Preschool expansion in Brazil: an analysis of historical determinants

ABSTRACT

The school attendance of 4-5 years-old children raised from 3.7% to 78.9% between 1970 and 2018 in Brazil. This paper analyses the preschool expansion process in Brazil in the last 50 years, documenting the preschool attendance and discussing how sociodemographic and institutional factors usually associated with the expansion are related to the process. The paper shows that female labor force participation, public investments, and demographic factors were to some extent important but not crucial to the expansion of preschool attendance in Brazil. Furthermore, the observed expansion seems to be a result of uncoordinated and unplanned policies implemented in the period.

KEYWORDS:
Universal preschool; public policies; determinants of preschool expansion