This document is an excerpt from the EUR-Lex website
Early Childhood Education and Care
The European Union (EU) wants all young children to be able to benefit from high quality education and care. In order to meet this objective, the Commission presents an agenda for work among Member States and actions that it will put in place to support them.
ACT
Communication from the Commission of 17 February 2011 – Early Childhood Education and Care: Providing all our children with the best start for the world of tomorrow [COM(2011) 66 final – Not published in the Official Journal].
SUMMARY
Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is of prime importance. It is the foundation for successful lifelong learning, but also for social integration, personal development and later employability. ECEC contributes to achieving the two main goals of the Europe 2020 strategy: reducing early school leaving to below 10 % and lifting 20 million people out of poverty.
By 2020, the European Union (EU) aims to guarantee 95 % of children between age 4 and the start of compulsory education a place in ECEC.
ECEC for all
Early childhood is the stage where education can most effectively influence the development of children. All young children must therefore have access to ECEC.
This is particularly true for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, since the positive effects of ECEC in reducing early school leaving can lift them out of poverty. ECEC can also improve the integration of young persons with disabilities and better prepare them to attend mainstream schools.
Universal access to ECEC depends on efficient funding. Returns on investment from pre-primary school are the highest. However, it is in this area that Member States’ public spending is lowest. Funding must also be fair. ECEC for under-threes is often entrusted to market-based ECEC services to which low-income families do not have access.
In order to ensure universal access to ECEC, the work agenda for the Member States proposes to:
High quality services
Children establish most habits and patterns for their lives in the first years. ECEC must therefore not focus solely on cognitive aspects, but offer curricula which meet all of their needs (cognitive, emotional, social and physical).
Quality of services is also dependent upon qualified staff. Professionalisation and specialisation of staff are still to be improved, as is gender balance, since most staff are women.
Cooperation between the different policy sectors such as education, employment, health and social policy is indispensable, but is also important between the different levels of authority and education. The participation of stakeholders and parents is also necessary.
In order to guarantee the quality of ECEC services, the work agenda for the Member States plans to:
Commission action
In order to support the work agenda for the Member States, the Commission proposes to:
RELATED ACTS
Council conclusions on early childhood education and care: providing all our children with the best start for the world of tomorrow [Official Journal C 175 of 15.6.2011].
Communication from the Commission to the Council and to the European Parliament of 8 September 2006 on Efficiency and equity in European education and training systems [COM(2006) 481 final – Not published in the Official Journal].
Last updated: 27.06.2011