Early Childhood Services in OECD Countries: Review of the Literature and Current Policy in the Early Childhood Field

The aim of this text is to provide a review of the literature and current policies of early childhood education and care in the economically most advanced countries of the world. The introductory chapter 1 provides some basic definitions: what is meant by ‘early childhood services’ both in the narrow sense of care and education services for young children (family day care, childcare centres, pre-primary educational services, integrated services, etc.) and in the wider sense of services supporting the holistic development of young children. Beyond early care and education, other services that support the broad development of young children are policies that sustain parents and parenting, parental leave, family-friendly policies, infant health services and policies that reduce child and family poverty. Explanations are also provided about the age notation used in this paper, and the meaning of the term ‘rich countries’. The section ends with five charts that provide the reader with a rapid overview of key elements of early childhood systems in the rich countries: investment by the countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in early childhood services; maternity, paternity and parental leave entitlements; effective parental leave provision across OECD countries; the main institutional forms of early childhood services in the participating countries, and entitlements by age to early childhood services across selected OECD countries. Chapter 2 addresses the question of the rights and well-being of young children. Information is drawn from five main texts: the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989); General Comment No. 7 issued by the Committee on the Rights of the Child (2006); Innocenti Report Card 4, ‘A League Table of Educational Disadvantage in Rich Nations (2002); Innocenti Report Card 6, ‘Child Poverty in Rich Countries’ (2005); and Innocenti Report Card 7, ‘Child Poverty in Perspective: An Overview of Child Well-being in Rich Countries’ (2007). A strong message coming from these reports is how greatly government social policies and income transfers can alleviate family poverty and lessen its impact on the health, well-being and educational outcomes of young children. Chapter 3 explores the economic and social context of children’s services, and seek to explain the contemporary focus on the upbringing and education of young children. Three profound changes are challenging traditional views of childhood and child-rearing: the changing socio-economic role of women; the changing demography and population diversity of rich countries; and third, the new education ideology with its focus on social equity and preparation for school. The chapter discusses different approaches adopted by countries towards the new challenges posed by these changes, and outlines some of the impacts of upstream socio-economic policies on families and young children. It points also to a certain ‘path dependency’ adopted by different groups of countries in their manner of conceptualizing and organizing early childhood services, stemming from their traditional politicoeconomic structures. Chapter 4 provides a rationale for substantial state investment in early childhood services. It lists and briefly describes some 16 research analyses from 10 different countries showing the benefits generated by early childhood programmes. The research studies are grouped under two headings: analyses showing economic and labour market returns from investment and analyses showing educational returns from investment. The section summary concludes that strong social, economic and education rationales exist in favour of establishing and maintaining national networks of early childhood services, on the condition that these systems aim for and achieve high quality. Some doubts remain, however, concerning the appropriate age at which young children should begin day-long, out-of-home care, and for how long children should stay in out-of-home care during the day. Chapter 5 recalls briefly the promise that participation in high-quality early childhood services holds for the individual child and at a wider level, for society as a whole. Such high-quality services provide significant support to education systems, social policy, gender equality and economies as a whole. The ability to boost the female employment rate from a level of 61.5 per cent (the OECD average) to a participation rate of 76.2 per cent (the case of Denmark) is a powerful stimulus both to the economy and to household budgets. In parallel, the contribution of early childhood services to later achievement in education is of major importance. The chapter goes on to summarize how countries have responded to this promise. In particular, the following themes are examined: the greatly improved access to services for children 3-6 years in almost all countries; the steadily improving regulation and support for quality, and the merits and demerits of establishing targeted programmes for children at risk. Finally, a discussion on the funding of early childhood services is engaged; it evaluates the level of the financial commitments made by countries to early childhood services and the modes of financing that they employ. A short conclusion proposes a dynamic social market model that brings together the dynamism and choice that market approaches can present with the strong investment, effective control and equity in access that public systems have traditionally offered in several countries. Further research is needed on how to create effective social markets, that is, networks of mixed provision in which choice and innovation exist, while maintaining equity and a sense of national and community responsibility for essential services. Widely different levels of purchasing power may be acceptable in the case of commodities or personal convenience, but in the fields of public health and education, they can undermine equity and social solidarity. The UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre and the OECD Social Policy Division have reviewed the initial draft of the analysis. Several early childhood experts and senior early childhood administrators from OECD countries also made helpful comments, and their assistance is gratefully acknowledged. The paper is complemented by Bennett, J. (2008), ‘Benchmarks for Early Childhood Services in OECD Countries’, Innocenti Working Paper No. 2008-02.