This paper organizes and synthesizes the literature on early childhood education and childcare. In it, we go beyond meta-analysis and reanalyze primary data sources in a common framework. We consider the evidence from means-tested demonstration programs, large-scale means-tested programs and universal programs without means testing. We discuss which programs are effective and whether, and for which populations, these programs should be subsidized by governments. The evidence from high-quality demonstration programs targeted toward disadvantaged children shows beneficial effects. Returns exceed costs, even accounting for the deadweight loss of collecting taxes. When proper policy counterfactuals are constructed, Head Start has beneficial effects on disadvantaged children compared to home alternatives. Universal programs benefit disadvantaged children.
The purpose of this White Paper is to set out Government policy on all issues relating to early childhood education. An essential starting point is to define what we mean by early childhood education. The Department of Education and Science�s mission is to support the development of a high quality education system which will enable individuals to develop to their full potential as persons and to participate fully as citizens in Ireland�s social and economic development. For many years, it was considered that education began when children went to school and ended when students left the formal education system at the end of first, second or third level. There is growing recognition of the importance of lifelong learning and the idea that children learn from the earliest moment and continue to learn throughout their lives. Education is concerned with all the phases of life, including the very early childhood phase.
This entry has been realised in the framework of the H2020-MSCA-RISE-2018 project "LoGov - Local Government and the Changing Urban-Rural Interplay". LoGov aims to provide solutions for local governments that address the fundamental challenges resulting from urbanisation. To address this complex issue, 18 partners from 17 countries and six continents share their expertise and knowledge in the realms of public law, political science, and public administration. LoGov identifies, evaluates, compares, and shares innovative practices that cope with the impact of changing urban-rural relations in five major local government areas: (1) local responsibilities and public services, (2) local financial arrangements, (3) structure of local government, (4) intergovernmental relations of local governments, and (5) people's participation in local decision-making. The present entry addresses local responsibilities and public services in Albania. The entry forms part of the LoGov Report on Albania. To access the full version of the report on Albania, other practices regarding responsibilities and public services and to receive more information about the project, please visit: https://www.logov-rise.eu/. This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 823961.
This paper used a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to analyze the representation of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in the 2006 federal election in Canada. Using Fairclough's approach to CDA, the study analyzed written documents including newspaper articles from The Globe and Mail and The National Post, the policy platforms of the Liberal and conservative parties, and political speeches from party leaders. The "choice" discourse was found to be dominant in the majority of texts examined. A dominant discourse is one that is created and sustained by those with power thus contributing to hegemony in society. Three textual and discourse processes were found to legitimize the "choice" discourse and contribute to its dominance: rationalization, nominalization and conversationalization. It is suggested that the language used in public documents throughout this election and the subsequent dominance of the "choice" discourse may have had a significant impact on citizens' understanding and appreciation of the complexities of the ECEC issue. ; Richardson, B., & University of Toronto. Childcare Resource and Research Unit. (2011). A matter of choice: A critical discourse analysis of ECEC policy in canada's 2006 federal election Childcare Resource and Research Unit.
"In Constructing Policy Change, Linda A. White examines the expansion of early childhood education and care (ECEC) policies and programs in liberal welfare states, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the USA. In the first part of the book, the author investigates the sources of policy ideas that triggered ECEC changes in various national contexts. This is followed by a close analysis of cross-national variation in the implementation of ECEC policy in Canada and the USA. White argues that the primary mechanisms for policy change are grounded in policy investment logics as well as cultural logics: that is, shifts in public sentiments and government beliefs about the value of ECEC policies and programs are rooted in both evidence-based arguments and in principled beliefs about the policy. A rich, nuanced examination of the reasons motivating ECEC policy expansion and adoption in different countries, Constructing Policy Change is a corrective to the comparative welfare state literature that focuses on political interest alone."--
In: Congressional digest: an independent publication featuring controversies in Congress, pro & con. ; not an official organ, nor controlled by any party, interest, class or sect, Band 93, Heft 3
Abstract Almost all 3- to 6-year-olds attend preschool programmes in Hong Kong; however, early childhood education (ECE) had been relatively neglected by the Hong Kong government until 2000 when the reform of school education system was initiated. Since then, notions of 'child-centredness' and holistic development have been promulgated as the core values of ECE. Against this backdrop, this paper critically examines the Hong Kong ECE context, its historical development, the major obstacles to reform from both parents' and providers' perspectives, and the recent key policy developments in ECE. It provides a useful reference for international audiences, particularly those in Confucian-heritage cultures, in designing and implementing educational reform and change in ECE.
Childrens good characters should be formed since their early time growing up because it is an individuals set of psychological characteristics that influence persons ability and inclination for function morally, as Marvin Berkowitz said (William Damond, 2002). Besides, Dimermen (2009:9), educational prationers identified 10 characters which have to be developed in children such as: 1) respect, 2) responsibility, 3) honesty, 4) empathy, 5) fairness, 6) initiative, 7) courage, 8) perseverance, 9) optimism, 10) integrity. These characters can be transferred by school as an agent of education, called character education. Megawangi (2004: 95) said that character education is a way to educate children in order to decide wise decision and practice it in regular life, so they can give positive contribution for environment. Moreover, character education is an education to develop good character from children, make them able to judge which one right or wrong, care deeply about the right and then doing what they believe to be right. Shortly, character education can be internalized habituation about what is right, so that student become understand (cognitive) about what is right and what is wrong, and can feel (affective) the values of good thing and always trying to do that (psychomotor). Character education has to consist moral knowledge, moral feeling, and moral action. It is related to the habit, so it has to be practiced all the time. Moreover, build the good character needs communities character including family, school, religious institution, information media, government, and all supported component close to the young generation. The roles of school in this case are stated in learning process, habituation, extracurricular, and socialize. To develop character from children, school should not create a new curriculum but must integrate all national system which has been strong basic in formal education world. That is the implication of the character education. Last but not least, the best way in forming good character for children is through the model. Teacher here is the main component who plays important role in giving kinds of good examples, even by interaction with the student, routine activities, or spontaneous and incidental activities in the school. From those points above we hope that our young generation has much capability not only in cognitive side, but also in their attitude, manner, and their personality. KEYWORDS: character, education, early childhood