UNICEF IRC publication assesses early childhood services in OECD countries

11/12/08

In the past decade, two developments have occurred that have the potential to greatly benefit and greatly harm children.

According to UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre’s Report Card 8, ‘The Child Care Transition’, today, a majority of the rising generation in economically advanced societies is spending a significant part of childhood in out-of-home childcare. In the countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, almost 80 per cent of three- to six-year-olds are in some form of early childhood education and care. For under-threes, the proportion is 25 per cent, rising to more than 50 per cent in individual countries. In the last decade many countries have also begun to see sharp increases in the numbers of the children under the age of one year being cared for outside the home.

At the same time, progress in the scientific understanding of early brain development is confirming that the quality of care and interaction in the earliest months and years of a child’s life are critical for almost all aspects of a child’s development. The early years provide a key window of opportunity to make a difference in the lives of children and to break the intergenerational cycle of poverty.

But poor quality child care may result in weak foundations and shaky scaffolding for future learning, as well as psychological and emotional development. Some OECD countries, says the report, have engaged closely with the childcare issue, pursuing policies designed to realize the potential benefits. In others, out-of-home child care is proceeding in an ad hoc way with less assurance of quality.

Drawing on academic and governmental expertise, Report Card 8 proposes ten benchmarks by which progress in early childhood education and care might be monitored and compared across the countries of the OECD. These benchmarks can pave the way for the establishment of minimum standards for early childhood services in OECD countries and beyond.

Download the report
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