Segregation in Early Childhood Education and Care in Germany: Insights on Regional Distribution Patterns Using National Educational Studies

Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is believed to contribute to educational equality and to serve social inclusion and democracy. Segregation in day-care centres counteracts these aims but has hardly been researched in Germany so far. We describe ethnic/linguistic and social segregation at different regional levels (federal states as well as East and West Germany more generally) using data from the Early Childhood Education and Care Quality Study in the Socio-Economic Panel (K2ID-SOEP) and the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). We find pronounced differences in distribution patterns of ECEC settings’ composition especially between West and East Germany and discuss the research implications of our findings.