects of spending part of adolescents' leisure time playing music or doing sports, or both. We find that while playing music fosters educational outcomes more than doing sports, particularly so for girls and children from more highly educated families, doing sports improves subjective health. For educational outcomes, doing both activities appears to be most successful. The robustness of the results is examined with respect to the identifying assumptions, including non-affected outcomes, a formal sensitivity analysis, and instrumental variable estimation. These checks do not reveal any serious problems. Chapter 4: Previous research suggests that music, sports and other types of non-formal education foster the development of cognitive and non-cognitive skills. However, access to non-formal education strongly depends on socio-economic status. This paper examines whether in-kind transfers targeted at children from poor households, as provided by the German "Educational package", increase participation in extracurricular music and sports activities. I use data from Families in Germany (FiD), a household panel study with a focus on child development. Causal effects are identified by combining a difference-in-differences estimator with propensity score matching, using eligibility for the policy as the treatment variable. I find that subsidies for music school and sports club membership fees, which are provided by the Educational package, have no overall effect on music and sports activities, but increase participation by 10 percentage points among children from two-parent families, as well as among eligible children with relatively high household incomes. The absence of overall effects is probably due to a low take-up rate. Moreover, one out of two beneficiaries was already active before the subsidy was established. Chapter 5: It is still widely debated how non-cognitive skills can be affected by policy intervention. For example, universal music education programs are becoming increasingly popular among policy makers in Germany and other developed countries. These are intended to give children from poor families the opportunity to learn a musical instrument. Moreover, policymakers present these programs as innovative policies that are important for the personality development of young children. However, the effects of universal music education on such outcomes are not yet sufficiently studied. This paper analyses the Jedem Kind ein Instrument (an instrument for every child) program in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. To do so, data from the German household panel studies SOEP and FiD are combined with regional data on primary and music schools. Using a difference-in-differences estimator, I show that the program successfully increases music participation among disadvantaged children. It does so more effectively than the alternative policy of reducing fees at public music schools. I further find that participation reduces conduct problems and improves student teacher relationships, especially among boys. (Orig.).
Erfasst von	Deutsche Nationalbibliothek, Frankfurt am Main
Update	2017/1