Internationally, more and more children are attending informal and formal early childhood settings at an

earlier age. In Europe, up to 50% of all four-year-olds attend educational centers with a trained teacher,
and in countries such as Belgium, France and Italy, over 90% of three-year-olds have access to some
form of pre-primary education. Australia has also experienced a rapid growth in children accessing early
childhood services, with 83.4% of four-year-olds and 11.2% of three-year-olds participating in
educational considered the sole responsibility of parents and families are now shared within the wider
community. Early childhood settings, including crèches, day-care and family daycare centers,
kindergartens and preschools, are increasingly responsible for the nurturing, development and
education of children from birth to five years of age International research has recognized that the early
years of a child’s life significantly impact on their development and future academic capabilities.
Research in the field of neuroscience has disclosed that brain development is faster and more extensive
in the early years of are thought to enhance brain

Increased participation in ECE and attention to research has led to a range of programmes and research
projects being initiated

In the United Kingdom, the government recognised the significance of children’s early years

of development and of the need for quality carers in a 1990 report titled Starting with Quality

(Miller, 2002, pp. 76-79). Several reports and studies followed, including the Effective Early

Learning project from 1993 to 1997 (Pascal & Bertram, 1997), which concentrated on developing

carers’ planning and reflection practices to raise the quality of early learning in young children. The

1998 Sure Start project (Drury et al, 2000) promoted the health and development of young children

through local authorities working with communities to meet the needs of young children and their

families. An ongoing longitudinal study involving over 3000 children – the Effective Provision of

Pre-School Education (EPPE) project – commenced in 1997 with the purpose of improving the

quality of early childhood care, education and delivery of services (Sylva et al, 2003).

Similarly, Australia has also experienced a growing interest in ECE, giving rise to a number of

government-sponsored reports, beginning with A Snapshot of the Early Years of Schooling (Laver &

National Board of Employment, Education and Training, 1992). In 1999, an Australian background

report was prepared for the Australian government as part of the Organization for Economic
Cooperation

and Development’s thematic review of ECE and care. This report identified the need to

develop a ‘national vision for children’ (Press & Hayes, 1999, p. 62) and expand provision of quality

ECE and care to meet the needs of all Australian children.

In spite of this, there is considerable diversity in the organization of ECE in different
countries. Most have exhibited a clear awareness of the need to embrace ECE within the
government’s policy and legislative frameworks. This encouraging development is attributed in
part to global initiatives. Obviously, not all countries have reached the same level of development
in this regard. In developing countries, where Education for All is still far from becoming a reality,
the provision of ECE is still very limited and, more often than not, organized on a private basis. It is
therefore, only available to children from the wealthiest of families – in other words, there is
flagrant inequality which is, once more, detrimental to those who are the most disadvantaged.

(Hunzai, 2007