This timely book reveals how policies of childcare and early childhood education influence children’s circumstances and the daily lives of families with children. Examining how these policies are approached, it focuses particularly on the issues and pitfalls related to equal access.

This book evaluates recent early childhood education policies on the basis of a ‘3A2S’ framework, which refers to accessibility, affordability, accountability, sustainability, and social justice. It systematically and empirically reviews early childhood education policies in specific countries and areas in the Asia-Pacific Region, such as Australia, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, and so on. As the first English-language collection of large-scale reviews of early childhood education policies in Asia Pacific, this book will be of great value to early childhood educators, policymakers, researchers, and postgraduate students in the Region and beyond.

Due to the demand for flexible working hours and employees who are available around the clock, the time patterns of childcare and schooling have increasingly become a political issue. Comparing the development of different “time policies” of half-day and all-day provisions in a variety of Eastern and Western European countries since the end of World War II, this innovative volume brings together internationally known experts from the fields of comparative education, history, and the social and political sciences, and makes a significant contribution to this new interdisciplinary field of comparative study.

Since the early 2000s, Indonesia has taken a number of steps to prioritize early childhood development - ranging from the inclusion of Early Childhood Development (ECD) in the National Education System Law No. 20 in 2003 to a Presidential Declaration on Holistic and Integrated ECD and the launch of the country's first ever ECD Census in 2011. These policy milestones have occurred in parallel with sustained progress on outcomes included in the Millennium Development Goals, including for child malnutrition, child mortality and universal basic education. Additional progress could be achieved by strengthening ECD policies further. This report presents findings from an assessment of ECD policies and programs in Indonesia based on two World Bank tools: the ECD module of the Systems Approach for Better Education Results (SABER) and a guide on essential interventions for investing in young children. Results from the application of both tools to Indonesia are used to suggest a number of policy options for consideration.

′A much needed book that uniquely brings together policy and practice in early childhood education and care across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It offers a wealth of information and useful websites and addresses so that, importantly, readers can keep abreast of the rapidly changing external environment in these countries... An essential read for those wishing to understand the background to policy and practice in early childhood education and care′ - Linda Miller, The Open University ′This book is long overdue; it provides effective cameos of developments in each country, highlighting key legislation, the underlying philosophy, the formation of policies and thier implementation in state, voluntary and private provision′ - The International Journal of Early Childhood ′This unique resource will be invaluable in helping students and others trying to understand the context of current early years provision. The case studies bring the book to life and ground it in the stories of real children and their families. They highlight how the similarities and differences in support for children and their families are more dependent on where they live than what they need′ - Lesley Staggs Early childhood education and care policy has an impact on the daily lives of early years practitioners and the families and children they work with, and practising and trainee early childhood professionals need to have an understanding of current policy as well as the contexts for policy-making and implementation. Currently, the majority of textbooks for early years education and early childhood students in the UK focus on the situation in England. As a result, readers may have a skewed perspective on policy and practice, and not be aware of the varying and different contexts in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Also, those working in settings not in England have to work hard to apply texts to their own contexts. In contrast, this book gives the reader easy access to information on the policies and practices in ECEC across each of the countries in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Each chapter covers: o background information o policy and practice in early childhood education and care o transition o schooling and curriculum o quality assurance, examination and inspection o professional development and training o future and imminent changes o case studies of children′s lives. In addition to describing the legislatory, political and practical situation in each country, the book enables comparisons to be drawn, and helps readers interpret the data critically. It will be essential reading for modules on comparative education and international perspectives, but will also form a foundation for all modules involving policy and provision on Early Years Education, Early Childhood or Childhood Studies courses. Practitioners undertaking CPD modules or foundation degrees, and international students looking for comparative data will also find the book useful.

This book explains the differences between European countries in the supply and forms of public child care and preschool provisions by reference to the historical context in which these forms originated and to the institutional constraints underlying their development.

This edited volume provides a critical account of the theories and policies that have informed work in the field of early childhood and explores how they have operated in practice. Underpinning the theoretical debates are the familiar tensions between global norms and local contexts; increasing inequality alongside economic progress, and the increasing prominence of business and the private sector in delivering aid programs. The authors offer a profound critique on an increasingly important topic and discuss alternative models of policy and practice.

As the conservative political mood of our nation eliminates programs for the increasing numbers of bilingual children, educators are nevertheless expected to teach linguistically and culturally diverse learners with limited background knowledge and resources. This edited volume challenges "mainstream" educators to critically examine how to best meet the needs of bilingual/bicultural children in contemporary America.

In Constructing Policy Change, Linda A. White examines the expansion of early childhood education and care (ECEC) policies and programs in liberal welfare states, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, and the USA. In the first part of the book, the author investigates the sources of policy ideas that triggered ECEC changes in various national contexts. This is followed by a close analysis of cross-national variation in the implementation of ECEC policy in Canada and the USA. White argues that the primary mechanisms for policy change are grounded in policy investment logics as well as cultural logics: that is, shifts in public sentiments and government beliefs about the value of ECEC policies and programs are rooted in both evidence-based arguments and in principled beliefs about the policy. A rich, nuanced examination of the reasons motivating ECEC policy expansion and adoption in different countries, Constructing Policy Change is a corrective to the comparative welfare state literature that focuses on political interest alone.