Transforming Early Childhood Systems for Future Generations: Obligations and Opportunities

Abstract

In a rapidly shifting twenty-first century context, early childhood education and care (ECEC) must consider contextual, scientific, and policy realities in order to realize its social obligations to young children. The current status of ECEC globally bears both good and bad news; many countries are paying attention to the importance of the early years, yet challenges remain related to quality, inequity, and sustainability. Given the surging importance of ECEC and the many challenges at hand, a new strategy is needed to suit the current context. Systems research represents one promising and exciting method for addressing a new set of global issues. This mode of inquiry takes the ECEC system as its unit of analysis, addressing far more than individual classroom pedagogy or even clusters of programs. Systems research advances the thinking that in order for an early childhood system to exist, in addition to quality programs, there must be a solid infrastructure that supports the programs. An emerging systems approach to ECEC considers sociocultural and temporal variables and transcends traditional domains.