Additional education in preschool children’s daily mobility

Abstract

The article analyses access to additional education in families with preschool aged children in the context of daily mobility. Data used in the article include the results of 2020 sociological research polling parents living in the city of Yekaterinburg (n = 163; 85% women, 15% men) and the results of semi-formalized interviews (n = 9). These data suggest that physical activity and social experience act as drivers in the development of preschool children. To meet the needs for such activities, parents turn to additional education. Mobility difficulties associated with preschool children become a barrier to creating and maintaining educational routes in the urban space. Preschool educational organisations “take over” the functions of additional education for children, resulting in some families only moving between the home and the kindergarten with little variation in their walking paths. The choice of specialised institutions of additional education is limited to the district they reside in. Family’s limited time budget becomes a barrier to accessing the system of additional education, since the transport infrastructure does not offer options that would allow parents with children to quickly travel to the additional education institution and back. Lack of a personal vehicle, residence in areas remote from the city centre and the absence of grandparents drive inequalities in access to additional education and impede the development of routes for the daily mobility of small children, which is often limited to the neighbourhood where the family resides. The educational needs of parents of preschool children and the children themselves should be considered by urban planners when planning/designing new residential neighbourhoods.