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Early childhood and schools

Starting Strong III - A Quality Toolbox for Early Childhood Education and Care

 

Executive summary | Table of contents | Country policy profiles
How to obtain this publication | Related websites

 

ISBN: 9789264123564
Publication: 10/01/2012

  

Starting Strong III - A Quality Toolbox for Early Childhood Education and Care

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) can bring a wide range of benefits – for children, parents and society at large. However, these benefits are conditional on “quality”. Expanding access to services without attention to quality will not deliver good outcomes for children or long-term productivity benefits for society.

This new publication focuses on quality issues: it aims to define quality and outlines five policy levers that can enhance it in ECEC. In addition, it provides busy policy makers with practical tools such as research briefs, international comparisons, country examples, self-reflection sheets, etc. in order to successfully implement these policy levers.

Executive summary

A growing body of research recognises that early childhood education and care (ECEC) brings a wide range of benefits, for example, better child well-being and learning outcomes as a foundation for lifelong learning; more equitable child outcomes and reduction of poverty; increased intergenerational social mobility; more female labour market participation; increased fertility rates; and better social and economic development for the society at large.

But all these benefits are conditional on “quality”. Expanding access to services without attention to quality will not deliver good outcomes for children or the longterm productivity benefits for society. Furthermore, research has shown that if quality is low, it can have long-lasting detrimental effects on child development, instead of bringing positive effects.

Table of contents

  • How to use the policy toolbox
  • Policy Lever 1: Setting out quality goals and regulations
  • Policy Lever 2: Designing and implementing curriculum and standards
  • Policy Lever 3: Improving workforce conditions, qualifications and training
  • Policy Lever 4: Engaging families and communities
  • Policy Lever 5: Advancing data collection, research and monitoring

 

 

Country policy profiles

How to obtain this publication

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