Abstract:

The study aims to reveal the educational expenditures of families during the early childhood care and education period (ECCE). 192 families whose children were enrolled in public or private ECCE schools in Kastamonu province center form the working group of the study. The study is a descriptive study done using the scanning method. The data for the study was collected through surveys. The analysis of the collected data was done via descriptive statistics and the nonparametric Kruksal Wallis H test. The study reveals that the families whose children are enrolled in public ECCE schools, during the educational year, spent an average of 3.411,1 TL in total while families whose children are enrolled in private ECCE schools spent in average 6.222,4 TL. It was observed that the factors of the sex of the child, who the child lives with, the education level of the father, the employment status of the father, and the profession of the father were not decisive in the ECCE education expenditures the family makes but those of the transportation method to the school, the type of the school the child is enrolled, the education level of the mother, the employment status and profession of the mother, income of the family, and the population of the family were. It is hereby suggested that a study be done that questions from the social, economic, and cultural perspectives why the factors related with the mother are more (or less) decisive in ECCE education expenditures of different family types.

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