5-6 PAGES
Your final paper must use five credible sources that support your argument or add to the conversation around your main point. Two of your sources must be peer-reviewed journals. Two of your sources must be sources not listed on the course library guide. You must find them through your own research.
Acceptable scholarly sources include:
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Investments for Future:
Early Childhood Development and
Education
Hülya KARTAL*
Abstract
Investments relevant to the first years of life are directly connected to the future of
societies. It can be argued that investments for early childhood development and
education are one of the best ways of decreasing social inequality caused by adver-
se environments which hinder development in early ages and tackling poverty by re-
ducing the rate of infant and child deaths, increasing the attendance rate to school,
decreasing the rate of failure and drop-out rates in schools and the percentage of cri-
me rates. In this article, the effects of alternative early childhood education programs
on children and their parents were investigated. These programs were developed as
an alternative to institutional programs, had lesser costs, intended to support chil-
dren who carried developmental risks by providing them with education, health, and
nutrition/nourishment. These programs were supported by the World Bank in deve-
loping countries.
Key Words
Early childhood Development and Education, Early Childhood Education Prog-
rams end Effects, Dealing with Impoverishment, Social Improvement.
© 2007 E¤itim Dan›flmanl›¤› ve Araflt›rmalar› ‹letiflim Hizmetleri Tic. Ltd. fiti.
* Correspondence: Hülya KARTAL, University of Uludag, Faculty of Education Department of Ele-
mentary Education 16090 Görükle, Bursa- Turkey. E-mail: hkartal@uludag.edu.tr
Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice
7 (1) • January 2007 • 543-554
Human wealth education can be seen as an investment for the for-
mation of personality. It is also described as a process of forming in-
tended behaviors, a crucial factor for the national economy and so-
cial development.
When the “Education for all Committee” met in Amman in 1996,
it was stated that formal education age was too late for a child to
start education. Basic education must begin with birth because le-
arning in early ages forms the basis of learning in later years. Majo
r
developmental theories indicate that a child completes a great deal
of her/his development until s/he begins school. So formal educati-
on age is too late to deal with the learning needs of children; con-
sequently, early childhood care and developmental programs have
to be focused on.
Many studies in recent years showed that being well nourished, he-
althy, and cared for in her/his early ages of life are very important
for a child’s physical, mental, and social development. As a result of
better school performance, fewer criminal behaviors, better health
care, proper nourishment, and proper environments, there is a grea-
ter possibility of raising more socially harmonious people.
Early childhood development and education services are interven-
tions that aim to support 0-8 aged children’s development (i.e., cog-
nitive, physical, emotional, and social), provide them with healthy
and adequate development, protect, give learning opportunities,
develop their own self-sufficiency, and help them in interactions
with society in which they live. On the other hand, such programs
also aim at informing parents about relevant new knowledge and
skills about child care, development, and education.
The services mentioned are conducted by early childhood care and
educational institutions that serve in different ways such as day ca-
re centers, kindergartens, or primary schools as full or prime time
programs in many countries. When the early intervention programs
are examined, it is observed that these programs are generally ba-
sed on home visits, institution-centered early childhood programs,
institution-centered programs in primary school structure, child-pa-
rent centered programs, and health care services.
When the results related to studies carried out to determine the ef-
fects of early childhood programs, the effects of these programs on
544 • EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES: THEORY & PRACTICE
children and parents can be summarized as in the following:
Programs have many positive effects on children’s cognitive deve-
lopment and school achievement, learning motivation in the sense
of social and emotional sufficiency; reduce in children’s behaviors
toward crime and percentage of arrestment; care for children’s nut-
rition and increase their immunity level.
Programs also have positive effects on decrease of the percentage of
mothers’ pregnancy and mothers’ positive attitude towards preg-
nancy; increase in the quality of mother-child interaction and dec-
rease in percentage of mothers’ maltreatment of children; increase
in mothers’ completion of their education and graduation from high
school; increase in percentage of mothers that have a job and dec-
rease in percentage of mothers’ behavioral disorder-directed crime
and addiction of alcohol and drug.
On the other hand, when the effects of the program which parents
participated were examined, it was established that family partici-
pation had a very important effect on child’s academic achieve-
ment. When children whose families attended these kinds of prog-
rams compared with the children whose families didn’t attend any
program, there was a significant difference between the groups in
favor of first group in respect of school achievement, children’s mo-
re regular school attendance, higher percentages of graduation fro
m
high school and higher rate of university education. It was also ob-
served that families that participated in these programs encouraged
their children to continue higher education and cooperate more
with their children’s teachers and give more support in solving
school problems.
Programs have positive effects on cognitive development of chil-
dren that have disadvantages in respect of socio-economic level and
have positive effects in reducing the inequality based on gender
among these children. Also programs that focus on language deve-
lopment affect these children’s school achievement in a positive
manner.
There are also long-term effects of the programs such as decline in
rate of quitting the job and not taking the job seriously, increase in
level of income and high preference to work independently.
KARTAL / Investments for Future: Early Childhood Development and Education • 545
One of the best indicators of short and long-term effects of early
childhood development and education programs is the difference
between demographic characteristics of the G8 countries (i.e.,
France, Canada, Italy, Japan, Germany, England, the U.S.A. and
Russia) and developing countries. When table-1 is examined, it is
seen that while infant mortality rate in the G8 countries does not
exceed 1%, this rate increases to 7% in India. India is one of deve-
loping countries while GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per capita in
G8 average 25.000 US$ (except Russia), this amount decreases to
2.497 US$ in developing countries. Another important data is that
the rate of children that do not attend school despite being in scho-
ol age, is 14% in Turkey, while this rate is 17% in Germany. Howe-
ver, there is about by half (28% / 51%) difference between rates of
children that continue high school in the same two countries.
Data clearly demonstrate that investments made for early years of
the life are made for the future of societies. So, the educational le-
vel of a society and the level of welfare also increase. In this con-
text, early childhood educational programs have been supported by
the World Bank in developing countries. These programs have fe-
wer costs and developed for children who face developmental risks,
education, health, nutrition and nourishment needs. The effects of
these programs on children and their parents have been assessed.
Results of the studies conducted in Bolivia (Bolivia Integrated
Child Development Program (Proyecto Integral de Desarrollo Infan-
til, PIDI), Brazil (Criança Maravilhosa and Alimentaçao de Pre-es-
colar (PROAPE), Colombia (Bogotá Study of Malnutrition, Diarr-
heal Disease and Child Development, Home-Based Community Day
Care), India (Early Childhood Education Project (ECE), Jamaic
a
(Nutritional Supplementation and Psychosocial Stimulation Combi-
ned) and Turkey (The Early Enrichment Project) verify the positi-
ve effects of these programs on the child and the family. Applicati-
on of these programs particularly to poor families and their children
are crucially significant in the sense that families become more
awareness of the importance of education and these programs help
to reduce or even eradicate the differences likely to be caused by
socioeconomic reasons, that is social inequalities to be experienced
by those children when they start school.
The relationship between human development and economic
546 • EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES: THEORY & PRACTICE
growth also attaches more significance to the early childhood edu-
cation that directly affects human development. As a result, the sig-
nificance of early childhood education has been gradually increa-
sing on the international arena. The United Nations and the World
Bank attach increasing significance to early childhood development
education on the basis of human development and provide financi-
al resources (Bekman, & Gürlesel, 2005). The expansion of servi-
ces of early childhood education (ece) and preschool education to
the all sections of community is one of the targets of social develop-
ment today. However, the high cost of those services prevents the
neediest children of low-income families from benefiting from this
service. Thanks to initiatives of both universities and non-govern-
mental organizations in the recent years in our country that some
models have been developed aiming to support especially children
and their families facing the risk of development (Anne-Çocuk
E¤itim Program›, Aile-Çocuk E¤itim Program›, KEDV’n›n Kad›n
ve Çocuk Merkezleri, Milli E¤itim Bakanl›¤› K›z Teknik Ö¤retim
Genel Müdürlü¤ü Anne-Baba-Çocuk E¤itimi Projesi, Ana-Baba
Okulu, Baba Destek Program›, Güneydo¤u Anadolu Bölgesi’nde
Bir Erken Müdahale Modeli: Yaz Anaokulu Pilot Uygulamas›, Çok
Amaçl› Okulöncesi E¤itim Merkezi, Gezici Anaokulu Projesi,
AÇEV-TRT Televizyon Yoluyla E¤itim Projesi). The fact that the
rate of schooling among preschool children is only 16% reveals that
those models have to be urgently made more widespread all over
the country. When the existing applications and other applications
in our country are compared, it is clearly observed that there exist
some deficiencies. The most serious of those deficiencies is that
preschool education is mostly oriented to 5-6 year-old children. Ho-
wever, the results of studies have shown that the “interventions” or
“preventive” programs implemented within the framework of ece
have more lasting effects on both children and mothers. In this re-
gard, the applications in our country are crucially significant in or-
der to provide early support to those children and their families fa-
cing the risk of development. Within the framework of a program,
if those applications are commenced at the early stages of preg-
nancy during which the effects of prospective mothers on the de-
velopment of the baby in the antenatal period, and if the nutriti-
on and welfare of the infant, the significance of the infants first ye-
KARTAL / Investments for Future: Early Childhood Development and Education • 547
ars and the support and guidance for parental skills are well explai-
ned and provided, developmental defects and problems will be re-
duced and the prospective mothers will be made more conscious of
child development. On the other hand, the intervention program
should not only support the development of children, but also pro-
vide opportunities for mothers so that they can improve themselves
within their own capacities. There is no doubt that all these can be
accomplished through steps to be taken in restructuring in the pub-
lic policies on this matter and increasing the one-per thousand sha-
re of the cost of preschool education in the general budget.
In conclusion, as was seen in effects of programs mentioned in this
study, it can be said that investments for early childhood develop-
ment and education are one of the best way of decreasing the rate
infant and child deaths, increasing the time spent at school, decrea-
sing the rate of class repetition, dropping out school and delinqu-
ency and finally decreasing social inequality caused by adverse en-
vironments which hinder development in early ages and tackling
poverty. But despite all these efforts, in a world in which the ave-
rage of rate of children who continue their education up to fifth gra-
de is below 75%, it can be said that there is a long way to go.
548 • EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES: THEORY & PRACTICE
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KARTAL / Investments for Future: Early Childhood Development and Education • 553 554 • EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES: THEORY & PRACTICE
EK Tablo 1 Bolivya 8.645 1.9 59 34 2497 4 47 3 95 39 86.5
Brezilya 176.257 1.2 35 22 7.726 7 57 8 97 21 88.4
Kolombiya 43.526 1.8 20 23 6382 10 37 6 87 24 94.2
Hindistan 1.049.549 1.6 68 81 2.674 … 34 1 88 12 61
Jamaika 2.627 0.8 17 13 3.950 5 86 7 95 17 87.6
Türkiye 70.318 1.6 38 10 6.389 14 16 … 86 28 88.3
Fransa 59.850 0.5 4 … 27.123 0 100 12 99 56 98.7
Kanada 31.271 0.9 5 … 29.865 0 65 4 100 69 98.7
‹talya 57.482 0 4 … 26.460 0 100 8 100 69 91.4
Japonya 127.478 0.2 3 … 26.808 0 85 3 100 51 98.7
Almanya 82.414 0.2 4 … 27.175 17 100 9 99 51 98.7
‹ngiltere 59.068 0.3 5 … 26.134 0 78 … 100 64 98.7
A.B.D. 291.038 1.1 7 … 35.924 7 58 … 92 83 98.7
Rusya Fed. 144.082 -0.5 18 … 8309 11 98 … 90 69 97.4
Ü e r N fu (0 N A ›fl ra n (% B e Ö m O n Y o su u O D fl e Y l› G ri ik r› $ O u Ç d O p id e le n ra › ) E e Ç u lu E ¤ im A a Ç k k ¤ im e y la O ‹l o u D e E e n O O a ti e e E e Y flk O u – a o n Article
Early childhood education and Margaret Sims Karl Brettig Abstract
In many Western nations (an area of the world identified by Connell as the Global North),
the early childhood sector has positioned itself within the education discourse. This positioning
brings along with it the neo-liberal agenda in relation to education – i.e. that education’s key aim is
the preparation of employable future employees (children as human capital). Along with this is the
increasing imposition of employer-identified skills and knowledges on the curriculum in order to
shape children, through education, into the ‘right’ attitudes, dispositions and knowledges. Thus,
early childhood education has become increasingly subject to external accreditation, whereby
services are evaluated based on their adherence to predetermined standards. Early childhood
educators’ work has increasingly required the operation of a panoptic view of children, whose
every behaviour is observed, recorded and judged. The authors argue that such standards, in
some contexts, act as barriers to effective service delivery and present examples of work from
the Global South, demonstrating how an early childhood development focus facilitates a holistic
approach to early childhood service delivery. The authors demonstrate how that development
focus can be operationalised in the Global North and suggest that, as the sector proceeds
towards professionalisation, it needs to consider its direction.
Keywords
Early childhood development, early childhood education, neo-liberalism, professionalisation,
Global South, Global North
Corresponding author:
Margaret Sims, School of Education, University of New England, Elm Avenue, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.
Email: margaret.sims@une.edu.au
Power and Education
2018, Vol. 10(3) 275–287
! The Author(s) 2018 sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/1757743818771986
journals.sagepub.com/home/pae http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4686-4245 mailto:margaret.sims@une.edu.au http://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/journals-permissions http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1757743818771986 journals.sagepub.com/home/pae http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1177%2F1757743818771986&domain=pdf&date_stamp=2018-05-08 In many Western nations – an area of the world identified by Connell (2007, 2015) as the Many are now beginning to argue that such intervention, coupled with the education In this article (and in others – for example, Sims, 2017), we argue that the positioning of 276 Power and Education 10(3) be assessed, measured then changed’ (Campbell, Smith, and Alexander, 2017: 58), and what Such reforms are also enacted in other nations around the world. Moss et al. (2016: 344) We suggest that the linking of early childhood education and the human capital invest- The children of the drunken and the dissolute, of the deserted wife, who earns a bare living while
they play in the street; the children of the incapable, and of those who by birth or training are
useless and utterly irresponsible, the coming citizens – they gather in the gutters of the narrow
byways, and even in their chatter and their play, one who knows how to listen may hear a
menace for the future. (Roberts and Kingston, 2001: 212)
Interestingly, the provision of these early childhood services was opposed with equal vigour Sims and Brettig 277 that ‘ECEC for children aged birth to three should focus on quality care and not be required The struggle to gain status and parity with those working in schools is reflected across the The focus on the education discourse is thus a strategy where early childhood profes- In other parts of the world – for example, the Global South, as defined by Connell (2007) Strategic Goal 1: Improve advocacy for holistic and inclusive ECD [early childhood develop-
ment] . . . We will highlight approaches which focus on equitable access to and participation in
holistic ECD programmes and which therefore address discrimination based on gender,
278 Power and Education 10(3) economic status, vulnerability, ethnicity and language, disability and location. (Asia-Pacific
Regional Network, 2016a: 7)
This position is articulated in a recent series in the Lancet (Black et al., 2017; Britto et al., Informed by social ecology, nurturing care extends beyond families to include community care-
givers and support for families. The systems model that forms the basis for our life course
conceptual framework includes both an enabling environment for caregiver, family, and com-
munity, and an enabling social, economic, political, climatic, and cultural context . . . . The
former represents personal resources, including maternal . . . education and maternal physical
and mental health, and community resources including safety, sanitation, and absence of stigma.
The latter represents structural aspects, including policies, laws, supportive organisational sys-
tems and structures, and financial wellbeing, as well as wars, conflicts, droughts, and cultural
variations. These multilevel components are mediated through nurturing care to influence child-
ren’s development. (Black et al., 2017: 79–80)
The focus in these holistic programmes is early childhood development, not early childhood 1. Health and nutrition ognition that not all children are cared for by their parents) Thus, holistic early childhood development programmes are positioned as the most The work being undertaken in Timor Leste can be used to illustrate how holistic pro- Sims and Brettig 279 hygiene facilities, and educational equipment. Teacher training is provided, and a national
preschool curriculum has been developed. In remote and disadvantaged areas, alternative
models of preschool provision are being explored, which include the use of community
centres and home-based and family-based options. Where preschools operate within a
family, parents are provided with training and learning materials, and are supported by
a home visitor. Communities are able to select members to receive training to operate as
preschool facilitators, who then run their programme in the language of the community.
Child-centred teaching is prioritised in primary schools, and schools are increasingly being
provided with water and sanitation facilities. These programmes are designed to improve
child outcomes in a context where children’s developmental outcomes are amongst the worst
in the region: 85.5% of children have no access to preschool education, more than 50% of
children under five are stunted in their growth, 50% of deaths of children under five are
from preventable causes, and 35% of schools lack basic sanitation. These programmes only
began in 2015–2016, so there is not yet any data available on their impact. approach in specific contexts, where they aim to tackle the ‘wicked problem’ (Moore, 2011) of
intergenerational poverty and disadvantage; thus, they are operating in some disadvantaged
communities (Communities for Children; see Department of Social Services, 2018) and some
indigenous communities (Aboriginal child and family centres; see New South Wales
Government, n.d.). These services tend to be place-based – i.e. available to a particular com-
munity – and thus are not universally available to all children in the country; they are also not
required to be accredited under the National Quality Framework, which assesses and accred-
its early childhood education services (Australian Children’s Education, n.d.). FamilyZone (sic) Ingle Farm Hub. This programme promotes integrated support facilitated
by a number of professionals and agencies operating in a co-located space (the one-stop-
shop concept). It is underpinned by a single entry point, no-wrong-door approach, which
provides soft entry for stressed/isolated families. This approach at FamilyZone aims to
avoid the stigmatisation of families at risk of vulnerability. It also helps with engagement
when working with families at risk of vulnerability and provides an important entry point to
more specialised services. This programme has been formally evaluated. Parents and care-
givers were asked if they thought they were better off because of their involvement at
FamilyZone. The report showed that:
there is clear evidence that FamilyZone Hub is meeting its objectives of providing an environ-
ment which is supportive of child-friendly and inclusive communities, effective service coordi-
nation for children and families and improvements in children’s development and well-being and
positive family relationships. (McInnes and Diamond, 2011: 6)
Using a standard measure of children’s development, evaluation showed that by 2012 there
was a reduction, by approximately one-third, of children who were vulnerable in one or
more domains (22.5%) in the area where the service operated, Ingle Farm. This was sus-
tained and marginally improved as measured by the 2015 data. Figure 1 demonstrates
outcomes across several of the communities impacted by the programme, including
Enfield in South Australia, a site that was initially federally funded but which is now
state-funded.
280 Power and Education 10(3) The family-activity-centre approach to early intervention and prevention, as exemplified • A range of playgroups These examples suggest that it is possible to conceive of different models of service Figure 1. Australian Early Development Index vulnerability in one or more domains in Australian suburbs Sims and Brettig 281 range of wrap-around services they require. Many of these families are less likely to engage However, as the early childhood development sector continues to develop, it is crucial to The problem with ‘investing in children’ as a means of realising economic growth is that children
do not constitute a homogeneous group in terms of potential human capital. Children have
differing skills and capacities and contribute to societies in differing ways, not always measur-
able in economic terms. Human-capital models offer a powerful, politically persuasive frame-
work for policy development, but they must be understood as additional to, and not alternative
to, more fundamental principles of social justice. Here it is important to uphold the foundation
principle for investment in human development, which is human rights for all; this applies even if
economic development depends more on some groups than others.
Certainly, the human rights discourse is clearly evident in the early childhood development Many children do not reach their full human potential because of their families’ income status,
geographic location, ethnicity, disability, religion or sexual orientation. They do not receive
adequate nutrition, care and opportunities to learn. These children and their families can be
helped. It is their right to develop as well as to survive. (UNICEF, 2013c)
We argue that maintaining a strong focus on children’s right to develop to reach their 282 Power and Education 10(3) that: ‘There is also an urgent need to generate new evidence from the developing world that
will inform innovative advocacy initiatives to convince policy-makers to act on, and rein-
force the rationale for investment in early childhood’. And we further argue that it is time
that the early childhood education and early childhood development sectors take on
the burden on good leadership to make the currently unthinkable thinkable, to question the
obvious, to make the present systems unavailable as options for the future. The boundaries in
our minds create fear about the consequences of crossing over to the undiscovered country. But
the possibilities we really need do not lie on this side of our mental fences. (Oberklaid, 2017,
34.25–34.55)
In Australia, we have the leaders of a range of targeted, integrated early childhood devel-
opment initiatives, along with an increasingly professionalised early childhood education
workforce. Across the Global South, we have many different early childhood development
initiatives run by United Nations agencies and other development agencies and non-
governmental organisations in partnership with local organisations. Let us begin to work
in partnership, learn from each other, and aim to cross to ‘the undiscovered country’ on the
other side of the fence.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or
publication of this article.
Funding
The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of
this article. ORCID iD
Margaret Sims http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4686-4245
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Abstract Methods
We conducted a secondary analysis of data collected in UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Results
Overall, data from 97,731 children aged 36 to 59 months from 35 LAMIC were included in Conclusions
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This is the author manuscript accepted for publication and has undergone full peer review but http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cch.12395 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cch.12395 Introduction
Early childhood development, which is generally conceptualized as comprising several
domains, is a strong predictor of adult health and productivity (Grantham-McGregor et al.
2007, Victora et al. 2008, Black and Hurley 2014). The 2007 and 2011 Series on Child
Development in The Lancet concluded that more than 200 million children under the age of
five years fail to reach their development potential each year and most of them are living in
resource-constrained settings (Grantham-McGregor et al. 2007). The Series postulated the
links between poverty and inequalities in childhood development which are mediated via
biological factors including intrauterine growth restriction, child undernutrition,
micronutrient deficiencies, infectious diseases, and environmental exposures; and
psychosocial factors including early childhood education, parenting practices and exposure to
violence (Walker et al. 2011, Walker et al. 2007). However, there is as yet a lack of empirical
evidence of the mechanisms of the effect of poverty on early childhood development within
and between countries.
The Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) (United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF)
2015) are household surveys initiated by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and
implemented in up to five rounds in 108 low- and middle-income countries. The MICS’
primary goal is to monitor indicators of progress towards the Millennium Development Goals
related to women’s and children’s health in these countries from the mid-1990s to 2015.
Since the fourth round (in 2010-2012), an early childhood development indicator has been
collected along with information about caregiving practices for young children and household
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. wealth. Together these provide unique data to examine the effects of family poverty on early
childhood development in diverse settings.
The aim of this analysis is to assess the links among family poverty, caregiving practices and
early childhood development using Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey Round Four data using
the model proposed in the 2011 Lancet Series on Child Development that family poverty
affects biological and psychosocial factors, which in turn influence inequalities in child
development (Walker et al. 2011).
Methods Study design and participants
In MICS Round Four (2010 – 2012), a large nationally representative sample of between
5,000 and 40,000 households was selected in each country using a multistage, cluster-
sampling technique. Early childhood development data were collected for all children aged
36 to 59 months in the selected households. Only these children were included in this study.
Study measures
Child development as the main outcome measure was assessed by a 10- binary fixed choice
item scale (Bornstein et al. 2012) encompassing four developmental domains including
language-cognitive (Can (name) identify or name at least ten letters of the alphabet? Can
(name) read at least four simple, popular words? Does (name) know the name and recognize
the symbol of all numbers from 1 to 10?); physical (Can (name) pick up a small object with
two fingers, like a stick or a rock from the ground? Is (name) sometimes too sick to play?);
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. socio-emotional (Does (name) get along well with other children? Does (name) kick, bite, or
hit other children or adults? Does (name) get distracted easily?); and approaches to learning
(Does (name) follow simple directions on how to do something correctly? When given
something to do, is (name) able to do it independently?). These questions were derived from
a broad set of indicators of child development developed by UNICEF in 2007 and pilot-tested
in Jordan, the Philippines and Kenya (United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) 2011).
Each item is scored 1 if the child can achieve the task and 0 if they are not able to. This yields
a total score ranging from 0 (the least optimal) to 10 (the most optimal) development.
Household economic status, our main exposure of interest, was assessed using questions
about household characteristics including the main materials of the dwelling’s floor, roof, and
exterior walls; main type(s) of fuel used for cooking; source of drinking water; type of
sanitation facility; and 12 durable household assets. An index of household wealth was
constructed on the basis of these items using the World Bank’s techniques for measuring
living standards using household survey data (O’Donnell et al. 2008).
Psychosocial factors including caregiving practices and early childhood education consisted
of information about (1) Whether the child was attending an organized early childhood
education programme; (2) Whether in the past three days, the mother or the father had
engaged in any of six early learning activities with the child including reading books; telling
stores; singing; naming, counting, and drawing; taking the child outside or playing with the
child; (3) The number of children’s books in the household; (4) Whether there were toys
bought from stores or manufactured available in the household; (5) Harsh punishments were
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. assessed for a randomly-selected child aged 2 to 14 years in the household. Five questions
adapted from the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scale (Straus et al. 1998) were asked in
relation to the selected child in the past month. Types of punishments include spanking,
hitting, or slapping on the bottom with a bare hand; hitting on the bottom or elsewhere on the
body with a hard object; hitting or slapping on the face, head or ears; hitting or slapping on
the hand, arm, or leg; and beating the child up. Along with engaging in learning activities,
making books and other learning material available for the child and avoiding harsh
disciplinary are the main responsibilities of the career (Bornstein et al. 2012).
Demographic characteristics of each household member were collected using structured
questions. Among these, child sex and age, living in a rural or an urban area, the number of
children aged under five years in the household, maternal and paternal education levels, and
whether or not the mother and / or father were living at home were used in this study.
A nation’s Human Development Index (HDI) is a proxy indicator developed by the United
Nations Development Program (UNDP) (UNDP 2015). Each country’s HDI was obtained
from the UNDP’s Human Development Reports 2011 (United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP) 2011). The HDI ranges from 0 (the lowest) to 1 (the highest) and is
classified into very high (>0.790), high (>0.698 to 0.790), medium (>0.510 to 0.698), and
low categories (0.510 or less).
MICS procedures
The MICS data collection protocols are described in detail elsewhere (United Nations
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) 2011, Tran et al. 2016). In short, all MICS data used in this study
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. were collected through face-to-face structured interviews conducted during home visits by
national data collection teams. Data about a child and caregiving practices were normally
obtained from the mother or primary caregiver of the child.
Statistical analysis
The estimations of means and percentages were calculated using Stata’s survey commands in
STATA Version 12 (Stata Corp 2011) taking into account cluster effects and sampling
weights.
The hypothesized model of household wealth, caregiving practices, and child development
(Figure 1) were tested simultaneously using structural equation modelling in Mplus Version
7.3 (Muthén & Muthén 2013). In the structural equation model, the composite index of care
for the child at home is generated from the number of early learning activities engaged in by
the mother and the father, having 3+ children books at home, having learning materials
bought from shops. The effect of family poverty on early childhood development via
unmeasured factors such as biological factors were treated as the direct pathway from family
poverty to the child outcome in that model. Covariates were added into that model including
child sex and age, living in a rural or an urban area, the number of children aged under five
years in the household, maternal and paternal education levels, and whether or not the mother
and / or father were living at home.
Structural equation modelling using multiple group analysis with subgroups of HDI (low-
HDI, medium-HDI, and high-HDI countries) was conducted to construct the same structural
equation model for each HDI group. The model coefficients are interpreted as linear
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. regression coefficients for the paths to continuous outcomes. Model coefficients of the paths
to binary outcomes are odds ratios which were derived from original probit regression
coefficients for more straightforward interpretation. Please see Supplementary File 1 for
further information about the structural equation modelling.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Results Sample
Data on child development were collected in 44 countries at MICS Round Four, but for 9
countries data were not available for public use by 1st April 2016. Overall, 97,731 children
aged 36 to 59 months from 35 countries in low, medium, and high-HDI groups were included
in this study (Table 1). Of these, the mean age was 47.1 months (standard deviation, SD, 6.8
months) and 49.2% were girls.
Child development
Mean child development scores in the 35 countries are presented in Figure 2. The mean child
development scale score was 4.93 out of a maximum score of 10 (95% CI 4.90 to 4.97; SD
1.86) in the 12 low-HDI countries, 5.97 (95% CI 5.94 to 6.02, SD 1.75) in 10 medium-HDI
countries, and 7.08 (95% CI 7.05 to 7.12, SD 1.56) in 13 high-HDI countries. The median of
the gaps between mean scores of child development in the richest quintile and that of children
in the poorest quintile was 1.03 scores in the low-HDI countries, 1.08 in the medium-HDI
countries, and 0.86 in the high-HDI countries.
Care for children
Overall, the proportions of children attending early childhood education programs in the past
7 days varied widely between and within HDI groups (Figure 3 and Table 2). Less than 20%
of children attended in 8/12 low-HDI countries, 2/10 medium-HDI countries, and 2/13 high-
HDI countries. The highest attendance among low-HDI countries was 46.1% in Kenya,
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. among medium-HDI countries was 72.0% in Vietnam, and among high-HDI countries was
92.4% in Jamaica. There were large gaps between proportions attending from the highest and
the lowest household wealth groups within all countries, including 74.5% in Nigeria (low-
HDI country), 67.5% in Laos (medium-HDI country), and 68.9% in Tunisia (high-HDI
country).
The mean numbers of early learning activities participated in by the mother and the father in
the past three days by country are presented in Figures 4 and 5. Overall, mothers engaged in
more activities than fathers in every country, except in Pakistan where there was no
difference between mothers and fathers. Mothers and fathers participated in the fewest
activities in Madagascar and in the largest number in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The
differences between low-HDI and high-HDI countries were considerable for both mothers
and fathers (Table 2). The mean numbers of activities engaged in by parents was larger in the
highest than the lowest household wealth groups in almost all countries. The exception was
Sierra Leone.
There were major disparities in the proportions of households having at least 3 children’s
book across HDI groups (Table 2) and between the highest and the lowest wealth groups in
most countries (Figure 6). The range was from less than 2% of households in Chad, DR
Congo, Madagascar, CAR, and Somalia, to more than 97% in Barbados, Ukraine, and
Belarus. The differences in this factor between the highest and the lowest household wealth
groups were more than 70% in Vietnam, Suriname, and Costa Rica.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. The proportions of children having toys from a shop was clearly different between the low-
HDI and high-HDI countries (Table 2). This varied from less than 20% in Somalia,
Madagascar, DG Congo, and Chad, to more than 90% in 12/13 high-HDI countries (Figure 7).
The gaps between the highest and the lowest household wealth groups are very large in low-
HDI and some medium-HDI countries.
Harsh punishment of children at home was widespread in many countries in all three HDI
groups. The prevalence of households in which a caregiver acknowledged that corporal
punishment of a child had been used in the past month ranged from 31.6% in Mongolia to
more than 80% in Kenya, CAR, and DR Congo in the low-HDI group, Palestine in the
medium-HDI, and Tunisia in the high-HDI (Figure 8). Overall however, it was a more
common practice in low- and medium-HDI countries than in high-HDI countries (Table 2).
The prevalence among the least wealthy households was higher than among the wealthiest in
most countries, but was similar in some (Kenya, CAR, Mongolia, and Ukraine) or in the
opposite direction in others (Mauritania, Palestine, and Laos).
Structural Equation Model
The final structural equation model includes three linear regression models predicting (1)
Child development scale score, (2) number of early learning activities engaged in by the
mother, and (3) number of early learning activities engaged in by the father; three probit
models predicting (1) attending early childhood education program, (2) having 3+ children
books at home, and (3) having toys bought from shops or manufactured; and a confirmatory
factor analysis generating the ‘care for child development at home’ index. The total effect
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. size, direct effect, and indirect effect of household poverty on child development were
calculated in the structural equation model. In total, 16 variables were included in the
structural equation model. The main paths of this model are presented in Table 3 (Please see
the full details in Supplementary Table 1). All of the fit indices are within the range
indicating that the model fits the data well.
The composite index of care for the child at home was positively associated with child
development scores in all three HDI groups. An increase in the care for child at home index
of one standard deviation (SD) was associated with an increase in the child development
score of 0.41 SD (95% CI 0.27 to 0.55) in low-HDI countries, 0.37 SD (95% CI 0.25 to 0.49)
in medium-HDI, and 0.49 SD (95% CI 0.35 to 0.63) in high-HDI (Table 3). Attending early
childhood education was associated with higher child development scores in low and
medium-HDI countries, but not in high-HDI countries. In low-HDI countries, children living
in households where harsh punishments had been used in the past month had a lower mean
score of child development than children living in households where this was not practiced.
The structural equation model shows that family poverty (being in the lowest household
wealth quintile) was associated with lower child development scores in all countries. The
total effect (including direct and indirect effects) of poverty on child development was -0.18
SD (95% CI -0.27 to -0.08) in low-HDI countries, -0.26 SD (95% CI -0.30 to -0.21) in
medium-HDI countries, and -0.29 SD (95% CI -0.37 to -0.21) in high-HDI countries. The
total indirect effect of family poverty on child development score via attending early
childhood education, care for the child at home, and use of harsh punishments at home was –
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. 0.13 SD (77.8% of the total effect) in low-HDI countries, -0.09 SD (23.8% of the total effect)
in medium-HDI countries, and -0.02 SD (6.9% of the total effect) in high-HDI countries.
Discussion
This study used data describing 97,731 children from 35 large nationally representative
samples and provides for the first time precise estimates of the associations among poverty,
parental caregiving, and early childhood development. The 35 countries are geographically
diverse and distributed along the Human Development Index spectrum and thus permit
comparisons between groups of countries of varying HDI. Every aspect of the MICS4 survey
including survey design and procedure was standardised, and implemented with technical
support and supervision from UNICEF. We are confident that the findings of this study are
robust and generalizable to countries with low and high HDI.
This study partially demonstrated the model proposed in the 2011 Lancet Series on Child
Development (Walker et al. 2011) in which it was postulated that family poverty affects early
childhood development via biological and psychosocial mediators. This study included as
psychosocial mediators participation in early childhood education programs, engagement of
parents in child development activities, availability of children’s books and learning materials
at home, and whether or not harsh punishments of a child aged 2 – 14 years were used in the
household. The potential mediating effects of biological factors were treated as a direct
pathway in the model. Bivariate analyses revealed a consistent gradient between household
wealth quintiles and early childhood development in all countries, regardless of HDI.
Multivariable analyses confirmed the significant total effect of family poverty on early
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. childhood development in all three HDI groups (Engle and Black 2008, Wehby and
McCarthy 2013, Blair and Raver 2012, Bergen 2008, Tran et al. 2013). The indirect effect via
the psychosocial factors of participation in early childhood education, care for the child at
home, and whether or not harsh punishments of children were used in the household was
highest in low-HDI countries (77.8% of the total effect, compared with 23.8% in medium-
HDI countries and 6.9% in high-HDI countries). This indicates that caregiving practices
explain a large proportion of the disparity in early development between children from the
least -resourced families and the rest in lower HDI countries. There are smaller disparities
within higher HDI countries, and suggest that overall quality of caregiving is more consistent
and that they are attributable to other factors not measured in this study.
The data provide strong evidence that psychosocial factors including quality of care for
children at home and attending early childhood education are important determinants of early
childhood development. Care for child development at home is highly positively associated
with early childhood development scores in every country with an effect size of 0.41 in low-
HDI, 0.37 in medium-HDI, and 0.49 in high-HDI countries. Attending early childhood
education programs is related to higher early childhood development scores in low-HDI
countries (0.32 SD) and medium-HDI countries (0.23), but not in high-HDI countries. A strong relationship between HDI, a country-level proxy indicator of human development,
and early childhood development was revealed. The mean child development scale score
among 3 to 4 year-old children in low-HDI countries was 1.37 SD lower than that in high-
HDI countries. This is the first study to date to demonstrate the disparity in an early
childhood development index among countries by HDI. The inequality found in this study
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. confirms the association between less optimal care for child development in lower HDI
countries and child development outcomes that has been shown in previous studies
(Houweling and Kunst 2010, Lansford and Deater-Deckard 2012, Bornstein and Putnick
2012, Tran et al. 2014). All aspects of caregiving, including engagement of parents in child
development activities, availability of children’s books and learning materials at home, use of
harsh punishments and access to pre-school education program were substantially worse in
lower HDI countries.
The findings of this study have implications for governments, international agencies, non-
government organisations and public health professionals who are working to improve early
childhood development. Children in the poorest group in every country and children in low-
HDI countries in general are the most in need of assistance to reach their full development
potential. Interventions which address multiple risks factors have a superior effect on child
outcomes (Engle et al. 2011). However, these programs usually require more human and
material resources and effective management skills that are not always available in
socioeconomically disadvantaged settings. A compact integrated, well implemented
intervention program addressing the key modifiable factors might be more effective and may
be more cost-effective. Poverty alleviation is an essential strategy, but is generally slow and
incremental and therefore unlikely to lead on its own to sufficient change in a short period of
time. These data indicate that even in the context of poverty the quality of care provided to a
young child at home including the engagement of the mother and father in play and learning
activities with their children, the availability of children’s book and learning materials,
substitution of harsh punishments with positive behaviour management strategies and
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. attending pre-school education programs can have a large effect on early childhood
development. National advancement relies on a population that has achieved developmental
capacity, interventions, especially in low- and medium HDI countries, which target these
factors directly are likely to benefit individuals, families, communities and whole societies.
We acknowledge that early childhood development was one of many indicators collected in a
large scale survey. It was not possible to use a diagnostic assessment of child development in
MICS4. However, the study-specific child development assessment tool in MICS4 was
developed and tested by a technical group of UNICEF through a standardized procedure to
include’ all main domains of early childhood development and shown to be appropriate for
use in all settings. Another limitation of this study is that there were no biological factors
directly included in the analyses. Future longitudinal studies examining the effects of
comprehensive social and biological factors on child development are warranted.
In summary, poverty, within and between countries, is associated significantly with marked
inequalities in early childhood development. Care for child development at home including
the engagement of the mother and father in specific activities to provide cognitive stimulation
and sensitive, responsive care, access to children’s books and learning materials and
avoidance of harsh and humiliating punishments is crucial for child development in every
setting. Pre-school education programs play an important role for early childhood
development in low- and medium HDI countries. Optimizing care for child development at
home and providing pre-school education programs can reduce the adverse effects of poverty
and improve children’s early development and subsequent life trajectories.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Acknowledgments
We thank all the people who administer, implement and complete the Multiple Indicator Conflict of Interest: We declare no competing interests.
Key messages
• Children in the most disadvantaged group of their societies and children living in low- • Family poverty undermines early childhood development in all countries.
• Large proportions of the effect of family poverty on early childhood development are • Optimising care for child development at home and providing pre-school education • Improving parenting and pre-school education programs can help children living in This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. References
Bergen, D. C. (2008) Effects of poverty on cognitive function: a hidden neurologic epidemic. Black, M. M. & Hurley, K. M. (2014) Investment in early childhood development. Lancet, Blair, C. & Raver, C. C. (2012) Child development in the context of adversity: experiential Bornstein, M. H., Britto, P. R., Nonoyama-Tarumi, Y., Ota, Y., Petrovic, O. & Putnick, D. L. Bornstein, M. H. & Putnick, D. L. (2012) Cognitive and socioemotional caregiving in Engle, P. L. & Black, M. M. (2008) The effect of poverty on child development and Engle, P. L., Fernald, L. C., Alderman, H., Behrman, J., O’gara, C., Yousafzai, A., De Mello, Grantham-Mcgregor, S., Cheung, Y., Cueto, S., Glewwe, P., Richter, L. & Strupp, B. (2007) Houweling, T. A. & Kunst, A. E. (2010) Socio-economic inequalities in childhood mortality Lansford, J. E. & Deater-Deckard, K. (2012) Childrearing discipline and violence in Muthén & Muthén (2013) Mplus Version 7.3 Muthén & Muthén, Los Angeles, United States O’donnell, O., Doorslaer, E. V., Wagstaff, A. & Lindelow, M. (2008) Analyzing Health Stata Corp (2011) Stata Statistical Software: Release 12, StataCorp LP, College Station, TX. of child maltreatment with the Parent-Child Conflict Tactics Scales: development and Tran, T. D., Biggs, B.-A., Tran, T., Simpson, J. A., De Mello, M. C., Hanieh, S., Nguyen, T. Tran, T. D., Biggs, B.-A., Tran, T., Simpson, J. A., Hanieh, S., Dwyer, T. & Fisher, J. (2013) This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Tran, T. D., Hetzel, B. & Fisher, J. (2016) Access to iodized salt in 11 low- and lower- Undp. (2015) Human development index (HDI). From United Nations Development Program. United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) (2011) Multiple indicator cluster survey manual United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef). (2015) Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys. From United Nations Development Programme (Undp) (2011) Human Development Report 2011 Victora, C. G., Adair, L., Fall, C., Hallal, P. C., Martorell, R., Richter, L. & Sachdev, H. S. Walker, S. P., Wachs, T., Meeks Gardner, J., Lozoff, B., Wasserman, G., Pollitt, E. & Carter, Walker, S. P., Wachs, T. D., Grantham-Mcgregor, S., Black, M. M., Nelson, C. A., Huffman, Wehby, G. L. & Mccarthy, A. M. (2013) Economic gradients in early child This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Table 1 Numbers of participants, child age (mean, SD), and child sex (% girls) by countries
Country children Mean (SD) Girls (%) CAR 3,747 46.1 (6.6) 52.0 Sub-total 48,189 47.0 (6.9) 49.2 Bhutan 2,423 46.7 (6.7) 48.9 Sub-total 33,807 47.3 (6.8) 49.3 High-HDI
Argentina 3,612 47.3 (6.9) 48.3 This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. StLucia 122 47.7 (6.8) 50.8 Sub-total 15,735 47.4 (6.9) 49.1 This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Table 2 – Care for children in the 35 countries by HDI group
Low-HDI Medium- High-HDI Attending early childhood education 17.8 22.9 50.7 Early learning activities engaged in by the 1.74 2.14 4.25 Early learning activities engaged in by the 0.79 1.13 1.90 Having 3+ children’s books in the 4.7 16.1 75.3 Having toys bought from shops, % (95% CI) 33.3 77.5 96.0 Physical punishment of a young child aged 2- 76.3 65.3 51.1 This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Table 3 – Structural Equation Model(a) predicting Child Development Scale Score
Parameter estimates(b) Low-HDI Medium-HDI High-HDI Attending an early childhood education 0.32 0.23 0.05 Care for child development at home 0.41 0.37 0.49 Family uses physical punishment of their -0.03 -0.07 -0.03 Care for child development at home Number of early learning activities 0.39 0.68 0.74 Number of early learning activities 0.28 0.49 0.53 Having 3+ children’s books at home 0.10 (0.07 to 0.13) (0.13 to 0.23) (0.14 to 0.25)
Having toys bought from shops 0.33 (0.24 to 0.42) (0.44 to 0.71) (0.51 to 0.74) Household wealth (1: poorest 20%; 0: 0.43 0.49 0.45 Number of early learning activities Household wealth (1: poorest 20%; 0: -0.17 -0.38 -0.68 Number of early learning activities Household wealth (1: poorest 20%; 0: -0.07 -0.25 -0.55 Having 3+ children books at home (odds Household wealth (1: poorest 20%; 0: 0.97 0.85 0.66 Having toys bought from shops or This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Household wealth (1: poorest 20%; 0: 0.49 0.50 0.33 Family with physical punishments for a Household wealth (1: poorest 20%; 0: 1.04 1.05 0.97 Covariance 0.17 0.32 0.29 ‘Care for child development at home’ -0.01 -0.04 -0.13 ‘Number of early learning activities 0.59 0.58 0.59 Effect of household wealth (1: poorest Total effect size -0.18 (-0.27 to -0.08) (-0.30 to -0.21) (-0.37 to -0.21)
Direct effect -0.05 (-0.09 to -0.01) (-0.22 to -0.12) (-0.36 to -0.18)
Indirect effect via ‘care for child -0.13 -0.09 -0.02
Fit indices
RMSEA (Probability RMSEA ,= .05) 0.002 (p=1.0) (a) The main paths of this model are presented in this table. Other variables included in the This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Figure 1. Hypothesized model predicting Child Development Scale Score Figure 2. Mean child development scores in the 20% richest, 20% poorest and whole sample by
Figure 3. Percentages of children having access to early childhood education programs in the 20% Figure 4. Mean of the numbers of early learning activities engaged in by mothers in the 20% richest,
Figure 5. Mean of the numbers of early learning activities engaged in by fathers in the 20% richest, 20%
Figure 6. Percentages of children having at least 3 children’s books in the home in the 20% richest, 20%
Figure 7. Percentages of children having toys bought from shops in the 20% richest, 20% poorest and
Figure 8. Percentages of households using harsh punishments for children at home in the last month This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. CCH_12395_F1.tif
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This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Early childhood development: impact of national human development, family poverty, Short title: Early childhood development in developing countries
Thach Duc Tran*, BA (Hons), MSc, MIRB, PhD Stanley Luchters, MD, MSc, PhD Jane Fisher, BSc (Hons), PhD, MAPS *Corresponding author Word count: 3295
Key words: child development; poverty; low- and middle-income settings
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. Minerva Access is the Institutional Repository of The University of Melbourne
Author/s:
Tran, TD; Luchters, S; Fisher, J
Title:
Early childhood development: impact of national human development, family poverty,
parenting practices and access to early childhood education
Date:
2017-05-01
Citation:
Tran, T. D., Luchters, S. & Fisher, J. (2017). Early childhood development: impact of
national human development, family poverty, parenting practices and access to early
childhood education. CHILD CARE HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT, 43 (3), pp.415-426.
https://doi.org/10.1111/cch.12395.
Persistent Link:
http://hdl.handle.net/11343/291627
File Description:
Accepted version
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In this paper, you will continue to practice basic discourse patterns common to all academic writing, but with the specific focus of moving closer to the discourse conventions in your chosen major, recognizing that scholars in different fields write in different ways for different purposes. In the process, you will define an issue in your chosen field and take an arguable position or outline a research question in a larger debate.
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early childhood development:
Do the differences matter?
University of New England, Australia
Salisbury Communities for Children, Australia
Article reuse guidelines:
Global North, influenced by the hegemony of a neo-liberal approach to ‘technologies of
government’ (Connell and Dados, 2014: 3) – early childhood systems have developed, and
continue to develop, in ways that focus strongly on an education discourse. In this discourse,
early childhood education is considered valuable because of its alignment ‘with national
economic prosperity’ (Hunkin, 2017: 8). Indeed, ‘educational institutions are seen as respon-
sible for increasing productivity and competitiveness through maximising human capital
and inculcating the necessary attributes and skills’ (Spohrer et al., 2017: 3). The alignment of
early childhood education with this education discourse is supported by a plethora of eco-
nomic evidence demonstrating that intervention early in children’s lives shows economic
pay-offs in the longer term. The work of Nobel prize-winning economist James Heckman
(1998, 2006, 2008, 2011, 2014) has been crucial in this positioning, given his clear synthesis
of a range of early intervention studies (such as those reported by researchers including Olds
et al. (2007) and Schweinhart et al. (2005)) to demonstrate the cost–benefit ratios associated
with early intervention, and because of this work, Heckman has become positioned as
something of an early childhood hero (Penn, 2017). Fraser Mustard (2008a, 2008b), a
Canadian haematologist, used this work to underpin his argument that focusing on indi-
vidual children and intervening early in their life has the potential to ameliorate poverty
internationally. Thus, ‘social disadvantage is being recast as a biological effect, curable by
professional interventions at the level of individuals, to be implemented across a range of
early years services and infant education programmes’ (White and Wastell, 2017: 46). The
role of early childhood education is to function as the tool of this intervention to ‘shape
individuals earlier in life and in a more profound way: by instilling “the right” dispositions
and attitudes in children and young people, there is no need for later corrections’ (Spohrer
et al., 2017: 12).
discourse in Western nations, is creating an increasing presence of the state in young child-
ren’s lives. This presence, in a neo-liberal context, is one that is responsible for ‘more coer-
cive and controlling social engineering’ (White and Wastell, 2017: 38). These critiques often
focus on education in general, but can be applied equally to early childhood education
(Sims, 2017). Giroux (2015: 15) suggests that, under a neo-liberal state, the purpose of
education is to create employable graduates through a ‘pedagogy of ignorance whose
hidden curriculum is the teaching of political and intellectual conformity’. Chomsky, who
for the past 50 years has often been positioned in the media as an American Socrates
(Lydon, 2017), argues that our current education system has had extremely unfortunate
consequences for democracy. Education, he claims, aims ‘to make the population ignorant
and irrational enough to safeguard short-term profit for the rich’ (Chomsky, 2013: 9) – a
point supported by Giroux (2015: 15), who writes that education plays ‘a crucial, but far
from straightforward, role in reproducing the culture of ignorance and instrumental ratio-
nality’. As a consequence, Western nations are facing the most significant threat to democ-
racy ever (Chomsky, 2016).
early childhood service delivery in an education discourse exposes the sector to exactly these
criticisms. We already see outcomes of this in the ongoing ‘social investment reform in
ECEC [early childhood education and care] in Australia’, which ‘has been used to progress
neo-liberal policy ambitions and techniques’ (Hunkin, 2016: 50). These ambitions and tech-
niques result in a system which focuses ‘the educator’s gaze outwardly on the child who is to
becomes valued learning is defined by what can be measured using predetermined behav-
ioural indicators – a process Hunkin (2016) identifies as a positivist discourse of quality.
Odom et al. (2010), for example, illustrate this in their work in the USA, linking fidelity in
curriculum implementation with children’s standardised outcomes. In the Australian early
childhood sector, these predetermined behavioural indicators are identified in a national
early childhood learning framework – i.e. a curriculum (Department of Education, 2009) –
supported by a range of national quality standards (Australian Children’s Education, 2011a,
2011b). Early childhood educators are thus required to continually observe children, creat-
ing a panoptic environment where every moment of children’s lives in a service is scrutinised,
evaluated and recorded (documented) for others to examine.
note a shift in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s rhetoric
‘towards a discourse of outcomes and investment’, exemplified in the proposed international
global testing regime aimed at measuring young children’s achievement across a number of
standardised domains. Such a regime is likely to encourage early childhood educators to
teach to the test, resulting in a ‘pedagogy of compliance’ (Carr, Mitchell, and Rameka,
2016: 451).
ment discourse in much of the Global North arises from a not surprising wish to pursue
professionalism. The history of early childhood services in many nations has seen provision
partly arising from a welfare perspective, where services for young children were developed
to teach young working-class children what they needed for their future life as workers and,
in the process, prevent them from becoming a drain on the state through developing crim-
inal tendencies (Sims and Hutchins, 2011). In Germany, early childhood services were seen
as the remedy necessary to address ‘the neglect and inadequate care of lower class children
whose mothers were in employment’ (Rauschenbach and Riedel, 2015: 5). Similarly, in
Australia, the first free kindergartens were set up in Sydney to address concerns such as
the following:
for much the same reasons: ‘“Education,” one speaker urged, “unfits people to become
servants. You will give these children grand ideas, and do more harm than good”’
(Roberts and Kingston, 2001: 214). The welfare roots of many early childhood services
positioned them as providing a substitute for inadequate mothering, and thus staff working
in these services were perceived to be performing a substitute mothering role – a role that it
was assumed any women could do, and therefore a role that could not possibly be consid-
ered professional (Sims and Hutchins, 2011). Consequently, as identified by Rauschenbach
and Riedel (2015: 5), the role was considered a ‘dead-end profession’ in Germany. Such
views persist into the present, particularly in the provision of services for infants and
toddlers. For example, in Australia, a recent review of the early childhood sector argued
to include a significant educational component’ (Productivity Commission, 2014: 227). The
lower status of infant and toddler work is reflected across many contexts, where ‘infant
teachers’ practices are seen as less educated, uncomplicated, or unsophisticated’ (Shin, 2015:
497). From New Zealand, Rockel (2009: 4) argues that the perception of infant and toddler
work as providing ‘practical care rather than education’ creates a condescending tone that
makes it difficult to fulfil the vision in Te Wh�ariki that infant and toddler pedagogy should
not be either ‘a scaled-down three- or four-year-old programme nor a baby-sitting arrange-
ment’ (Ministry of Education, 1996: 22). This positioning has resulted in much poorer
salaries and working conditions for early childhood workers than for teachers in primary
and secondary schools, both in Australia and across much of the Global North (Cumming,
2017; Fenech et al., 2009; Irvine et al., 2016; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development, 2017).
early years workforce in a number of different countries. For example, in the UK, where the
intent of creating the Early Years Professional Status role was to raise the quality and status
of the early years workforce (Simpson, 2010), the disparities between the salaries and con-
ditions of teachers and early years professionals (even when they were rebranded ‘early years
teachers’) still remain (Lewis and West, 2017). Osgood et al. (2017) emphasise the inequity in
pay and conditions (including the lack of recognition as a qualified teacher) that applies to
those who work in the early years, and continue to call for parity, particularly for those who
work with children under three.
sionals can align their work with that of colleagues in schools in an attempt to gain recog-
nition as a valuable profession, becoming early childhood educators in the process (Sims,
Forrest, Semann, and Slattery, 2014; Sims and Pedey, 2015; Sims and Tausere-Tiko, 2016;
Sims and Waniganayake, 2015a, 2015b). That such an approach involves the kinds of risks
discussed above – specifically the risks that come with the neo-liberal agenda, including
standardisation, external monitoring and accreditation, and corporatisation (Otterstad and
Braathe, 2016, Simpson et al., 2014; Sims, 2017) – is not always recognised, or is perhaps
dismissed as the price that it is necessary to pay for gains in professional status. However, we
argue that the trenchant criticisms around the influence of neo-liberalism on the education
sector in the Global North (as identified above) indicate that such a positioning does not
come without major risks – risks that may significantly impair the ability of the early
childhood sector to work in the best interests of children.
– early childhood services are not bound in the same way to the education discourse. Rather,
early childhood services are positioned as holistic, addressing ‘adequate nutrition, health
and hygiene, opportunities for learning, and protection from harm and pollution’
(UNICEF, n.d.). This holistic approach is reflected in much of the work undertaken in
the Global South (some examples are discussed in Ang and Sims, 2016; Sims, 2015) and
is captured in the Asia-Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood’s 2020
Vision statement:
2017; Richter et al., 2017; Shawar and Shiffman, 2017), and it is worth sharing the model as
presented in the series as it provides the link between ecological theory (Bronfenbrenner,
1979, 2005) and the holistic approach addressed above:
education. Rather, education is an element of the approach, but not the sole focus. The
articles in this Lancet series identify the need to work across sectors, addressing:
2. Security and safety
3. Responsive caregiving (the term ‘caregiving’ is used in preference to ‘parenting’ in rec-
4. Early learning
5. Enabling environments for caregivers, families and the community
appropriate approach for countries from the Global South beginning to develop their
early childhood sectors whilst simultaneously working towards achievement of the
Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations, 2015). Indeed, it is argued that achieve-
ment of most of these goals begins with appropriate early childhood development pro-
grammes (Asia-Pacific Regional Network, 2016b).
grammes are developed and how they operate in one Global South context. Manichan
(2016) describes how UNICEF is working with the government to develop a universally
available caregiver education programme, which addresses nutrition, health, education, care
and protection. The programme includes fathers’ role in parenting, early stimulation (such
as singing to children) and toy-making using local materials. This is delivered through
targeted parenting education sessions in villages, home visits, community radio and youth
theatre productions that model positive parenting behaviours. A National Policy
Framework for Preschool Education was developed in 2014, which aims to ensure that
all children between the ages of three and five have access to preschool by 2030.
The government and UNICEF are building preschools that include water, sanitation and
In contrast, Australian integrated early childhood services are only offered as a targeted
One example of such a programme is the family-activity-centre approach, exemplified in
in the FamilyZone programme, facilitates prevention of child abuse and neglect by bringing
together a range of universal and targeted support services for families. It provides a family-
friendly environment which engages a broad range of families, including those most at risk
of poor developmental outcomes. Families are engaged through a number of pathways,
including referrals, hospital screening protocols, refugee settlement programmes, word of
mouth, social media and Internet browsing. Parents make a very significant contribution to
the way the services are designed and delivered. Typically, a family activity centre may
facilitate (Brettig and Children Communities, 2016):
• Perinatal support groups for parents at risk of postnatal depression
• Parent groups
• Soft entry activities such as cooking and sewing
• Cultirally and Linguistically Diverse support activities
• Home visiting programmes
• Volunteer and early childhood leadership training
• Co-located non-governmental organisation and government department activities
• Satellite outreach activities into surrounding suburbs
delivery where the key focus may vary from a concentration on families to a concentration
on children. In reflecting on the potential differences, we posit that family activity centres
are most effective in the context where they have the capacity to respond to families in crisis
in a timely manner, including those experiencing domestic violence or mental health issues.
If these families at high risk of vulnerability can be engaged during such times and receive
appropriate support, it has been found that they will be more likely to continue to access the
with family activity centres developed between 2004 and 2009.
under normal circumstances, as they tend to be cautious of such support due to previous
unsatisfactory experiences or inaccurate information about services. Interventions in these
circumstances require a level of staffing and flexibility that it is difficult to provide in services
that tend to focus more on providing non-parental care for children. In Australia, the latter
can be positioned as early childhood education centres. The formalisation required
under legislation in operating these kinds of services creates barriers to parental engage-
ment, and thus limits child participation and restricts the ability to improve child outcomes.
We argue that early-childhood-development-focused programmes operate best, particularly
in contexts where there is disadvantage, precisely because the operation of these pro-
grammes is not (yet) as heavily shaped by neo-liberal discourses, which currently impose
external standards on the education sector that function to reduce ‘the meaning of early
childhood education to a preparation for compulsory education’, which is, ‘in turn –
reduced to a preparation for the labour market’ (Vandenbroeck and Mariett Olsson,
2017: 86).
recognise that this is not without the very risks associated with neo-liberalism discussed
above. Early childhood development is already positioned as a tool for human capital
formation: UNICEF (2013b) itself argues strongly that ‘Early Childhood Development is
seen as one of the most cost efficient investments in human capital which leads to a country’s
sustainable development’. Early childhood development initiatives in the Global South are
not only focusing on developing programmes to support children and families; they are also
engaging in the development of curricula for early childhood education – as discussed above
in Timor Leste (Manichan, 2016). It is important that the growing early childhood devel-
opment sector fight to maintain its capture of the holistic nature of its work. As Boyden and
Dercon (2012: 34) identified several years ago:
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Background
This study was to describe and quantify the relationships among family poverty, parents’
caregiving practices, access to education and the development of children living in low- and
middle-income countries (LAMIC).
Surveys (MICS). Early childhood development was assessed in four domains: language-
cognitive, physical, socio-emotional, and approaches to learning. Countries were classified
into three groups on the basis of the Human Development Index (HDI).
the after analyses. The mean child development scale score was 4.93 out of a maximum score
of 10 (95%CI 4.90 to 4.97) in low-HDI countries and 7.08 (95%CI 7.05 to 7.12) in high-HDI
countries. Family poverty was associated with lower child development scores in all
countries. The total indirect effect of family poverty on child development score via attending
early childhood education, care for the child at home, and use of harsh punishments at home
was -0.13 SD (77.8% of the total effect) in low-HDI countries, -0.09 SD (23.8% of the total
effect) in medium-HDI countries, and -0.02 SD (6.9% of the total effect) in high-HDI
countries.
Children in the most disadvantaged position in their societies and children living in low-HDI
countries are at the greatest risk of failing to reach their developmental potential. Optimizing
care for child development at home is essential to reduce the adverse effects of poverty on
children’s early development and subsequent life.
has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which
may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article
as doi: 10.1111/cch.12395
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harsh punishments at home, and lack of early childhood education in low- and medium HDI
countries, but not in high-HDI countries.
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Number of
Age (months)
Low-HDI
Chad 7,029 48.0 (7.0) 50.3
DR Congo 4,045 46.2 (6.9) 50.0
Kenya 2,313 46.9 (6.8) 48.6
Madagascar 1,218 46.4 (6.6) 49.5
Mauritania 3,700 47.1 (6.8) 48.7
Nepal 1,550 46.7 (6.7) 48.5
Nigeria 10,204 47.4 (7.0) 48.9
Pakistan 4,909 47.4 (7.0) 45.2
Sierra Leone 3,673 46.7 (6.7) 49.9
Somalia 3,994 45.6 (6.7) 49.5
Togo 1,807 46.6 (6.9) 48.8
Medium-HDI
Ghana 3,075 47.0 (6.9) 49.3
Iraq 13,964 46.9 (6.9) 49.3
Lao 4,482 47.2 (6.8) 48.4
Moldova 732 47.4 (7.0) 46.6
Mongolia 1,322 47.3 (6.9) 50.6
Palestine 3,993 49.3 (6.1) 49.0
Suriname 1,278 47.2 (6.8) 51.3
Swaziland 1,076 47.3 (6.6) 51.4
Vietnam 1,462 46.9 (6.9) 49.7
Barbados 202 48.8 (6.7) 44.6
Belarus 1,411 47.7 (7.1) 50.6
Belize 785 48.1 (6.9) 50.7
Bosnia Herzegovina 1,033 46.9 (6.8) 51.6
CostaRica 915 47.0 (6.9) 52.1
Jamaica 668 47.7 (6.6) 47.3
Kazakhstan 1,961 47.1 (6.9) 47.8
Macedonia 557 48.1 (6.9) 49.9
Serbia 1,406 47.6 (7.1) 50.2
Tunisia 1,164 46.8 (6.8) 45.9
Ukraine 1,899 47.5 (6.9) 49.4
HDI
programs, % (95% CI)
(16.9 to 18.7)
(21.9 to 24.0)
(49.2 to 52.2)
mother in the past three days, mean (95% CI)
(1.71 to 1.78)
(2.10 to 2.18)
(4.19 to 4.30)
father in the past three days, mean (95% CI)
(0.76 to 0.81)
(1.10 to 1.16)
(1.85 to 1.96)
household, % (95% CI)
(4.3 to 5.1)
(15.3 to 16.8)
(74.1 to 76.5)
(32.2 to 34.4)
(76.5 to 78.4)
(85.4 to 96.5)
14 years at home in the last month, % (95%
CI)
(75.6 to 77.0)
(64.4 to 66.2)
(49.8 to 52.4)
Child development scale score
(Standardized linear regression coefficient
(95%CI))
program (1: yes; 0: no)
(0.21 to 0.43)
(0.18 to 0.27)
(-0.06 to 0.16)
(Standardized score)
(0.27 to 0.55)
(0.25 to 0.49)
(0.35 to 0.63)
young children (1: yeas; 0: no)
(-0.06 to -0.01)
(-0.16 to 0.01)
(-0.09 to 0.02)
defined by (linear regression coefficient
(95%CI))
engaged in by the mother
(0.29 to 0.49)
(0.57 to 0.80)
(0.64 to 0.84)
engaged in by the father
(0.22 to 0.35)
(0.43 to 0.55)
(0.44 to 0.61)
0.18
0.2
0.57
0.62
Attending early childhood education
program (odds ratio (95% CI))
other)
(0.29 to 0.64)
(0.35 to 0.67)
(0.40 to 0.52)
engaged in by the mother (linear
regression coefficient (95% CI))
other)
(-0.48 to 0.15)
(-0.58 to -0.18)
(-0.89 to -0.48)
engaged in by the father (linear
regression coefficient (95% CI))
other)
(-0.19 to 0.05)
(-0.32 to -0.18)
(-0.80 to -0.30)
ratio (95% CI))
other)
(0.93 to 1.01)
(0.75 to 0.98)
(0.47 to 0.89)
manufactured (odds ratio (95% CI))
other)
(0.36 to 0.65)
(0.36 to 0.68)
(0.24 to 0.43)
child aged 2-14 years at home in the last
month (odds ratio (95% CI))
other)
(0.92 to 1.18)
(0.9 to 1.23)
(0.86 to 1.09)
‘Care for child development at
home‘ WITH ‘Attending early childhood
education program,
(0.1 to 0.25)
(0.13 to 0.51)
(0.14 to 0.43)
WITH ‘Family with physical
punishments for children’
(-0.03 to 0.01)
(-0.09 to 0.01)
(-0.21 to -0.06)
engaging by mother’ WITH ‘Number of
early learning activities engaging by
father’
(0.44 to 0.74)
(0.42 to 0.74)
(0.34 to 0.84)
20%; 0: other) on Child development
scale score
-0.26
-0.29
-0.17
-0.27
development at home’ index
(-0.21 to -0.05)
(-0.13 to -0.05)
(-0.06 to 0.02)
Comparative Fit Index 0.995
Tucker-Lewis Index 0.976
model are Child sex, child age, urban/rural, number of children in the family, maternal
education, paternal education, mother at home, and father at home. Please see the full details
in Supplementary Table 1; (b)All of these parameters were calculated in a structural equation
model simultaneously.
All of the variables in the diagram (presented in rectangular boxes) are observed except for the unmeasured
(latent) variable ‘Care for child development at home’ (represented as an ellipse).Single-headed solid arrows
represent directional paths, dashed lines indicate the latent variable are defined by the variables, and double-
headed arrows indicate the variables that are assumed to be correlated.
countries
richest, 20% poorest and whole sample by countries
20% poorest and whole sample by countries
poorest and whole sample by countries
poorest and whole sample by countries
whole sample by countries
by in the 20% richest, 20% poorest and whole sample by countries
parenting practices, and access to early childhood education
Research Fellow
Jean Hailes Research Unit, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash
University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 3004;
Associate professor
Centre for International Health, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 3004
Jean Hailes Professor of Women’s Health and Director Jean Hailes Research Unit
School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria,
Australia 3004;
Jean Hailes Research Unit, School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash
University, Level 1, 549 St Kilda Road, Melbourne VIC 3004,
T: +613-9903-0626
E: thach.tran@monash.edu