The Development of Early Numeracy in Europe

This article describes a limited longitudinal European study of young children’s early numeracy development within three testing cycles, onaverage, at the mid-point and towards the end of their fifth to sixth year and again at the mid-point of their sixth to seventh year. Assessment was carried out using the Utrecht Early Numeracy Test (ENT) (Van Luit, Van de Rijt and Pennings, 1994). The multilevel modelling method of analysis used for the study provided an extension of multiple regression to incorporate the hierarchical structure of the data collected, with boys and girls of different social-economic status, nested within different institutions within different countries. The results showed that the ENT was a useful tool for international comparison. The finding that differences between countrieswere negligible was surprising bearing in mind that the English pupils werein formal schooling throughout the testing cycle, the Belgian, German, Greek and Dutch children from the mid-point, and the Slovene children, not at all.