Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States State-of-the-Art of Early Childhood Development, Care, and Education Policies in the Hemisphere Department of Education and Culture Organization of American States Fifth Meeting of Ministers of Education. Lessons Learned and Hemispheric Commitments for Earl Childhood Education November , 2007

Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States Contents Overview of the situation in the Americas Study and research contributions. Global and regional political commitments. Current policies and policy trends. Final thoughts.

Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States Overview of the Current Situation in the Americas Data, studies, and research all highlight the challenge of achieving sustained social and economic development capable of drastically reducing poverty and increasing equity….LANCET (January 2007) 200 million children under five years of age fail to reach their development potential..Agreement of San José (October 2007), best alternative: Early Childhood Development (ECD) Summary: early, integral, high-quality development, care, and education policies and programs, involving parents, the community, civil society, and governments

Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States Integral ECD Programs: health/nutrition, strong family environment/affection, skills- building. Equity and democratic social development. Development of brain potential of the fetus is crucial Study and Research Contributions Heckman, other Nobel prize winners, economists from all over the world. Consultation of San José (Oct. 2007) Research studies : Mustard, Goleman, Carnegie Co, M. Young Solid, irrefutable, practical arguments as to why and how Return on the investment. Major socio-economic problems begin in the family. Need to educate early on: mother, family.

Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States J. Heckman (Nobel prize winner in Economics, 2000), Oct.2007: Rates of return on investment in human capital at different ages

Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States GLOBAL AND REGIONAL POLITICAL COMMITMENTS: process Prior to the 1970s: Handout Approach. UNICEF. First studies, marginalized areas. Policies lacking – 1995: Convention, Summits: Population, social development, women, the family, early childhood : Second Summit, OAS Education (earlier) : Summits, EfW, Millennium Goals, Dakar, Ministers of Education (2005), General Observation No. 7, Rights of the Child, Morelia, San José, others

Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States Fourth Meeting of Ministers of Education, CIDI Declaration of Scarborough We recognize the need to broaden the structure of education beginning with early childhood education, given its very positive impact on the quality of education and on the reduction of inequality..

Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States State of the Art of Policies by subregion and region (Inputs) -Reports of member states. Fifth Ministerial. -Questionnaires (21) -I Symposium: State of the Art 0-3 T. group. (Experts contribution: CINDE, Univ. of Manizales, Católica and Foro Perú, World Bank, IDB, UNICEF, Van Leer, Plan Holland, I Global meeting: Science, knowledge, and early education, Municip. Gov. Nuevo León, CENDI). -Web material and events. Projects. -Specialized consultants civil society.

Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States NORTHAMERICA(3) CENTRALAMERICA(7) CARIBBEAN(14) ANDEANCOUNTRIES(4) MERCOSUR & Southern Cone (6) Antigua & Barbuda. Bahamas Barbados Belize Dominica Haiti Grenada Guyana Jamaica St. Lucia St Vincent & The Granadines St Kitts & Nevis Suriname Trinidad & Tobago Canada Mexico United States Argentina Brazil Bolivia Chile Paraguay Uruguay Colombia - Ecuador - Peru - Venezuela Guatemala -El Salvador Honduras - Nicaragua Costa Rica - Panama - Dominican Republic 34 OAS member states by subregions

Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States Tendencies and challenges of policies, by categories POLICIES Studies and Research Evaluation Follow-up, and Monitoring Training of educators Curricula and Programs Financing Coordination Transition

Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States POLICIES State of the Art: a.Most institutionalized development, care, and education from birth to age 6. Policies exist, investment lacking. b.Subregional, potentially integral, action agendas. However, supporting frameworks guaranteeing education from pregnancy onwards. c.Importance is attached to the 4-6 years age bracket; from birth to 3; slow progress, still sectoral rather than State; Priority, quality, and equity. e.Weak statistics systems, diversity, equity, and inclusion. f.Precise conceptualization; coordination between research – early childhood, criteria, and clear regulatory frameworks.

Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States Studies and Research State of the Art: a.Progress has been made with constructing several sets of indicators (emphasis on education, rights of the child). We need to know how to use them to support policy design, monitoring, and evaluation. More quantitative research to elicit statistical information. Establish qualitative indicators and data on learning processes. b.Little use of knowledge of early childhood in academic circles. c. Little research into curricula and teaching techniques, from birth to 6 years. d.The gap between research and social practices needs to be closed. c. More longitudinal studies and types of programs from birth to 3 years.

Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States CURRICULA AND PROGRAMS State of the Art: a.Most countries have a macro guidelines framework with weak implementation by teachers; a tendency to replicate programs without evaluating or systematizing. b.Scant research about pedagogy, except for the birth to 3 years bracket. c. Curricula, multidisciplinary perspective, and comprehensive care, from birth to 3 years. High-quality programs for parents. d. New directions: protection, health, nutrition, education with appropriate teaching practices, birth to 3 and birth to 6 years.

Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States TRAINING State of the Art: a.Tendency toward non-comprehensive disciplinary and sectoral approach, with little specialized teacher training from the birth to 3 years bracket. b.Shortage of researchers with postgraduate degrees, and voluntary teacher trainers lack high-quality training systems. d.Sporadic training for families and educators needs to be corrected; instruments not based on appropriate methodologies.

Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States EVALUATION, MONITORING AND FOLLOW-UP State of the Art: a. Few systems : - -deficient and lacking clarity. -unreliable statistical information -lack of clear indicators on quality/expected outcomes b. Scant participation by civil society. c. Lack of systems for evaluating the impact of policies, indicators of quality, better tailored and more participatory evaluation approaches and follow-up to transitions.

Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States LINKAGES State of the Art: a. Different practices for different sectors, lacking quality and respect for the integral development of the child. b. Experiences of coordination between government and civil society – without comprehensive practices. c. Progress made toward unified policies: public and private sectors. d. Promotes intersectoral processes integrating social, educational, and care policies.

Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States FINANCING State of the Art: a. Heterogeneous: communal, NGOs and agencies (plus health) b. Little information on national budgets and annual costs per child c. Lack of information on the rate of return on human- capital development. Educational costs for the birth to 3 years bracket are considered an investment d. Invest in integral development with a policy clearly geared to overcoming poverty and achieving greater equity. b. Boost funding as a priority investment.

Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States TRANSITIONS TRANSITIONS State of the Art: a.Isolated efforts, few studies, and lack of monitoring. b. Promotes research projects and information systems that support conceptual benchmarks. c. Identify existing experience with high-quality policies and programs within and outside the Hemisphere.

Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States Final Thoughts -Informal ECD policies and programs for the birth to 3 years bracket, with parents (Govt. civil society, and private sector) -OAS Monitoring, evaluation, and follow-up to I Symposium policies (directors / tools) -II on transitions (Chile, May, 2009) -Political trends for transition OAS/Van Leer. -Joint actions with international organizations, and civil society. -Statistical information system based on an explicit conceptual framework containing qualitative descriptors that includes an integral concept of human development (health, education, welfare), modalities and quality criteria for all countries. Harmonize in order to compare data. -State of the Art of policies.

Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States Final Thoughts -New dimension in the approach to training and in-service training (paradigms) human, integral development approach. -Joint Work: governments, organizations, civil society, private sector, publishers, State approaches, equity, diversity, quality, (0-3), mothers, the family, rural, indigenous, minorities.. - Initiate flexible, integral, decentralized, experiences, to handle diversity, focusing on H E W, affection.