Early Childhood Education and Care in Cross-National Perspective: Introduction

Abstract

Ms. Lubeck, guest editor of this special section, points out that the practices and policies of other nations help us to see more clearly our own approach to parental leave, child care, and early education. CHILDREN ARE children, we say with some conviction - or even, children are the same everywhere - as if classifying them as members of a species defined their identities. Yet a considerable amount has been written on how children's lives have been constructed differently in different places and times,1 and we are only beginning to appreciate how nations, through their policies and programs, create strikingly different environments for children. Rapid economic, social, and political change has recently made young children the focus of unprecedented national and international attention, and early childhood education and care (ECEC) is now moving to the forefront of national policy agendas. A majority of children in the postindustrial West are now being reared in families in which parents and other caregivers work outside the home. Early childhood programs that support children's development and well-being have come to be seen as beneficial to children, and they are increasingly being used as ways of achieving other social objectives, such as preparing children for formal schooling or fostering social cohesion. Yet the rationales for and approaches to early care and education are as varied as the countries themselves. The Swedes see ECEC, among other things, as a way to foster gender equity; Italians speak of extending relationships beyond kith and kin; and the French describe the process as one in which children are welcomed into French society.2 This Kappan special section is based on work undertaken in conjunction with a recent review of ECEC policies in 12 countries. In 1998 the Education Committee of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) launched the Review of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Policy. The purpose of the review was to assist all OECD member nations in their efforts to improve early care and education for children from birth to compulsory school age. Participating countries included Australia, Belgium (Flemish and French communities), the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The study had four components. First, each nation commissioned a report. Next, a review team composed of policy makers and researchers from other nations made an intensive case-study visit. Drawing on background materials and field notes from the visit, a country note was then crafted to reflect the review team's understandings and recommendations.3 Finally, the OECD project staff responsible for the overall study wrote a report with input from study participants. This report, titled Starting Strong: Early Childhood Education and Care, was released in Stockholm in June 2001.4 The OECD Thematic Review marks a significant milestone in cross- national comparative work in early education and care. Never before have such in-depth studies been undertaken across a range of nations with the full cooperation of the participating governments. Yet even the most comprehensive study is bounded by time and space. All the participating nations are experiencing rapid social change, and so the reports that make up Starting Strong must be seen as frames within ongoing films. In addition, by World Bank indicators, only 9% of the world's children live in high-income countries,5 and it is these countries, with the exception of the Czech Republic (considered an upper middle income nation), that are featured in the Thematic Review. In this special section, we examine the ECEC policies of three countries that participated in the Thematic Review - England, Italy, and Sweden - and explore what the experience in these nations might have to say to the United States. …