Since 2003 children in England have been formally assessed at the age of 5 after their first year in school, and their numerical scores reported to parents and analysed at school and national levels. The use of statutory assessment for this age group is unique in the UK, where other regions use less formal methods of assessment. It is also unusual…

Most qualitative studies in international education take place in a single site in a single nation. When studies are of more than one country, they most often use more quantitative than qualitative approaches. Beatrice and John Whiting conducted the most systematic of comparative cross-cultural studies of child rearing in their "Six…

Tobin's work has been groundbreaking. Famously, he and his team put together a sophisticated comparative study of three ways of doing pre-school--in Japan, China, and the United States (1989). As such, this study has precedents in anthropology. What is unique in Tobin's work is that he got people from one place to comment on what they…

The Solomon Islands, a small developing nation in the South Pacific, demonstrates an emerging community-based kindergarten model with the potential to promote context and culture relevant early learning and development, despite deeply embedded foundations in colonial legacies. Based on the Kahua region of Makira-Ulawa Province, this collaborative,…

Two of the main obstacles for drawing educational comparisons consist in determining what are considered "high quality" initiatives, and finding a common tool that can adapt to differences in both structure and content, as well as to the cultural and demographic characteristics of the population it wishes to serve. This paper focuses on addressing…

In this paper we argue that the socialist kindergarten in Hungary (1948-1989) was set up to aid the modernizing of a nation in a particular way and in a historical and political context in which the only way forward was to leave behind aspects of the past and start a new chapter in Hungarian history. Comparing this project to the…

When "Preschool in Three Cultures" was published in 1989, it attracted great attention, as a result of the insights into the three cultures explored as well as the methodology that anchored the research. What made the book so intriguing to many scholars, regardless of their geographical areas of interest, however, was the unique methodology…

The field of international development has recently been consumed by a shift in contemporary educational discourse, one that moves Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) closer to the forefront of what is considered progressive policy formation. In Zambia, the current educational environment seems to indicate that the creation and continued…

Early Childhood Development (ECD) has emerged as a theme in international and African dialogue on education in recent years. UNESCO's Division of Basic Education Early Childhood promotes an integrated approach to Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) policy development and review. The study examines how this is implemented in three West…

This paper presents the pioneering experience of the Programa Primeira Infancia Melhor (the Better Early Childhood Development Program), also known as "PIM" that has been developed since 2003 in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. PIM's goal is to "provide guidance to families, based on their own culture and experiences, to allow them to…

Improving the quality of Early Childhood Education has been a priority in Brazil, but it is still a challenging issue to be faced. The fact that an indefinite number of institutions exist on the borders of the educational system, the lack of systematic supervision, and incomplete official statistics are only a few of the challenges. The Millennium…

In this article, the author offers a causal explanation for the preschool education voucher policy in Taiwan. A causal analysis of voucher politics focuses on the process rather than the result of the innovation. The political success of private kindergarten business interests derives from their capability to open a space for collective…

The attainment of Education for All (EFA) goals is crucial to the productivity of any country. However attaining these goals cannot be realised unless due consideration is given to the inputs and processes that must be enacted to achieve such goals. In this article, the Revised Primary Curriculum (RPC) used at grades one to three in Jamaican…

In recent years, the global community has developed a range of initiatives to inform the post-2015 global development agenda. In the education community, International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs) have an important role to play in advancing a global shift in focus to access plus learning. However, there are a number of other assessment tools…

Children's reading skill development is influenced by availability of reading materials, reading habits and opportunity to read. Save the Children's Literacy Boost data have replicated this finding across numerous developing contexts. Meanwhile international large-scale reading assessments do not capture detail on current home literacy.…