Upload
leliem
View
216
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Early Childhood Development:
What does it have to do with Sustainability and Harmony?
Sheldon Shaeffer
Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Early
Childhood Development
Manila, The Philippines
December 3, 2014
Provocations
• Why do so few governments recognise the
global definition of early childhood as
covering the ages 0-8 – and therefore
ignore the important transition to and early
success in primary school?
• For example, why do Grade 1 classes (part
of ECD) usually have the least experienced,
least trained teachers and the highest pupil-
teacher ratios? (And why is Grade 6 the
opposite?)
• Why are there so few early primary grade
teachers/specialists at this conference?
Provocations
• Since the impact of good early childhood
development programmes on the health,
education, and economic futures of
children is so clear, why do governments
(and development agencies) spend so little
money on them?
• Why do governments especially often
ignore the educational and development
needs of children aged 0-3 – and
therefore do so little to identify and meet
the special needs of these children?
I. Why Invest in Early Childhood
Development (ECD)? (preaching to the
converted!)
II. Global and Regional Status of ECD
III. Global 2015 ECD/ECCD/Pre-primary
Education Goals
IV. Early Childhood Development,
Sustainability, and Harmony
V. Conclusions – and the Delors Report
Outline
Why Invest in ECD?
• Based on evidence from neuroscience,
genetics, and population studies, early
childhood is the most important
developmental phase in the human lifespan.
• Preventive early interventions yield higher
returns compared to later remedial services.
• The growing number of orphaned and extremely
vulnerable children leads to intergenerational
consequences of higher rates of fertility, infant
mortality, and unemployment -- and lower levels
of education, health and nutrition.
The Brain Development Argument
• The most rapid period of brain
development (80%) occurs in the first
few years of life; the influence of a child’s
early environment on brain development is
long lasting.
• A nurturing and stimulating environment
and the quality of early experience
enhance the number of brain cells, the
number of connections among them, and
the way these connections are "wired” – and
can mitigate some developmental delays
and disabilities.
The Economic/Poverty Reduction Argument
• Providing quality care and education
opportunities for young children and their
families, especially the most at risk, is the
most powerful strategy in breaking the
intergenerational cycle of poverty.
• Returns on investment in ECD accumulate
and help offset disadvantage and inequality.
• Public investment in ECD provides the
greatest returns: 8:1 for ECD programmes
compared to 3:1 for primary and secondary
education and 1:1 for adult training.
The Health Argument
Investments in ECD:
• lower health costs for young children and
their mothers
• reduce the number of high-risk parents
both in this generation and in the next
• reduce the rate/severity of developmental
delays and disabilities
• reduce costs of nutritional rehabilitation
services for children 0-3 because of fewer
low birth-weight and pre-term infants
The Education Argument
• Early learning begets later learning and
success - as early failure breeds later failure.
• Usually excluded learners – e.g., girls, ethnic
minorities, children with special needs -- who
enroll in ECD programmes are more likely to
enter school at the appropriate age than
those who do not.
• Good quality ECD results in cost-savings
and increased efficiency in primary education:
higher enrolment and attendance
lower repetition and drop-out rates
less remedial and special education
higher educational attainment
ECD Increases the Sustainability
and Equity of Development
• Thus, interventions in ECD have
sustainable, long-term effects on the
development of human capital, social
cohesion (harmony!), and economic success.
• The most disadvantaged children – due to
disability, poverty, ethnicity, gender, or
remoteness – experience the most dramatic
gains from ECD programmes – but are least
likely to be enrolled.
Global and Regional Trends:Gross Enrolment Ratios in pre-primary
education
13
Progress Made
• Clearer understanding about the definition and
need for more holistic, integrated ECD
• A steady increase in national ECD policies or
policy frameworks, many with stronger inter-
sectoral coordination efforts and mechanisms
• Increasing access to ECD services for
vulnerable/disadvantaged children
• The development of comprehensive
standards, regulations, guidelines, and
training for ECD programmes
• More national/sub-regional ECD curriculum
frameworks and early learning standards
• A greater concern for the “quality imperative”15
Challenges Remaining (1)
16
• Failure to understand the definition of ECD as
covering children 0-8
• Inadequate training, certification, incentives,
and status for ECD practitioners
• Inadequate attention to equity – access for
marginalised and disadvantaged groups
• Limited public funding for ECD, costs to
families, and poor financial planning for
effective programmes
• Few standardised indicators, measures, and
assessment tools, especially for social and
emotional, moral and spiritual development;
creativity and problem-solving -- and harmony
and sustainability
Challenges Remaining (2)• Poor governance and the lack of
participation leading to fragmented programme
planning, implementation, and coordination
• Inadequate regulation and supervision of
expanding private ECD services
• The lack of relevant and accurate data
especially in regard to vulnerable groups
• The lack of systemic linkages between
ECD/pre-primary education and the primary
school curriculum and teaching methods
• The lack of mother tongue for initial literacy
• Inadequate monitoring and evaluation of
ECD policies and programmes 17
The Neglected Power of ECD
The arguments above – from the perspective
of neuroscience, health, economics/poverty
reduction, and education – neglect the
power of ECD to promote less obvious
and less measurable outcomes which are
equally (if not more) important in influencing
future individual and national development.
These include what are often called
“transversal” or 21st century skills, values,
attitudes, and behaviours…essential for a
sustainable and harmonious future.
21
“Transversal” 21st Century Skills/Values
• moral education – e.g., character education, values education, democracy education
• international and intercultural education –
global citizenship
• critical thinking, teamwork, problem-solving
• creativity, innovativeness, entrepreneurship
• media, ICT, and financial literacy
• sustainability – environmental, economic,
and social-cultural
• harmony – social cohesion, peacebuilding,
and the celebration of diversity and difference
Developing these skills and values must start
with ECD. 2
2
1) ECD and Sustainability
ECD is essential to creating a sustainable
future – to ensuring sustainable
development -- development that can:
• “meet the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs”
Brundtland Report of the World Commission on
Environment and Development, 1987
23
24
Sustainable Development
Three Pillars of Sustainable Development
• Environment – awareness of the richness of our natural resources and of the fragility of the physical environment
• Economy – a sensitivity to the limits and potential of economic growth and to its impact on society and on the environment
• Society – an understanding of social institutions and their role in change and development
…with Culture – ways of behaving, believing, and acting, unique to every context -- as an underlying and critical dimension
25
What is Education for
Sustainable Development?
ESD is about learning rather than teaching.
It requires:
•reforming the structure and nature of basic
education – starting from ECD
•reorienting existing education programmes –
including ECD
•developing public awareness about what
sustainability means -- through ECD
•building capacity within education systems and
across all ESD partners – including those
focused on ECD
26
• Environment – e.g., preservation of the
environment, conservation of natural
resources and biodiversity, “green”
consumerism, climate change, disaster
prevention and response
• Economic – the existence of (and the need
to reduce) disparities and inequalities
• Socio-cultural – human/child rights, gender
equality, the importance of cultural and
linguistic diversity
And this takes us to “harmony”…
ESD in ECD Programmes
2) ECD and Harmony
ECD is equally essential to creating a
harmonious future – but what is “harmony”?
Definitions:
•agreement in action, feeling, opinion;
conformity, consistency, consonance
Dutiful children are their parent's pride; a
family in harmony can accomplish anything.Chinese Proverb
•(as in music) the need and respect for
diversity and difference, peace, amity, and
the lack of conflict
In other words, unity and social cohesion
derived from (not repressing) diversity… 27
“Harmony” in ECD Programmes
Ensuring that even young children:
•are sensitised to peacebuilding and conflict
resolution, human rights, and gender equality
•understand, respect, and even celebrate
differences (not merely tolerate) – in terms of
sex, (dis)abilities, culture, language, economic
status, religion, sexual orientation, etc.
•learn to appreciate, rather than fear,
differences and to recognize bias and
stereotypes when they see them
28
30
ECD programmes can – and must – promote
sustainability and harmony because they are,
by definition:
• interdisciplinary and holistic
• concerned with skills, values, and
behaviours – not only “knowledge”
• focused on equity, the appreciation of
difference, collaboration and interaction,
and problem solving
• locally, culturally, and linguistically relevant
So Why ECD, Sustainability
and Harmony?
31
The Delors Report:
The Four Pillars of Learning
In order to help modern society cope with the
challenges in the world around it, the Delors
report, Learning: The Treasure Within,
recommended four pillars of learning:
•Learning to know – acquiring the
instruments of understanding, or learning
how to learn
•Learning to do – applying learned
knowledge in daily life, to be able to act
creatively and responsibly in one’s
environment
32
• Learning to be -- acquiring universally
shared values, developing self-
knowledge, becoming immersed in one’s
own culture and its wisdom
• Learning to live together (HARMONY) --
promoting social cohesion and peaceful
coexistence; being able to celebrate
diversity in people and in their histories,
traditions, beliefs, values, and cultures
The Delors Report:
The Four Pillars of Learning
33
The Fifth Pillar?
But building a sustainable future requires a
“fifth”, more proactive pillar – learning to
transform society, change the world, and
live SUSTAINABLY
• to work toward a rights-based, gender-
neutral, non-discriminatory society
• to act to achieve social solidarity and
international understanding
• above all, to live sustainably
Conclusion
• The promotion of sustainability and
harmony, beginning with young children,
is an imperative for the future of the
globe.
• The ARNEC community – and beyond –
must ensure that the skills, values,
attitudes, and behaviours which promote
sustainability and harmony are:
reflected in all early childhood
development programmes
successfully transmitted to all young
children. 34