Home Literacy and Mathematics in Bulgaria, Israel, Spain, and the U.S.: How Do Preschool Parents Socialize Academic Readiness?

Abstract

Previous research shows that preschool parents in the United States (U.S.) prioritize literacy over mathematics, despite the importance of both subjects for their child’s future academic success. However, less is known about how parents in other countries socialize the literacy and mathematics skills of young children. This paper examines the beliefs of preschool parents from Bulgaria (N = 103), Israel (N = 167), Spain (N = 138), and the U.S. (N = 183). These countries were selected due to differences in location, economics, religions, languages, and alphabet. Specifically, we examine the importance parents place on home literacy and mathematics, the time spent in the home on those activities, and parents’ confidence in supporting their child’s learning in both domains. We also examined the type of support and resources parents in each country would value receiving from their child’s teacher. The results indicated the importance of expanding research from just U.S. participants. Parents from all four countries valued home literacy and mathematics but viewed literacy as significantly more important. While parents from all four countries viewed literacy as more important, differences between countries were noted when it came to the time spent on different subjects, with Spain and the U.S. spending more time on literacy and Bulgaria and Israel spending more time on mathematics. Parents from the U.S. indicated significantly higher levels of confidence in supporting literacy than parents in the other three countries; however, no differences were noted in confidence for supporting mathematics. The types of resources that parents would like to receive also varied by country.