RSSEarly Childhood Education and Care
:: Introduction ::
All children have the right to education,a right that is defended by EI within the framework of its global action campaign for free quality public education for all. Early childhood education and care should be seen as an integral part of this right.
Essentially, early childhood education and care might be considered to be education which takes place before compulsory education, whether it is an integrated part of the education system or wholly independent of it. This includes kindergartens, nurseries, pre-school classes, child-care centres and other similar institutions. It goes beyond what some refer to as pre-school education as it is an education in its own right, having not only the purpose of preparing children for school, but for life in the same way as all other parts of the education systems contribute to this process. There are other ways to describe early childhood education and care. In the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) of 1976, used by all major providers of international educational statistics, it is referred to as ISCED 0 and primary education as ISCED1.
In low-income countries, where education for all is still far from becoming a reality, the provision of early childhood education and care is still very limited and, more often than not, organised on a private basis, and therefore only available to children from the wealthiest of families. In other words, flagrant inequality which is, once more, detrimental to those who are most disadvantaged. In high-income countries, where demand for such education services is on the increase, two different concepts continue to exist side-by-side: on the one hand, structures which are mainly social in character, and whose main objective remains the provision of child-care services for the parents of young children, thereby enabling them to hold down employment; at the other extreme, we find structures with a more educational focus, also offering a social service but whose primary vocation is the promotion of a child's development. The educational nature of these establishments is currently being intensified, responding as it does to children's needs, needs which are now recognised by teachers, families and society in general.