Transcript Fair and inclusive education: the contribution of ECEC Trondheim, 4-5 June, 2007 Fair and inclusive education The contribution of early childhood services Trondheim, Norway, 4-5

Fair and inclusive education: the contribution of ECEC
Trondheim, 4-5 June, 2007
Fair and inclusive education
The contribution of early childhood services
Trondheim, Norway,
4-5 June 2007
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Fair and inclusive education: the contribution of ECEC
Trondheim, 4-5 June, 2007
A summary of this presentation
 Part I – ECEC contributes to inclusiveness and fairness in education
 Research
 Recognition of the comparative advantage of ECEC compared to schools
 Part II – What have countries been doing ?
 Targeted approaches
 Targeting within universal services
 The growing conviction that early investment pays…
 Part III – A more critical analysis of the state of ECEC…
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Fair and inclusive education: the contribution of ECEC
Trondheim, 4-5 June, 2007
ECEC contributes to inclusiveness and fairness in education - research
 See Annex D, Starting Strong II (pages 249–264)
 Analyses showing social, economic and labour market
returns from ECEC services:
o
The Canadian cost-benefit analysis, 1998
o
The Zurich study, 2001
o
The British PriceWaterhouseCooper study, 2004
 Analyses showing educational returns from EC investment
o
Andersson, Sweden 1992
o
French national survey 1992
o
Longitudinal New Zealand study 1992
o
Longitudinal British EPPE study 1997-2007
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Fair and inclusive education: the contribution of ECEC
Trondheim, 4-5 June, 2007
The EPPE Project (1997-2007)
Over 3000 children studied, including a ‘home only’ control
group
 Data collected on parents, home environments and their pre-school
settings
Findings:
 Pre-school experience, compared to none, enhances the
development of all children
 Disadvantaged children benefited significantly
 Duration of attendance is important…
 Full time attendance led to no better gains for children
than part-time provision (American research finds
differently)
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Fair and inclusive education: the contribution of ECEC
Trondheim, 4-5 June, 2007
New findings from the High/Scope Perry Pre-school Project, 2004
(but note the type of programming: intensive work, small groups, an open
framework curriculum, qualified teachers, family involvement…)
Source: Schweinhart & Montie, 2004
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Fair and inclusive education: the contribution of ECEC
Trondheim, 4-5 June, 2007
Recognition of the comparative advantage of ECEC…
 History of early childhood services
 The traditional strengths of ECEC

A pedagogy of care, upbringing and education

An emphasis on socialisation and learning to live
together (see Norwegian and Swedish curricula).

Active, experiential learning following the interests of
the child

An outreach to families… and the particular age
 These values now (re-) entering mainstream education
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Fair and inclusive education: the contribution of ECEC
Trondheim, 4-5 June, 2007
Part II
What are countries doing in the ECEC field to promote
equity in education
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Fair and inclusive education: the contribution of ECEC
Trondheim, 4-5 June, 2007
What are countries doing?
 Almost all OECD countries now invest in programmes
for young children at-risk of educational failure.
 Head Start in the USA – since 1965
 Sure Start in the UK, since 1999
 Universal service in France, but with earlier
enrolment in the ZEPs…
 In the Nordic countries, first call on early childhood
services for children with special needs or other
educational needs
 In all countries, extra investment in services for
children at-risk… and often, comprehensive services…For comments: [email protected]
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Fair and inclusive education: the contribution of ECEC
Trondheim, 4-5 June, 2007
The growing conviction that early investment pays, but children’s services
are not so productive unless they are followed up…
Heckman et al. (2005), Interpreting the evidence on life cycle skill formation
See also, Heckman, Edcuation Week, 19 March 2007
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Fair and inclusive education: the contribution of ECEC
Trondheim, 4-5 June, 2007
The main picture is that much development and learning can take place
in well-run early childhood centre…
The Pampers Climbing Club, Norway (Thomas Moser)
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Fair and inclusive education: the contribution of ECEC
Trondheim, 4-5 June, 2007
Part III
A more critical analysis of the state of ECEC…
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Fair and inclusive education: the contribution of ECEC
Trondheim, 4-5 June, 2007
Fundamental weaknesses in policies for young children at-risk
1.
Despite the rhetoric, countries are not investing enough in
early childhood services…
2.
Even when services are provided, the conditions for ensuring
quality for young children are not fulfilled
3. Large targeted programmes are often economically wasteful
and pedagogically doubtful…
4. A whole society approach needs to be taken toward poverty. .
There are no quick fixes – you cannot inoculate a child against
education failure through two years in pre-primary…
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Fair and inclusive education: the contribution of ECEC
Trondheim, 4-5 June, 2007
Many countries invest relatively little
in family & childhood services
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Fair and inclusive education: the contribution of ECEC
Trondheim, 4-5 June, 2007
In the area of funding early care and education services, the results
from the OECD reviews are disappointing
% of GDP devoted to ECEC
Den mar k
Sweden
Nor way
Fin lan d
Fr an ce
Hun gar y
Aust r ia
UK
Net her lan ds
Ger man y
I t aly
USA
Aust r alia
Can ada
0
0.5
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1. 5
2
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Fair and inclusive education: the contribution of ECEC
Trondheim, 4-5 June, 2007
Approaches are pedagogically doubtful
The qualifications and certification of staff are often low

(Minimum benchmark: 75% of staff in a service will have a minimum 2-year
upper secondary training or 1-year post-secondary training in early childhood
studies)
‘Zealous’ pedagogical models (See new IEA study of 10 countries - Fall 2006):
Language and cognitive progress is best achieved when:
 Children have access to many experiences and a wide variety of
equipment and materials
 Children's activities are predominantly free-choice rather than
imposed: play, educator accompanied projects…
 Children spend less time in whole group activities
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Fair and inclusive education: the contribution of ECEC
Trondheim, 4-5 June, 2007
And structurally deficient for at-risk children…
(For information: the majority of US States now practise ratios of 10:1 or less
in public early education services )
Country
1-3 years
3-6 years
UK (England)
4:1
15 : 1
France
6.5 : 1
25.5 : 1
Germany
6:1
(Wide differences
across Länder)
12.5 : 1
Norway
5:1
9:1
Sweden
4:1
5.6 : 1
Ireland
4.5 : 1
24.2 : 1
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(37% of children 4-6
years in classes 25-30)
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Fair and inclusive education: the contribution of ECEC
Trondheim, 4-5 June, 2007
Action needed
 Increased government funding
 To set targets for at-risk neighbourhoods and at-risk groups
while preserving social cohesion
 Importance of training educators properly
 To know how to handle children with different learning abilities
(pedagogy both in the Nordic and the educational sense)
 To provide language and experiences to young children
 To avoid bias (multicultural curricula, teaching tolerance, antiracism…)
 To reach out to families and provide them with the means and
motivation to help their children
 Capitalise on parental interest in children at this age…
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Fair and inclusive education: the contribution of ECEC
Trondheim, 4-5 June, 2007
A whole society approach is needed to meet the challenge of poverty
 Upstream measures by governments: Preventive, anti-poverty
measures can significantly reduce the numbers of children arriving at early
childhood centres with additional learning needs
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Fair and inclusive education: the contribution of ECEC
Trondheim, 4-5 June, 2007
Where is poverty found?
 In most countries poverty (and low ECEC enrolment,
under-achievement in education, unemployment, poor
child health…) is found especially among indigenous
and immigrant groups
 Need for proven diversity approaches re.
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Enrolment
Pedagogy
Second language
Outreach to parents and communities
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Fair and inclusive education: the contribution of ECEC
Trondheim, 4-5 June, 2007
Many thanks for your attention !
For more information:
OECD, 2001, Starting Strong, Early Childhood Education and Care
OECD, 2006, Starting Strong II: Early Childhood Education and Care
http://www.oecd.org/edu/ecec
TAKK!
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