Within the broad landscape of early childhood education and care politics and policies, calling quality reform into question is a political act. As numerous scholars have pointed out, policy structures that measure and identify what constitutes quality (and what does not) are not value-free and reflect neoliberal human capital economic agenda…

The growing number of studies stresses the importance of social investment at an early age by showing that social investment at this period has the highest returns in human capital. The main instrument of social investment at an early age is high quality early childhood education and care services. The aim of the research was to identify whether…

The COVID-19 pandemic has created an opportunity to examine the initial policies developed by Australian, Canadian, English, German, Greek and Irish governments to limit the spread of the virus. This has revealed governments' conceptualisation of the early childhood sector and its workforce. This paper argues that neoliberal ideology and…

In the course of a study on the impacts of changing early childhood policy in Aotearoa New Zealand since 1989, the illustrations accompanying three major government reports and policies stood out as encapsulating the changes in underlying discourses. This enabled the illustrations from these three policy reports to be used for a historical…

Universal public childcare for children under seven has been central in Finland since the mid-1990s, capacitating both gender equality and children's human capital and wellbeing. In 2015, as a further step in the development of this system, early learning and childhood pedagogy was strengthened through the early childhood education and care (ECEC)…

At the present, human capital theory (HCT) and neuroscience reasoning are dominant frameworks in early childhood education and care (ECEC) worldwide. Popular since the 1960s, HCT has provided an economic understanding of human beings and offered strategies to manage the population with the promise of bringing improvements to nations. Neuroscience…

This article examines the effects of edu-capitalism and neoliberal education policies across Australia, New Zealand and United States to disrupt hegemonic policy logic based on neutral human capital. Current frameworks, standards and assessment tools govern and control how early childhood educators see and assess children and in turn develop and…

The international interest in early childhood education and care (ECEC) by supranational organisations, including the European Union, has grown considerably due to its dual function of sustaining parental employment and fostering child development. Focussing primarily on child development debates around ECEC, this article argues that human capital…

Shifts are occurring in discourses regarding childcare, creating changes in the development of early childhood education programmes. Childcare, as an important "investment" for the future success of nation-states, is a discourse recently developed across a variety of political arenas, both globally and in local governing bodies and…

Business leaders have an acute understanding of the importance of a well-educated workforce to support a strong economy, keep America competitive globally, and ensure a vibrant democracy. Right now 20 percent of the American labor force is functionally illiterate or innumerate. High-quality child care and early education builds a strong foundation…

The Committee for Economic Development (CED) has a decades-old commitment to quality early childhood education. CED Trustees have always been in the forefront of the effort to promote early learning and development for all children. Over recent years, the case for investment in the early years of childhood has become stronger and more urgent.…

In Europe, social investments on behalf of children have become an important issue in social policy. In the Dutch welfare state debate, however, the issue has only a modest place, which raises questions about whether an extension of existing arrangements would be necessary and what its societal legitimacy would be. This article discusses the first…

In developed countries, obesity tends to be associated with worse labor market outcomes. One possible reason is that obesity leads to less human capital formation early in life. This paper investigates the association between obesity and the developmental functioning of children at younger ages (2-4 years) than ever previously examined. Data from…

The government of Canada announced in the October 2004 Speech from the Throne that it will move ahead with its long-awaited national childcare program. In early 2005, federal, provincial and territorial ministers will meet to forge a deal for a national childcare program. The national Advisory Committee on Rural Issues applauds this attention to…

This report submitted to the World Bank analyzes the early childhood development (ECD) policies, strategies, and programs in Egypt in 2001. Information was gathered from documents, observations in kindergartens and nurseries, interviews with more than 50 teachers and parents, and a survey of policymakers and program managers in Cairo, Egypt. The…