AJE Feature | Explaining the Worldwide Expansion of Early Childhood Care and Education by Christine Min Wotipka

Image by Harish Sharma from Pixabay

Full-length article “The Worldwide Expansion of Early Childhood Care and Education, 1985–2010” by Wotipka, Rabling, Sugawara, and Tongliemnak published by the American Journal of Education available here.

It is hard to imagine a time when the value of early childhood care and education would be questioned. But in 1979, a World Bank working paper argued that “preschool interventions could not be justified.” Policymakers at the time considered early childhood care and education to be too expensive and its benefits were thought to be unknown. Today, such programs are widely considered to be vital for enhancing brain development and for preparing children for school. High-quality programs also provide safe spaces for young children, thereby allowing parents, especially mothers, to work. Around the world, enrollments in early childhood care and education have been expanding, although unevenly. As a result, the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals call for all children to have access to quality early childhood care and education by 2030.

In our paper, “The Worldwide Expansion of Early Childhood Care and Education, 1985–2010,” my colleagues and I aim to shed light on trends in early childhood care and education and to understand differences across a set of 117 countries. To do so, we use data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on the participation of children at least 3 years of age in various kinds of formal, organized care and education services provided by private and public agencies.

Our findings show steady growth in early childhood care and education overtime for the world as a whole. In 1985, around 40 percent of preschool-age children attended one of these programs. By 2010, the figure exceeded 60 percent. While this figure seems impressive, it was quite a bit lower than the near universal enrollment of children in primary school in that year.

We also discover stark differences across groups of countries based on their economic and socio-political conditions. Countries considered by the International Monetary Fund to have advanced economies saw participation in early childhood care and education rise from around 70 percent to close to 97 percent. Those countries considered to have “emerging and developing economies” started with fewer than 1 in 4 children in such programs in 1985 but increased to over 54 percent by 2010. Finally, in former communist states of Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, over half of children participated in early childhood care and education in 1985 but that figure dropped dramatically with the collapse of these regimes in the early 1990s. By 2010, however, the average for this region had rebounded to over 60 percent.

Second, using the same data and quantitative methods, our paper explores characteristics of countries that could explain these trends over time. The results reported above signal to us that levels of national economic development matter but what else explains the growth in early childhood care and education over time? What about the rise of women’s status over this period? For example, between 1985 and 2010, women’s participation in higher education and the paid labor market increased dramatically as did the availability of contraceptives. We include these variables in our analysis.

We also consider the degree to which countries are connected to a global community in which early childhood care and education are valued and encouraged. The more countries are linked to this “world society,” say by having citizens who are members of international non-governmental organizations and by attending international conferences and ratifying global human rights treaties, could countries be more willing to promote early childhood care and education no matter the costs and challenges? These variables are also added to our analysis.

We find that, like the trend data, country wealth matters – richer countries have higher participation in early childhood care and education, but this matters less in more recent times. Also important is the availability of contraceptives – when fertility can be controlled, families and countries make greater and earlier investments in these fewer children. Our findings also suggest that growth in early childhood care and education may be related to having greater numbers of citizens who participate in civil society through international non-governmental organizations. Among these organizations are a growing number that focus on children’s issues.

Countries increasingly work together to expand and improve their educational systems “from womb to tomb.” In their efforts, they are joined by a range of governmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as nonprofits, schools, and youth groups, that now take for granted the participation of young children in formal care and education. While our work show dramatic rates of change over time, future research is needed to examine the quality of that care and education.

Christine Min Wotipka is Associate Professor (Teaching) of Education and (by courtesy) Sociology at Stanford University.

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