Many within the early childhood community fear that the energy it would take to get involved in the political process of creating policy would be a drain on already limited resources. Yet, for the long-term it is important to focus our attention on policy. If we are not involved in the policy process, others will be. We have a responsibility to bring our knowledge, skills, and experience to the creation and implementation of policies that support young children and their families. The early childhood community needs a better understanding of the relationship of policies to planning and programmes, the types of mechanisms that can be put into place to effectively serve as policy, and how to go about creating an effective policy if that is deemed desirable.
Policy is established at different levels .
Policy frames the course of action taken by governments in relation to the people. This happens at several levels. At this level there are broad policies that frame how the government operates, the judicial and legal systems and the type of economy that is in place. Within the general social policies are sectoral policies that determine the services to be provided by the sector. For example, there are education policies that specify when the government becomes responsible for the education of children, whether or not attendance at schools is mandatory, and if so, for how long.