This article is an analysis of the current state of early childhood care in the Maghreb, in particular in Morocco and Algeria, where the pre-schooling rate for 5-year-olds is on the increase. Extending pre-school infrastructures and the need to create unified curricula have been among the most urgent questions to be tackled over the last decade in this country. Pre-school systems in the Maghreb, analysed in terms of changes to the objectives and the way in which they have functioned since 1990, at present seem driven by a dynamic need to understand the social challenges. Their major objective in the short term is to make pre-school education widely available for 5-6-year-olds. It is difficult to understand the changes that have taken place in early childhood learning in the Maghreb without appreciating the wider context in which they have occurred. The authors' study does not try to provide a description and detailed analysis of the changing historical, economic and social contexts, or of their impact on national education systems, but it does, nevertheless, shed some light on the common characteristics of early childhood pre-schooling. These characteristics include: the lack of access to pre-school education for all children (it is children from economically and socially advantaged urban areas and families who are most likely to benefit from pre-schooling); the relative absence of pedagogical skills among pre-school educators (as regards their pre-service and in-service training); and a contradiction in the definition of the objectives of pre-school care (teaching/learning). By and large, the role given to pre-schooling is to instil moral, social and family values, habits and knowledge. Its first function is moral socialization via traditional learning methods. (Contains 4 notes.)