Editorial: Children's Competencies Development in the Home Learning Environment

Abstract

<p>The home learning environment (HLE) is one of the contexts within which young children develop important competencies (e.g., Niklas and Schneider, 2013; Lehrl et al., 2020b), and which affects their long-term development (e.g., Niklas and Schneider, 2017; Lehrl et al., 2020a). Primary caregivers may support children's learning during everyday routine interactions and by shared reading or playing games. Here, it is helpful to differentiate between the home literacy and numeracy environment and their respective associations with children's literacy and numeracy learning (e.g., Niklas and Schneider, 2013, 2014; Lehrl et al., 2014). Further, formal aspects of the HLE include explicit teaching by the primary caregiver, whereas informal aspects of the HLE consist of various activities that foster children's learning, although learning is not the main focus of the activity (cf. Sénéchal and LeFevre, 2002; Skwarchuk et al., 2014). Family intervention programs not only enhance the quality of the HLE, but also support children's competencies development (e.g., Niklas et al., 2016). Meta-analyses show that children who grow up in a high-quality HLE develop greater competencies and are better prepared for school (Sénéchal and Young, 2008; e.g., Mol et al., 2008). In addition, the availability of digital media in many families worldwide offers new possibilities for interventions (e.g., Niklas et al., 2020). The HLE is closely associated with family background variables such as the socioeconomic status (SES) of a family (i.e., families with a high SES tend to provide higher quality HLEs) and the migration background (e.g., Aikens and Barbarin, 2008; Anders et al., 2012; Niklas et al., 2015). Consequently, the HLE acts as a mediator between more distal family characteristics and child outcomes. Further, research indicates that the HLE may not only predict concurrent children's early literacy and numeracy competencies (e.g., Burghardt et al., 2020, Napoli and Purpura, 2018), but also later achievement in school (e.g., Niklas and Schneider, 2017; Lehrl et al., 2020a) as well as more general cognitive abilities (e.g., Howard et al., 2017; Niklas et al., 2018) and socio-emotional outcomes (e.g., Rose et al., 2018; Wirth et al., 2020). Despite the research on the HLE and the findings in recent years, we still do not know how best to operationalize the HLE, through which specific mechanisms the HLE impacts children's learning, and which facets of the HLE are the most important. For instance, in a recent paper by Hornburg et al. (2021), international experts in the field of the home mathematics environment (HME) discussed next steps in the measurement of this construct and concluded that much more work is needed to define and operationalize the HME, so that it can be supported more successfully in research and practise across countries and contexts. Despite more research having been conducted on the home literacy environment than the HME, this issue also applies to the home literacy environment. We are also still in need of successful family intervention approaches that are non-intensive and appeal to all families, independent of their background (e.g., Purpura et al., 2017). Finally, we do not yet know how digital media may be associated with and influence the HLE, or whether there are specific cultural and regional HLE differences.</p>