2030AGENDAFORSUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT

EarlyChildhoodDevelopmentEducationandCare:TheFutureis

WhatWeBuildTodayMathiasUrban(DesmondChairofEarlyChildhoodEducation,Early

ChildhoodResearchCentre,DublinCityUniversity)AlejandraCardini(CIPPEC:CentrodeImplementacióndePolíticas

PúblicasparalaEquidadyelCrecimiento)JenniferGuevara(CIPPEC:CentrodeImplementacióndePolíticas

PúblicasparalaEquidadyelCrecimiento)LynetteOkengo(AfricanEarlyChildhoodNetwork)

RitaFlórezRomero(ProfesoraTitular,UniversidadNacionaldeColombia)

SubmittedonMarch15,2019RevisedonMarch31,2019

AbstractEarly Childhood Development, Education and Care (ECD/ECEC) has become apriorityforgovernmentsandinternationalbodies.ECD/ECECisexplicitlyincludedin the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG4, 4.2), underlining the globalconsensus. In2018,G20acknowledged thekey roleofECDand, in theirLeaders’Declaration,announcedaG20ECDinitiative.Accesstohighqualityearlychildhooddevelopment, education and care programmes is unequal between and withincountries,whichremainsamajorcauseforconcern.However,inthecontextoflocalandglobalsustainabilityanewfocusonthepurposeofECD/ECECshouldbecomeacomplementingpriorityoftheG20process.

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Challenge

EarlyChildhoodDevelopment,EducationandCare(ECD/ECEC)hasbecomeapolicy priority for governments and international bodies. There is a broadconsensus between policy makers, ECD/ECEC professionals, scholars, andadvocates on the importance of ECD/ECEC as effective means to ensureindividualandcollectivewell-beingandachievement,andtoaddressingwidersocietalissuesincludingsocialcohesion,equalityandinclusion,andpersistentinter-generational cyclesofpoverty.HavingECD/ECECexplicitly included intheSustainableDevelopmentGoals (SDG4, target4.2)1underlines theglobalconsensus.Moreover,theG20acknowledgesthekeyroleofECDandintheir2018Leaders’DeclarationannounceaG20ECDinitiative2.

At global and local levels, an emerging ‘systemic turn’ (Urban) has broughtabout broad consensus that policy frameworks should address earlychildhoodfromaholisticperspective.Examplesincludetheintegratedpolicyframework ‘De Cero a Siempre’ in Colombia and the Irish ‘whole-of-governmentstrategy forbabies,youngchildrenandtheir families’.Adoptingwhole-systems approaches to developing ECD/ECEC policy and practice(‘CompetentSystems’) iskey toprovidingqualityECD/ECEC forall children(Okengo, 2011; Urban, Vandenbroeck, Van Laere, Lazzari, & Peeters, 2011,2012)

The ECD/ECEC policy brief adopted by T20 in 2018, It TakesMore Than aVillage.EffectiveEarlyChildhoodDevelopment,EducationandCareServicesRequire Competent Systems (Urban, Cardini, & Flórez Romero, 2018),outlines concrete policy recommendations that should be taken by G20governmentscollectivelyandindividually.

However,therehasbeenlittleattentiontoquestionsofpurposeandcontentofECD/ECECinthecontextofsustainability. ‘Yesterday’ssolutions’continue

1ECD/ECECisincludedinGoal4:“Ensureinclusiveandequitablequalityeducationandpromotelifelonglearningopportunitiesforall”;specificallymentionedintarget4.2:“By2030,ensurethatallgirlsandboyshaveaccesstoqualityearlychildhooddevelopment,careandpre-primaryeducationsothattheyarereadyforprimaryeducation.”2TheT20CommuniquehandedtoformerG20leadersincludesECD/ECECasapriorityinitsproposal4,basedonthepromotionofequalopportunitiesforqualityeducation.

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tobesupportedbypolicymakersanddonorsalike:

• Focus ondeficiencies rather than capabilities of children, families andcommunities

• Focuson(externally)predeterminedmodelsandoutcomes,ratherthanculturallyandlocallyappropriateapproaches

• Focus on decontextualized and ‘borrowed’ education practices andapproaches (e.g. Reggio, Montessori, HighScope, Project Zero etc.)rather than culturally appropriate and locally developed sustainablesolutions

• Focus on narrowly defined ‘early learning’ curricula (literacy /numeracy), extending from countries in the global north to the globalsouth; backed up and promoted by the democratically unaccountable‘soft power’ of international organisations including OECD, andincreasinglyextendedtoandimposedoncountriesintheglobalsouth,e.g.Africa

• Focus on narrow and unsustainable notions of ‘development’ – atindividual, collective, country and global levels – that originate insupremacistandcolonialistthinking

• Naïveextrapolationof today’ssocio-economiccontexts into the future,including the taken for granted assumption that, for instance, ‘digital’,andAI, areboth themain challenges and the solution todevelopmentandeducation.

Proposal

ECD/ECECforSustainableDevelopment

Backgroundandcontext

Undeniably, every child has the right to access to, and meaningfullyparticipate in,highqualityearlychildhooddevelopment,educationandcare

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programmes.Pre-primaryeducationis, infact,consideredanimportantpartof a holistic and robust educational system (United Nations, 2017, p. 24).Participation in ‘pre-primary or primary education in the year prior to theofficialentranceagetoprimaryschool’(ibid)hasincreasedtoaround9outof10children inEurope,LatinAmerica, theCaribbeanandNorthAmerica; therateintheleastdevelopedcountriesremainsmuchlower(4outof10).

However,effectiveearlychildhoodECD/ECECdoesnotstartoneyearbeforecompulsoryschoolage.Childrenlearnandmakesignificantexperiencesfrombirth, long before they enter schooling. Early learning is embedded inchildren’sholisticdevelopmentthatcomprisesphysical,emotional,cognitive,social,culturalandspiritualaspectsfrombirth.

In fact, ECD/ECEC practices, despite being of global concern, are inevitablylocal (Urban, 2014). Caring for, teaching and upbringing young childrencomprisesphysical,emotional,cognitive,social,culturalandspiritualaspectsfrombirth(Cardini,DíazLangou,Guevara,&DeAchával,2017).ThismeansECD/ECECneedstobeshapedthroughdemocraticdebateofallstakeholderswithincountries,andatalllevelsofgovernment(Urban,2008,2009).

Countriesinboththeglobalnorthandsouthareincreasinglyadoptingpolicyframeworks that address early childhood from a holistic perspective.Examples include the integrated policy framework ‘De Cero a Siempre’ inColombia (Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar, 2015; Republic ofColombia, 2013) and the Irish ‘whole-of-government strategy for babies,youngchildrenandtheirfamilies’(DepartmentforChildrenandYouthAffairs,2018). Adoptingwhole-systems approaches to developing ECD/ECEC policyandpractice(‘CompetentSystems’)iskeytoprovidingqualityECD/ECECforall children (Okengo, 2011; Urban, Vandenbroeck, Van Laere, Lazzari, &Peeters,2011,2012).

Based on the policy brief, It Takes More Than a Village. Effective EarlyChildhood Development, Education and Care Services Require CompetentSystems (Urban, Cardini, & Flórez Romero, 2018), policy recommendationsadoptedbytheT20summit2018spelloutconcreteactionstobeconsideredbyG20governmentsatthreeinterconnectedlevels:

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o At national level, make systemic approaches sustainable byprovidingleadership,resourcesandsupport

o At G20 (international) level, initiate and support cross-countrylearning with and from forward-looking systemic ECD/ECECinitiativesincountriesintheglobalsouthandnorth

o Atthelevelofmonitoring,evaluation,andresearch,adoptwhole-systemsapproaches, andall-stakeholderparticipation (includingparticipationofchildren,familiesandcommunities)

The majority of the initiatives have focused on increasing access to, andparticipation in, ECD/ECEC programmes (as spelled out in SDG4). In mostregions there have been increases in access to ECEC/ECD programmes(UNESCO,2014)Worldwide, half of all three to six-year-oldshave access toECD/ECECprogrammes(WorldBank,2017).

However,accesstohighqualityearlychildhooddevelopment,educationandcare programmes remains unequal. In the global South, just one in fivechildrenhaveaccesstoECD/ECEC(WorldBank,2017).Furthermore,youngerchildren from low-income families and children in rural communities havesignificantlylessaccesstoECD/ECECprogrammescomparedtotheirpeersinmoreaffluentandurbanareas(Cardini,Díaz,GuevarayDeAchával,2018).

Increasedaccessandenrolmentfiguresalonearenotasufficientmeasureformeaningful participation in high quality programmes that are effective inmaking a positive difference in children’s lives. Even when more childrenaccess ECD/ECEC services, they enter and participate in very diverse andunequalprogrammes.Qualityofservices,asexperiencedbychildren,familiesandcommunities,varieswidelyandoftencontinuestobeinadequate.

Despite some encouraging developments (e.g. the emerging ‘systemic turn’(Urban,Cardini et al, 2018) inmost countries, fragmentation at all levels ofthe ECD/ECEC system remains a major challenge. For historical reasons,policiesforthe‘care’and‘education’ofyoungchildrenhaveoftendevelopedseparately.Thisremainsthedefactogovernancesituation inmostcountries(Bennett, 2008).Hence, ECEC services are structured indifferentways, andtheyembodydiverseunderstandingsofchildren,aims,andapproaches(Kaga,

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Bennett,&Moss,2010).Thiseffectivelypreventsintegratedserviceprovision,inter-professional cooperation, integrated policy generation, and systemicevaluationofprocessesandoutcomes.

However,ECEC/ECDservicesare,bynature,multi-sectorialandhybrid.Giventhesectorialtraditionofsocialpolicies,countriesfacedifficultiesinachievingcoordinated and coherent approaches to ECEC (Cunill-Grau, Repetto, &Bronzo,2015).

There has been little attention to questions of purpose and content ofECD/ECECinthecontextofsustainability. ‘Yesterday’ssolutions’continuetobesupportedbypolicymakersanddonorsalike:

• Focus ondeficiencies rather than capabilities of children, families andcommunities

• Focuson(externally)predeterminedmodelsandoutcomes,ratherthanculturallyandlocallyappropriateapproaches

• Focus on decontextualized and ‘borrowed’ education practices andapproaches (e.g. Reggio, Montessori, HighScope, Project Zero etc.)rather than culturally appropriate and locally developed sustainablesolutions

• Focus on narrowly defined ‘early learning’ curricula (literacy /numeracy), extending from countries in the global north to the globalsouth; backed up and promoted by the democratically unaccountable‘soft power’ of international organisations including OECD, andincreasinglyextendedtoandimposedoncountriesintheglobalsouth,e.g.Africa

• Focus on narrow and unsustainable notions of ‘development’ – atindividual, collective, country and global levels – that originate insupremacistandcolonialistthinking

• Naïveextrapolationof today’ssocio-economiccontexts into the future,including the taken for granted assumption that, for instance, ‘digital’,andAI, areboth themain challenges and the solution todevelopment

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andeducation.

Re-conceptualize ECD/ECEC in the context of existential global crises /developaroadmaptointegratedearlychildhooddevelopment,educationandcareforsustainabledevelopment

Thepolicymeasuresproposed in this brief address these shortcomings andbuild on the emerging broad international consensus on the importance ofproviding access to, and meaningful participation in, high quality earlychildhooddevelopment,educationandcareprogrammesandservices forallchildrenfrombirth.

Thisconsensusextends toall countries, in theglobal southaswellas in theglobalnorth. Itreflects the fact thatcritical issues facingyoungchildrenandtheir familiesareno longereasily situated innaivelydefined ‘developed’vs.‘developing’ country contexts. For instance, experiences of forceddisplacement, malnutrition, marginalisation and poverty are, unfortunately,sharedbyanincreasingnumberofchildreninthepoorestaswellasthemostaffluentcountries,withwell-documentednegativeeffectsontheirimmediateand future life chances and individual and collective developmental andeducationalachievement.

This‘blurringofboundariesbetweenthecentreandtheperiphery’(Braidotti,2011)istakingplacedespitethefactthatmarkeddifferencescontinuetoexistbetween countries, and within countries, in terms of children’s access toECD/ECEC. While country-level figures on access to ECD/ECEC show starkdifferences between, for instance, countries in Europe and Latin America(high) and sub-Saharan Africa (low), they tend to mask disparities withincountries.

Childrenfromvulnerablecommunities,childrengrowingupinruralcontexts,childrensuffering from forced(internal)displacement, childrenwithspecialeducational needs often have significantly less access to appropriateECD/ECECprogrammescomparedtochildrenfrommoreprivileged,affluent,

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ordominantcommunities.

AparticulartargetgroupinanumberofAfricancountriesarechildrenwhosecommunitiesareaffectedbyHIV/AIDS,growingupwithoutparentsorinthecareofgrandparentsorcommunitymembers.

Taking this context into account G20 governments can and should takeconcrete action in linewith the 2018 Leaders Declaration to initiate, orientand resource a major early childhood development, education and careinitiative.

Theapproachtotheinitiativeshouldbethree-pronged:

1. Continued and increased commitment to increasing access to, andmeaningfulparticipationinECD/ECECprogrammesandservicesofhighquality, in order to address unequal access within and betweencountriesandregions

2. Commitment to ‘whole-systems’ approaches to developing, improving,resourcing and governing early childhood programmes in order toachievesustainabilityofprogrammesandservices

3. Reconceptualise early childhood development, education and careacross G20 countries as societal, democratic realisation of earlychildhood as a common good and collective responsibility, andcontribution to achieving sustainability on a global scale, i.e. in thecontextofthe2030SustainableDevelopmentGoals

Strengthening the emerging international consensus on the need to takewhole-systems approaches to policy and practice (Competent Systems) isarguably the most effective strategy to overcome persistent, wasteful andineffective fragmentation of services, and of persistent silo-mentality at thelevelsofadministrationandgovernance.

Reclaiming early childhood as a public or common good entails recognisingthe key responsibility governments have in relation to effective andsustainable ECD/ECEC provision. This is notwithstanding the indispensible

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role of a multitude of actors, including civil society actors and localcommunitiesinserviceandprogrammedevelopmentanddelivery.However,reclaiming government responsibility also requires strategies and concreteactiontoreducetheinfluenceoflarge-scale,for-profitprovision,privatisation,and corporatisation of programme and service provision. Such a renewedpublicresponsibilityalsoaddressesdemocraticallyunaccountableexertionof‘softpower’(Morrisetal)byactorsasvariedasinternationalphilanthropyortheOrganisationforEconomicCo-operationandDevelopment(OECD).

AconcretesteptobeinitiatedbyG20governmentsshouldbethephasingoutof all public funding for services and programmes that aim at returning aprofitoveranagreedtimeframeoffiveyears.

Reclaiming public responsibility for ECD/ECEC in the context of local andglobalsustainabilityrequiresre-conceptualisationnotonlyofstructuresandgovernance of ECD/ECEC, but of the purpose, aims, or more concretelycontentofearlychildhoodprogrammes.Realisingtheexistentialcrisisfacinghumanity on a finite planet, the task is to initiate public, democratic debateleading to programme review in the light of critical questions on content,valuesandethics,tocomplementthenecessarycontinuedfocusonaccessandparticipation.

In the context of a global sustainability framework, realising SDG 4(education)isanimportantorientation.Itwillbecrucial,however,toalignallareas of education, including ECD/ECEC, with the entire range of 17 SDGs:whatshouldwebeeducatingfor?

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