ERIC Number: EJ1031667
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0332-3315
EISSN: N/A
Combating Educational Disadvantage through Early Years and Primary School Investment
Frawley, Denise
Irish Educational Studies, v33 n2 p155-171 2014
In 1965, following a review of second-level education in Ireland, the report "Investment in Education" was published. While a concern with educational inequality and disadvantage pre-dates this report, it clearly identified the significant socio-economic disparities in educational participation at the time and emphasised an urgent need for remedial action. However, while the discussions emanating from this seminal report are concerned with issues around educational disadvantage, less attention has been given to the "processes" at play in underlying such inequality. Moreover, it can be argued that overarching debates on educational investment over the last 50 years (as reflected in the papers in this special issue) have focused predominantly on post-primary and higher education, to the detriment of early education. Given the recent proliferation of research stemming from the USA around the significant human capital and societal gains of early years investment--which is especially pronounced for disadvantaged children--this paper argues that it is vitally important that early education is viewed as an important window of opportunity for increased public spending and treated on par with later educational investments.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Disadvantaged Youth, Educationally Disadvantaged, Early Childhood Education, Elementary Education, Early Intervention, Educational Finance, Educational Policy, Investment, Educational Equity (Finance)
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Elementary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Ireland
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A