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Fair and inclusive education The contribution of early childhood services

Fair and inclusive education The contribution of early childhood services. Trondheim, Norway, 4-5 June 2007. For comments: bennett.paris@gmail.com 1.

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Fair and inclusive education The contribution of early childhood services

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  1. Fair and inclusive educationThe contribution of early childhood services Trondheim, Norway, 4-5 June 2007 For comments: bennett.paris@gmail.com 1 For comments: bennett.paris@gmail.com 1

  2. A summary of this presentation For comments: bennett.paris@gmail.com 2 • 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… For comments: bennett.paris@gmail.com 2

  3. 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: • The Canadian cost-benefit analysis, 1998 • The Zurich study, 2001 • The British PriceWaterhouseCooper study, 2004 • Analyses showing educational returns from EC investment • Andersson, Sweden 1992 • French national survey 1992 • Longitudinal New Zealand study 1992 • Longitudinal British EPPE study 1997-2007 For comments: bennett.paris@gmail.com 3

  4. 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) For comments: bennett.paris@gmail.com 4

  5. 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 For comments: bennett.paris@gmail.com 5

  6. 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 For comments: bennett.paris@gmail.com 6

  7. Part IIWhat are countries doing in the ECEC field to promote equity in education For comments: bennett.paris@gmail.com 7

  8. 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: bennett.paris@gmail.com 8

  9. 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 For comments: bennett.paris@gmail.com 9

  10. 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) For comments: bennett.paris@gmail.com 10

  11. Part IIIA more critical analysis of the state of ECEC… For comments: bennett.paris@gmail.com 11

  12. Fundamental weaknesses in policies for young children at-risk • Despite the rhetoric, countries are not investing enough in early childhood services… • Even when services are provided, the conditions for ensuring quality for young children are not fulfilled • Large targeted programmes are often economically wasteful and pedagogically doubtful… • 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… For comments: bennett.paris@gmail.com 12

  13. Many countries invest relatively little in family & childhood services For comments: bennett.paris@gmail.com 13

  14. In the area of funding early care and education services, the results from the OECD reviews are disappointing% of GDP devoted to ECEC For comments: bennett.paris@gmail.com 14

  15. 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 For comments: bennett.paris@gmail.com 15

  16. 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 ) For comments: bennett.paris@gmail.com 16

  17. 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, anti-racism…) • 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… For comments: bennett.paris@gmail.com 17

  18. 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 For comments: bennett.paris@gmail.com 18

  19. 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. • Enrolment • Pedagogy • Second language • Outreach to parents and communities For comments: bennett.paris@gmail.com 19

  20. 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/ececTAKK! For comments: bennett.paris@gmail.com 20

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