EUROCHILD – UNICEF Seminar European Parliament, 8 April, 2008 For comments: 1 Improving the well-being of young children in Europe the role of early years services EUROCHILD – INNOCENTI Seminar European Parliament, 8 April, 2008

EUROCHILD – UNICEF Seminar European Parliament, 8 April, 2008 For comments: 2 The OECD Starting Strong evaluations From , 20 countries invited the OECD to review ECEC policy & provision AustraliaAustralia FinlandFinland MexicoMexico AustriaAustria FranceFrance NetherlandsNetherlands Belgium FlBelgium Fl GermanyGermany NorwayNorway Belgium FrBelgium Fr HungaryHungary PortugalPortugal CanadaCanada IrelandIreland SwedenSweden Czech Rep.Czech Rep. ItalyItaly UKUK DenmarkDenmark KoreaKorea USAUSA

EUROCHILD – UNICEF Seminar European Parliament, 8 April, 2008 For comments: 3 AIM – to outline the argument of the UNICEF report and its conclusion: MORE NEEDS TO BE DONE  1. The childcare revolution exists with a great potential for good  A healthy start for young children  A fair start for all young children  A quality start in high quality services 2. To achieve this potential, we need to go beyond Barcelona: To aim for quality and citizenship values as well as access levels and labour market concerns Ex. Sweden A summary of this presentation

EUROCHILD – UNICEF Seminar European Parliament, 8 April, 2008 For comments: 4 UNICEF-INNOCENTI REPORT CARD 8 “The Childcare Transition A league table of early childhood education and care ” the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration Report Card 8 looks at this great change from a point of view that is in danger of being neglected and that is so clearly set out in Article 3 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child - “that in all actions concerning children … the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration”.

EUROCHILD – UNICEF Seminar European Parliament, 8 April, The great childcare transition exists … and with a great potential for good

EUROCHILD – UNICEF Seminar European Parliament, 8 April, 2008 For comments: 6 The childcare transition The Pampers Climbing Club, Norway (Thomas Moser)

EUROCHILD – UNICEF Seminar European Parliament, 8 April, 2008 For comments: 7 Participation rates in early childhood services Country months36 to 60 months Austria Belgium Denmark Finland France Germany Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Netherlands Norway Portugal Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerlandm44.8 United Kingdom

EUROCHILD – UNICEF Seminar European Parliament, 8 April, 2008 For comments: 8 Early investment pays in terms of human capital investment, the labour market, job creation and an enlarged tax base… Heckmann et al. (2005), Interpreting the evidence on life cycle skill formation

EUROCHILD – UNICEF Seminar European Parliament, 8 April, 2008 For comments: 9 Early childhood services have a great potential for good  To support parents and strengthen family life  To provide a HEALTHY start to all young children  To provide a FAIR start in life to children from disadvantaged backgrounds  To contribute to equality of opportunity for women  To ensure holistic readiness for school, and increase the efficiency of education systems  To initiate young children into learning to live together based on participation and democratic attitudes

EUROCHILD – UNICEF Seminar European Parliament, 8 April, 2008 For comments: 10 A healthy start…

EUROCHILD – UNICEF Seminar European Parliament, 8 April, 2008 For comments: 11 A Fair Start ?

EUROCHILD – UNICEF Seminar European Parliament, 8 April, 2008 For comments: 12 Pre-school access in the USA by level of income in 2005 (Source: EPE Research Center, 2007)

EUROCHILD – UNICEF Seminar European Parliament, 8 April, 2008 For comments: 13 Use of childcare (0-3 years) by different groups in Flanders Use of childcare (0-3 years) by different groups in Flanders (Source: Kind en Gezin, Child in Flanders, 2006)

EUROCHILD – UNICEF Seminar European Parliament, 8 April, 2008 For comments: 14 Vocabulary Growth – First 3 Years High SES Middle SES Low SES Vocabulary Age- Months Source: B.Hart & T. Risley. Meaningful Differences in Everyday Experiences of Young American Children, 1995

EUROCHILD – UNICEF Seminar European Parliament, 8 April, Beyond Barcelona Quality and citizenship values as well as labour market concerns (see EUROCHILD paper)

EUROCHILD – UNICEF Seminar European Parliament, 8 April, 2008 For comments: 16 Beyond Barcelona Early childhood services should provide 1. A quality experience for young children  A time for childhood  Respect for the natural learning strategies of young children  Well-being and involvement  Holistic readiness for school 2. Based on democratic values - European citizenship

EUROCHILD – UNICEF Seminar European Parliament, 8 April, 2008 For comments: 17 Sweden – democracy & participation in practice  The Pre-school curriculum (1998) - a national curriculum based on consultation and dialogue (the democratic process) with parents, teachers, municipalities values  The curriculum sets out the foundation values for the pre- school, and the tasks, goals, and guidelines for pre-school activities  The first chapter begins: Democracy forms the foundation of the pre-school. For this reason, all preschool activity should be carried out in accordance with fundamental democratic values. Each and everyone working in the preschool should promote respect for the intrinsic value of each person, as well as respect for our shared environment.

EUROCHILD – UNICEF Seminar European Parliament, 8 April, 2008 For comments: 18 Sweden: democracy and participation contd.  The fundamental values defined are:   Understanding and compassion for others   The freedom of the child (children should have the opportunity of forming their own opinions and making choices in the light of their personal circumstances).  An important part of the curriculum is called The Influence of the Child   All who work in the pre-school should work toward ensuring that the individual child develops the ability and willingness to take responsibility, to exercise influence in the preschool, and work towards ensuring that the opinions and views of each child are respected.

EUROCHILD – UNICEF Seminar European Parliament, 8 April, 2008 For comments: 19 More needs to be done at European level Although the Nordics emerge relatively well from RC8, much more needs to be done at European level:  To raise the quality of services so that they nurture the holistic development and learning of young children  To provide early access for low-income and immigrant children  To improve the qualifications, remuneration, training and work conditions of the workforce  To conceptualise EC services both as a community responsibility (of local authorities, communities, parents…) and as democratic learning places in which young children participate and learn to contribute