ZEW President Wolfgang Franz: "More Investment in Early Childhood Education"

Non-cognitive skills such as persistence when solving a problem, discipline, concentration or the capacity for motivation are relevant to success or failure at school, the vocational training or the job. The first years of life are crucial for conveying these skills. "In German society, there are numerous children who do not have the chance to fully develop their non-cognitive skills due to unfavourable family circumstances and are thus likely to encounter problems at school and, later on, at the job market. Educational expenditure needs to be re-directed in favour of higher investment in early childhood education to counteract this shortcoming, for which, otherwise, the German economy will have to pay dearly," explained Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Wolfgang Franz, economic expert and president of the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), in today’s opening speech at the first conference of the research network "Non-Cognitive Skills - Acquisition and Economic Consequences", which is funded by the Leibniz Association.

The conference "Non-Cognitive Skills - Acquisition and Economic Consequences" brings national and international experts of different disciplines together. For three days they will discuss theories and research approaches concerning the acquisition of non-cognitive skills as well as their significance for the German economy and society and then derive priorities of the education policy. The opening presentation will be held by the Nobel Prize winner in Economics Prof. James J. Heckman, Ph.D. (University of Chicago) and the closing lecture by the motivational- and social psychologist Prof. Peter M. Gollwitzer, Ph.D. (University of Constance and New York University). Many more research partners will present their recent findings putting them up for discussion.

The research network "Non-Cognitive Skills - Acquisition and Economic Consequences" combines the work of economists, educationalists and psychologists from leading European research institutions with the efforts of the research team headed by James J. Heckman at the Research Center of the University of Chicago and the employer’s association Südwestmetall in Baden-Württemberg.