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Early childhood education and care (ECEC) can bring a wide range of benefits for children, parents and society at large. However, these benefits are conditional on 'quality'. Expanding access to services without attention to quality will not deliver good outcomes for children or long-term productivity benefits for society. This report for Sweden is one of a series country reports that focus on quality issues. Each report tackles a specific theme that was selected by the country reviewed. These reports suggest strengths and point to areas for further reflection on current policy initiatives. Based on international literature reviews findings, the OECD has identified five levers as key policies to encourage quality in ECEC: (1) setting out quality goals and regulations; (2) designing and implementing curriculum and standards; (3) improving qualifications, training and working conditions; (4) engaging families and communities; and (5) advancing data collection, research and monitoring. Of the five policy levers, Sweden has selected 'designing and implementing curriculum and standards' for its current policy focus. The contents are: What does the research say? Where does Sweden stand compared to other countries? What are the challenges and strategies? Show less

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) can bring a wide range of benefits for children, parents and society at large. However, these benefits are conditional on 'quality'. Expanding access to services without attention to quality will not deliver good outcomes for children or long-term productivity benefits for society. This report for New Zealand is one of a series country reports that focus on quality issues. Each report tackles a specific theme that was selected by the country reviewed. These reports suggest strengths and point to areas for further reflection on current policy initiatives. Based on international literature reviews findings, the OECD has identified five levers as key policies to encourage quality in ECEC: (1) setting out quality goals and regulations; (2) designing and implementing curriculum and standards; (3) improving qualifications, training and working conditions; (4) engaging families and communities; and (5) advancing data collection, research and monitoring. Of the five policy levers, New Zealand has selected 'designing and implementing curriculum and standards' for its current policy focus. The contents are: What does research say? Where does New Zealand stand compared to other countries? What are the challenges and strategies? Show less

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) can bring a wide range of benefits for children, parents and society at large. However, these benefits are conditional on 'quality'. Expanding access to services without attention to quality will not deliver good outcomes for children or long-term productivity benefits for society. This report for Norway is one of a series country reports that focus on quality issues. Each report tackles a specific theme that was selected by the country reviewed. These reports suggest strengths and point to areas for further reflection on current policy initiatives. Based on international literature reviews findings, the OECD has identified five levers as key policies to encourage quality in ECEC: (1) setting out quality goals and regulations; (2) designing and implementing curriculum and standards; (3) improving qualifications, training and working conditions; (4) engaging families and communities; and (5) advancing data collection, research and monitoring. Of the five policy levers, Norway has selected 'designing and implementing curriculum and standards' for its current policy focus. The contents are: What does research say? Where does Norway stand compared to other countries? What are the challenges and strategies? Show less

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) can bring a wide range of benefits for children, parents and society at large. However, these benefits are conditional on 'quality'. Expanding access to services without attention to quality will not deliver good outcomes for children or long-term productivity benefits for society. This report is one of a series of country reports that focus on quality issues. Each report tackles a specific theme that was selected by the country reviewed, suggesting strengths and areas for further reflection on current policy initiatives. Based on international literature reviews findings, the OECD has identified five levers as key policies to encourage quality in ECEC: (1) setting out quality goals and regulations; (2) designing and implementing curriculum and standards; (3) improving qualifications, training and working conditions; (4) engaging families and communities; and (5) advancing data collection, research and monitoring. Of the five policy levers, England has selected 'engaging families and communities' for its current policy focus. This report consists of four chapters: 'Where does England stand regarding policy outcomes and inputs?', which presents two spider webs that give a quick overview on policy outcomes over the lifecycle of a child, such as participation rates in ECEC, [Programme for International Student Assessment] PISA performance scores and labour market outcomes, and policy inputs indicating which of the policies in place can influence ECEC and opportunities for parental engagement, including public ECEC expenditure, parental leave policies and classroom conditions, such as staff child ratios; 'What does research say?' which describes the latest research and explains why family and community engagement matter for better child development; 'Where does England stand compared to other countries?' which provides an international comparative overview of where the country stands with regard to family and community engagement based on data and information collected through the Survey for the Quality Toolbox and ECEC Portal and other OECD work related to this theme; and 'What are the challenges and strategies?' which presents the challenges countries have faced in enhancing family and community engagement and gives alternative approaches to overcome these challenges. This chapter provides a quick overview of what New Zealand, Nordic countries and the United States have done to tackle challenges in enhancing the involvement of families and communities in ECEC. Show less

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) can bring a wide range of benefits for children, parents and society at large. However, these benefits are conditional on 'quality'. Expanding access to services without attention to quality will not deliver good outcomes for children or long-term productivity benefits for society. This report for Portugal is one of a series country reports that focus on quality issues. Each report tackles a specific theme that was selected by the country reviewed. These reports suggest strengths and point to areas for further reflection on current policy initiatives. Based on international literature reviews findings, the OECD has identified five levers as key policies to encourage quality in ECEC: (1) setting out quality goals and regulations; (2) designing and implementing curriculum and standards; (3) improving qualifications, training and working conditions; (4) engaging families and communities; and (5) advancing data collection, research and monitoring. Of the five policy levers, Portugal has selected 'designing and implementing curriculum and standards' for its current policy focus. The contents are: What does research say? Where does Portugal stand compared to other countries? What are the challenges and strategies? Show less

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) can bring a wide range of benefits for children, parents and society at large. However, these benefits are conditional on 'quality'. Expanding access to services without attention to quality will not deliver good outcomes for children or long-term productivity benefits for society. This report for Japan is one of a series country reports that focus on quality issues. Each report tackles a specific theme that was selected by the country reviewed. These reports suggest strengths and point to areas for further reflection on current policy initiatives. Based on international literature reviews findings, the OECD has identified five levers as key policies to encourage quality in ECEC: (1) setting out quality goals and regulations; (2) designing and implementing curriculum and standards; (3) improving qualifications, training and working conditions; (4) engaging families and communities; and (5) advancing data collection, research and monitoring. Of the five policy levers, Japan has selected 'improving qualifications, training and working conditions' for its current policy focus. The contents are: Where does Japan stand regarding policy outcomes and inputs? What does research say? Where does Japan stand compared to other countries? What are the challenges and strategies? Show less

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) can bring a wide range of benefits for children, parents and society at large. However, these benefits are conditional on ‘quality’. This report is one of a series of country reports focusing on quality issues. The reports tackle a specific theme that was selected by the country reviewed, and suggest strengths and point to areas for further reflection on current policy initiatives. ‘Starting strong III: a quality toolbox for early childhood education and care’ has identified five policy levers that can encourage quality in ECEC, having positive effects on early child development and learning: (1) setting out quality goals and regulations; (2) designing and implementing curriculum and standards; (3) improving qualifications, training and working conditions; (4) engaging families and communities; and (5) advancing data collection, research and monitoring. Of these five, the Slovak Republic has selected the third, ‘improving qualifications, training and working conditions’ for its current policy focus. Show less

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) can bring a wide range of benefits for children, parents and society at large. However, these benefits are conditional on ‘quality’. This report is one of a series of country reports focusing on quality issues. The reports tackle a specific theme that was selected by the country reviewed, and suggest strengths and point to areas for further reflection on current policy initiatives. ‘Starting strong III: a quality toolbox for early childhood education and care’ has identified five policy levers that can encourage quality in ECEC, having positive effects on early child development and learning: (1) setting out quality goals and regulations; (2) designing and implementing curriculum and standards; (3) improving qualifications, training and working conditions; (4) engaging families and communities; and (5) advancing data collection, research and monitoring. Of these five, Finland has selected the third, ‘improving qualifications, training and working conditions’ for its current policy focus. Show less

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) can bring a wide range of benefits for children, parents and society at large. However, these benefits are conditional on ‘quality’. Expanding access to services without attention to quality will not deliver good outcomes for children or long-term productivity benefits for society. This report is one of a series of country reports that focus on quality issues. Each report tackles a specific theme that was selected by the country reviewed, suggesting strengths and areas for further reflection on current policy initiatives. Based on international literature reviews findings, the OECD has identified five levers as key policies to encourage quality in ECEC: (1) setting out quality goals and regulations; (2) designing and implementing curriculum and standards; (3) improving qualifications, training and working conditions; (4) engaging families and communities; and (5) advancing data collection, research and monitoring. Of the five levers, the Czech Republic selected ‘designing and implementing curriculum and standards’ to be the theme of this policy profile. This report consists of three chapters: ‘What does research say?’ describes the latest research and why a framework, such as curriculum or learning standards, matters for better child development; ‘Where does the Czech Republic stand compared to other countries?’ provides an international comparative overview of where the country stands with regard to curriculum design, identifying the strengths and areas for reflection for the Czech Republic in comparison with the selected reference countries; and ‘What are the challenges and strategies?’ presents the challenges countries have faced in designing, revising and implementing curriculum and gives alternative approaches to overcome these challenges. It provides a quick overview of what New Zealand, Norway and Scotland (United Kingdom) have done to tackle challenges in designing, revising or implementing curriculum.

Excerpts from publication. Show less

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) can bring a wide range of benefits for children, parents and society at large. However, these benefits are conditional on 'quality'. Expanding access to services without attention to quality will not deliver good outcomes for children or long-term productivity benefits for society. This report is one of a series of country reports that focus on quality issues. Each report tackles a specific theme that was selected by the country reviewed, suggesting strengths and areas for further reflection on current policy initiatives. Based on international literature reviews findings, the OECD has identified five levers as key policies to encourage quality in ECEC: (1) setting out quality goals and regulations; (2) designing and implementing curriculum and standards; (3) improving qualifications, training and working conditions; (4) engaging families and communities; and (5) advancing data collection, research and monitoring. Of the five policy levers, Korea has selected 'designing and implementing curriculum and standards' for its current policy focus. This report consists of five chapters: 'Where does Korea stand regarding policy outcomes and inputs?', which presents two spider webs that give a quick overview on policy outcomes over the lifecycle of a child, such as participation rates in ECEC, [Programme for International Student Assessment] PISA performance scores and labour market outcomes, and policy inputs indicating which of the policies in place can influence ECEC and opportunities for parental engagement, including public ECEC expenditure, parental leave policies and classroom conditions, such as staff child ratios; 'What does research say?' which describes the latest research and explains why a framework, such as curriculum or learning standards, matter for better child development; 'Where does Korea stand compared to other countries?' which provides an international comparative overview of where the country stands regarding curriculum frameworks and content; 'What are potential areas for reflection?', which provides some potential areas for reflection that can broaden perspectives through comparison with other countries as well as the emerging issues in a changing society; and 'What are the challenges and strategies?' which presents the challenges countries have faced in designing, revising and implementing curriculum and gives alternative approaches to overcome these challenges. The chapter provides a quick overview of what the reference countries [New Zealand, Nordic countries and the United States] have done to tackle challenges in designing, revising or implementing curriculum.

Excerpts from publication. Show less