Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) policies and practices are local, historically and socially context-specific constructions. In addition to local ideals and policies, discursive practices concerning ECEC are influenced by universal ideals that are described and assigned by the member states of the United Nations Convention on the Rights…

National policies on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECEC) are usually evaluated by commentators in terms of their own history and context. However, the recent OECD family database offers comparative tables on a range of ECEC policies, and charts their impact on different socio-economic groups within countries. From a comparative point of view…

In this paper we consider how particular discourses have come to dominate early childhood education (ECE) policy in Indonesia. We briefly explain the governance of Indonesian ECE and then our approach to policy analysis using critical discourse analysis. Three prevalent discourses are identified and discussed: "developmentalism",…

Over the past 20 years, more than 6,000 community-based childcare centers (CBCCs) have been created in mostly rural areas of Malawi. Although the original purpose of these CBCCs was to meet the care needs of orphans and vulnerable children affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the services have since expanded their mandate to provide early…

In recent decades, many OECD countries have adopted the notion of "social investment" to reframe traditional approaches to social welfare. Social investment strategies and policies focus on employment rather than welfare and promote public expenditure on skills and education throughout the life course, starting with early childhood…

"Starting Strong" (2001) and "Starting Strong II" (2006), the OECD Reports on early childhood education services in 20 countries, emphasized the need for governments to take steps to integrate early childhood education and care services: child care and kindergarten in particular. Integration has become a policy agenda that…

The concept of inclusion in the New Zealand legislative and policy environment is articulated in a liberal human rights discourse intended to redress past practices of segregation and exclusion. Such discourse has provided the early childhood sector with new ways to speak about disability and inclusion. There is, however, a growing body of…

The rapidity of change in Irish early childhood policy over the last 20 years is clear to observers (OECD Thematic Review of Early Childhood Education and Care Policy in Ireland. "Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development," Paris, 2004). What may be debated is how significant the changes are. In this paper, we analyse…

Devolution within the United Kingdom (UK) forms part of increased regionalisation in the European Union (EU). The post-devolution history of early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Scotland illustrates problems arising from split responsibilities and nation-state policies that fail to take adequate account of devolved administrations. UK-led…

Australian educators are currently engaging with wide-ranging, national early childhood reform that is reshaping Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC). The Australian reform agenda reflects many of the early childhood policy directions championed by bodies, such as the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the United…

This article gives a general picture of the policy and main structural features of early childhood education services for the younger children in Finland. It also provides an overview of the research on 1 to 3-year-old children in day care centres carried out in Finland during the last 15 years, the focus being on a review of all the eight…

This article seeks to identify the relation between policy and lived life, for the small child in the Danish creche. To accomplish this, the article integrates demography, traditions, national curriculum and psychological, educational, and recent developments in research. It is an attempt to reveal knowledge and consequences, by conducting the…

Despite the increasing demand for early child care and education (ECCE) services in Greece, the availability of such services continues to be rather limited compared to other European countries. In accordance, the relevant research, especially for children under 3 years of age, is almost nonexistent. This article discusses in brief some findings…

Since the end of the 1980:s when OECD published the Brundtland report, in which the concept of sustainable development as a critical global issue was introduced, the role of education for global survival has been frequently discussed and explored, by politicians as well as researchers. In school curricula and educational practice, efforts have…

Educational authorities in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) of China introduced an early childhood education voucher system in 2007 with two implicit goals: to turn profit kindergartens into non-profit ones and to curtail parental choice. This initiative has caused a great deal of controversy locally and internationally, so the…