European policy cooperation in the field of early childhood education and care (ECEC)

1. Date: in 12 pts
European policy
cooperation in the field of
early childhood education
and care (ECEC)
DG Education and Culture
EECERA,Talinn, August 2013
Education
and Training

2. Date: in 12 ptsEducation
and Training
What will I
talk about ?
• European policy context–holistic approach to
children
• Issues at European-level for policy cooperation
- Communication and Council Conclusions on
ECEC
• European policy tools in ECEC
• Cross-sectoral synergies

3. Date: in 12 ptsEducation
and Training
Policy
framework:
smart,
sustainable
and inclusive
growth
Headline targets in the EU 2020 strategy
The share of early school leavers should be under
10%
20 million less people should be at risk of poverty
At least 40% of the younger generation should
have a tertiary degree

4. Date: in 12 ptsEducation
and Training
EU co-
operation in
education &
training
• Programmes:
Lifelong Learning
Programme, Erasmus for
All, Erasmus Mundus,
Tempus…
• Political co-operation:
Europe 2020 strategy,
Education and Training
2020 Strategy,
European Semester
• Open method of
coordination
• Common objectives
• EU reference tools supporting
national reforms
• Monitoring of progress (indicators
and benchmarks, biennial joint
reports)
• Peer-learning, peer-review

5. Date: in 12 ptsEducation
and Training
Communication
and Council Conclusions
on ECEC
• Improving accessibility and
quality
• Holistic approach to children –
from birth to compulsory
school age

6. Date: in 12 ptsEducation
and Training
PARENTAL
SUPPORT
POLICY MAKERS MAY HAVE A DIRECT INFLUENCE ON
HIGH QUALITY EDUCATION AND CARE
Intensive verbal interactions
Cognitive stimulation
Good climate
Socialisation
STAFF TRAINING
Level
Duration
Skills required
PROVISION
Capacity/volume
Age of access
Staff ratio
Fees
Involvement
In ECEC
Reducing
Cost
GREATEST BENEFITS TO CHILDREN AT RISK
Source: Eurydice

7. Date: in 12 ptsEducation
and Training
Accessibility:
Barcelona target
Formal child care
by age category (2011)
Children cared for as a percentage of all
children in the same age category
Sources: Eurostat — EU-SILC 2010 Notes: ‘Close to an objective’ refers to countries that had around 25 % of
coverage for children under 3 (Finland) or around 80 % coverage of
children aged 3 to the mandatory school age (Austria, Ireland).

8. Date: in 12 ptsEducation
and Training
Accessibility: Participation in ECEC–
but quantity without
quality is of little merit
France 100
Netherlands 99.7
Spain 99.3
Belgium 98.9
Denmark 98.8
Italy 98.1
United Kingdom 95.1
Germany 94.5
Sweden 94
Luxembourg 93.9
Hungary 93.6
EU 27 92.7
Austria 92.6
Slovenia 90.7
Estonia 90.7
Portugal 89.2
Malta 88.8
Czech Republic 88.2
Latvia 86.7
Ireland 84.7
Cyprus 81.8
Romania 79.8
Bulgaria 79.4
Lithuania 76.6
Slovakia 71.1
Poland 69.8
Greece 68.2
Finland 66.8
Participation in early childhood education, 2010 (%) Evolution 2010-2010 (% relative change)
32.4
6.1
30.9
1.8
29.2
7.9
21.4
31.8
16.3
33.6
-1.4
-11.0
13.2
3.2
8.0
8.9
8.5
0.4
-0.1
13.8
16.5
-3.3
-2.9
2.5
0.0
-0.6
0.1
0.0
-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
73.1
73.5
76.3
77.5
78.3
79.2
82.1
85.3
85.4
87.4
88.7
89.0
89.3
89.8
92.0
92.1
92.4
94.3
94.6
95.1
96.2
96.7
97.1
98.1
99.1
99.4
99.6
100.0
020406080100120
Benchmark2020
Age 4 to start of compulsory schooling

9. Date: in 12 ptsEducation
and Training
What is in
legislation and
policy documents
on quality in the
Member States?
• Always an explicit reference in legislation or policy. However
some:
– operate local or regional systems
– use accreditation or inspection systems
– provide frameworks within which others act
– require local authorities to be responsible.

10. Date: in 12 ptsEducation
and Training
Quality criteria
• organisational – such as group size, space, staff/children
ratios etc
• professional – such as curriculum, staff qualifications, social
cohesion etc
• quality assurance – such as self-assessment or inspection

11. Date: in 12 ptsEducation
and Training
Outcomes and
outputs in
legislation and
policy
• there is a greater focus on inputs and processes than outputs
• the short term impacts (outputs) are more explicit than the
longer term impact of ECEC (outcomes);
• measures or indicators to record progress or impact are rare.

12. Date: in 12 ptsEducation
and Training
Quality/1:
Age-appropriate
content / curriculum
• Integrating care and
education (independent of
system type)
• Addressing children’s
needs in a holistic way
(cognitive, social,
emotional, physical)
• Skills beget skills – non-
cognitive are crucial
• Play is learning

13. Date: in 12 ptsEducation
and Training
Quality/2: Staff
Minimum requirements for the level and duration of initial education and training
for staff working with children under 2-3 years, 2006/07
Level and minimum length of initial teacher education for pre-primary level (ISCED 0),
and the compulsory minimum proportion of time devoted to professional training, 2006/07

14. Date: in 12 ptsEducation
and Training
Quality/2: Staff
Source:CORE study 2011

15. Date: in 12 ptsEducation
and Training
Quality/3:
Governance
Finance of public sector and publicly
subsidised private ECEC settings (2006/07)
Main models of (accredited and
subsidised)
ECEC provision according to the age of
children 2006/7

16. Date: in 12 ptsEducation
and Training
Quality/4:Funding
Public spending on early childhood
education and care as a % of GDP 2009
Source: OECD Family database, Indicator PF3.1 2009).

17. Date: in 12 ptsEducation and
Training

18. Date: in 12 ptsEducation
and Training
Current initiatives at EU level

19. Date: in 12 ptsEducation
and Training
Building
momentum
through Europe
2020
•National Reform Programmes presented by MS in April
•Examples of CSRs proposed by the Commission on 29 May
•Child poverty/income support measures (BG, EE, HU, IT, RO, LV,
UK)
•Social services for children/desinstitutionalisation (BG, RO)
•ECEC and childcare (AT, CZ, DE, EE, ES, HU, IT, MT, PL, UK, SK,
RO)
•Inclusive education/combating early school leaving (AT, BG, CZ,
HU, ES, IT, MT, PL, SK)
•Adoption late June

20. Date: in 12 ptsEducation
and Training
Thematic
Working Group
on ECEC
•27 countries
•Different backgrounds of representatives
•Peer learning and peer review
•Development of European reference tools (quality
framework, glossary of terms)

21. Date: in 12 pts
Standards alongside values Voice of the child
Diversity
Outcomes and processes Participation of
parents
Education
and Training

22. Date: in 12 ptsEducation
and Training
Widen the
evidence base
• Open calls for tender and 7th Framework Programme for Research
and Development (quality and testing and setting the ground for a
large scale longitudinal survey on children)
• Forthcoming Eurydice study – Key data
• Cooperating with OECD (Monitoring quality project and ECEC
Network)
• European Platform for Investing in Children to collect and
disseminate innovative practices
• Test the effectiveness of conditional cash transfers and their impact
on children (PROGRESS study)
• Focus on households with children in projects on reference budgets,
right to housing
• Social experimentation projects with a focus on quality childcare
services (selection ongoing)

23. Date: in 12 ptsEducation
and Training
Making better use of
existing financial
tools
• European Social Fund and European Regional Fund
• Erasmus for All
• Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD)
• Programme for Social Change and Innovation (PSCI)
• Horizon 2020

24. Date: in 12 ptsEducation
and Training
Strengthening
synergies across
sectors: DG EMPL
• Social Investment for Growth and Cohesion - including implementing the ESF
2014-2020 (COMM)
• Investing in Children - Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage (REC)
Common vision to stimulate policy reforms and social innovation
Policy guidelines and a set of indicators to monitor progress
• Indicator based monitoring framework (ANNEX)
Overall objective (Europe 2020)
Access to adequate resources (parents' access to the labour market, income
support)
Access to services (education, health, housing)
• No indicator related to pillar 3 (participation) nor to children in most
vulnerable situations

25. Date: in 12 ptsEducation
and Training
Strengthening
synergies across
sectors: DG JUST
Report on progress towards the Barcelona targets on childcare:
calls for stepping up efforts (esp. under 3), enhanced focus on
quality, affordability
Study on child participation by end of 2013 (map legislation and
practices in all MS, focus on children in vulnerable situations)
Follow up to the 7th Forum on the Rights of the Child (EU
guidelines on child protection)
DG SANCO
Joint Action on Mental Health and Well-being between MS (work
package “Mental health and schools”) on cooperation between
health, social, education sectors

26. Date: in 12 pts
Thank you for your attention.
Education and
training