Background paper for discussion at the 12th Session of the CEART (Paris, 20–24 April 2015). The increasing importance of early childhood development (ECD) and its ongoing evolution make even more essential the improvement in the one factor that most determines the quality of ECD services: their teachers, facilitators, caregivers, and other personnel who plan, manage and staff these services. Increasing their professionalism and status and making their working conditions more ‘decent’ therefore is an essential element of any comprehensive ECD policy and programme.

 
 

La investigación tiene como punto de partida la visión de los niños y las niñas como sujetos de derecho y la concreción de los derechos enunciados en la Convención sobre los Derechos del Niño (CDN) de la ONU, así como la promoción de un enfoque coordinado, integral y multisectorial de la primera infancia. Ratificando que la educación es un derecho humano fundamental desde el nacimiento, el estudio analiza los sentidos que se le otorgan a la atención y educación en la primera infancia (AEPI) en los marcos políticos y legislativos de América Latina y el Caribe.

[ENGLISH]

 
 

This document is the executive summary of the study on the right to education and care in early childhood: perspectives from Latin America and the Caribbean. The study focused on the analysis of national legislations and public policies in force (particularly general education laws) in 10 countries of the region (Mexico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia) and shares understandings of existing early childhood education policies and legislation, as well as financing and justiciability processes, identifying progress and also challenges involved in the realisation of the human right to education of young children. At the same time, it seeks to understand how the principles and purpose of education enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its associated General Comments, appear in those education public policies and legislations.

 

This book is part of UNESCO’s Education on the Move series created to provide policy-makers, educators and other stakeholders with state-of- the-art analyses of topical issues. The book is divided into three main chapters each including vigorous research papers that critically analyse ECCE-related themes. The first part discusses ‘understanding ECCE as a right and development imperative’. The second part provides an overview of ‘meeting the challenges of inequality in and through ECCE; and the third part is dedicated to a scrutiny of ‘ensuring quality ECCE through contextually relevant provisions. Repositioning ECCE in the post-2015 agenda, Investing against evidence: the global state of early childhood care and education, is therefore a must-read offering a useful, multi-disciplinary, liable account of ECCE for all education stakeholders.

The Latin American Campaign for the Right to Education (CLADE, by its Spanish acronym) is a pluralistic network of civil society organizations with a presence in 18 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, which promotes social mobilization and political advocacy to defend the human right to education. This collection of articles, essays and statements reflect on the vital role of public education in the region and the fault lines exposed by the pandemic, considering both the challenges public education in Latin America faces and possible solutions, alternatives and ways forward.

 

 

L’éducation de la petite enfance peut offrir de nouvelles opportunités aux enfants défavorisés, à condition que les programmes fassent de l’inclusion un principe directeur. Si la communauté internationale s’est d’ores et déjà engagée en faveur de l’éducation inclusive, les efforts consentis par les différents pays pour étendre cet objectif à la petite enfance sont très variables. L’accès universel est le fondement de l’inclusion, et les pays doivent s’attaquer aux obstacles liés au statut socio-économique, à l’origine ethnique, au sexe, à la langue, au handicap et à l’éloignement des apprenants. Une coopération doit se mettre en place entre plusieurs intervenants pour identifier rapidement les besoins particuliers et fournir des services adaptés, ainsi que des programmes scolaires inclusifs qui favorisent le développement socio-émotionnel et la formation de l’identité des enfants. Enfin, les éducateurs doivent pouvoir acquérir les connaissances, la formation et le soutien nécessaires pour mettre en œuvre des pratiques inclusives et travailler avec des familles de tous horizons.
 
 

ENGLISH   ESPAÑOL

Early childhood education has the potential to expand opportunities for disadvantaged children, provided that programmes use inclusion as a guiding principle. While the international community has committed to inclusive education, countries vary in their efforts to extend this goal to early childhood. Universal access is the basis of inclusion, and countries must address barriers related to socio-economic status, ethnicity, gender, language, disability and remoteness. Cooperation among multiple actors to identify special needs early and provide integrated services is needed, as are inclusive curricula that support children’s socioemotional development and identity formation. Finally, educators must be given the knowledge, training, and support to implement inclusive practices and work with families from all backgrounds.

 

ESPAÑOL    FRANÇAIS

La educación de la primera infancia tiene el potencial de ampliar las oportunidades de los niños desfavorecidos, siempre que en los programas la inclusión sea el principio rector. Si bien la comunidad internacional se ha comprometido a impulsar la educación inclusiva, los esfuerzos por extender este objetivo a la primera infancia varían de un país a otro. El acceso universal es la base de la inclusión, y los países deben superar obstáculos relacionados con la situación socioeconómica, el origen étnico, el género, el idioma, la discapacidad y la distancia geográfica. Es necesario que los diversos interlocutores cooperen para identificar tempranamente las necesidades especiales y prestar servicios integrales, y que elaboren currículos inclusivos que fomenten el desarrollo socioemocional de niños y niñas y la construcción de su identidad. Por último, se debe proveer a las docentes y los docentes los conocimientos, la capacitación y el apoyo necesarios para que puedan aplicar prácticas inclusivas y trabajar junto a familias de todos los orígenes sociales. 
 
 
 

 

Key resource

Early childhood, defined as the period from birth to eight years old, is a crucial time for the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional growth of children. Access to quality early childhood care and education (ECCE), therefore, can be vital in laying the foundations for children’s long-term development, well-being, learning, and health. Despite this, universal and equitable access to free, quality, and compulsory pre-primary education is one of the major education challenges. One out of two children does not receive pre-primary education. While access to quality pre-primary education is inadequate globally, the opportunities for pre-primary education are drastically restricted for migrant children. Significant inequalities exist between migrant and local-born children in terms of quality access to pre-primary education.

This brief focuses on some of the important issues related to young migrant children’s access to ECCE and pre-primary education, and the key challenges in the existing legal framework.  It further proposes to strengthen the legal framework and policy development for the inclusion of ECCE in-migrant response strategies.

While South Africa has seen important advances in the provision of early childhood care and education (ECCE), about 3.2 million children still lack access to any programme. Problems of access and quality are most pronounced in the poorest communities. Even before Covid-19 forced many providers to close, these programmes were overcrowded, with poor infrastructure, and an under-paid and under-qualified workforce. ECCE is crucial for a child’s development, meaning that these inequalities are amplified in school and later life. This has knock-on effects for caregivers, particularly women, and their ability to access quality work. This article argues that the right to equality can be mobilised both in relation to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 and international law to address these disparities. By using a framework of substantive equality, we conclude that poverty, gender and race are potential grounds for discrimination both directly and indirectly. We further propose that resource-based justifications for limiting this right are unacceptable when budgets permit unequal resource distribution and contravene a government’s positive duty to fulfil the right to equality.

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