1. Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States State of the Art of Early Childhood Education from birth to eight years in the Hemisphere Department of Education and Culture Organization of American States II Inter American Symposium Policies and Strategies for a sucessful children transition towards socialization and school Chile, May 27 -29, 2009

2. Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States Contents Based on the questionnaires applied by OEA: Global and regional political commitments Final thoughts

3. Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States Education and the Summit of the Americas Summit of the Americas Ministerial Meetings V Meeting of Ministers of Education Colombia, 17 – 19, nov. 2007 Early Childhood Inter American Committee on Education (CIE) Authorities, Executive Committee Propose policies, priorities, and regional mandates Offer opportunities for dialogue and policy decisions Monitor Summit and ministerial mandates. Transform the dialogue into cooperation strategies with the support of the technical secretary. DEC Technical Secretariat supports and promotes dialogue and actions

4. Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States Committee on the Rights of the Child 40th Session period Ginebra, 12 - 30 September 2005 GENERAL OBSERVATION Nº 7 (2005) Development of children rights in early childhood.

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

6. Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States FIFTH MEETING OF MINISTERS OF EDUCATION 15 y 16 november, 2007CIDI/RME/doc.10/07 Cartagena de Indias, Colombia Hemispheric Commitment to Early Childhood Education (Adopted at the ninth plenary session held on November 16, 2007)

7. Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States HEMISPHERIC COMMITMENT TO EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION WE AGREE, for the purposes of this Hemispheric Commitment, that early childhood education is fundamental in the process of comprehensive development of children from birth to eight years of age, and we recognize that it is provided in different ways in different countries, but must include a joint effort by the family, school, and the community to develop effective public policies, as well as the contribution of the various sectors in society.

8. Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States HEMISPHERIC COMMITMENT TO EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION WE RECOGNIZE the family as the first and irreplaceable medium for educating and taking care of girls and boys, as well as the role of communities and governments in promoting policies of equitable access to quality early childhood education and its effective incorporation into each country’s educational system.

9. Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States HEMISPHERIC COMMITMENT TO EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION WE AFFIRM the commitment of States or pertinent authorities to promote quality professional preparation and ongoing development for early childhood education staff, teachers, and technical personnel. We recognize the commitment of educators throughout the Hemisphere to the education of our children and young people.

10. Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States POLICIES a.Significant progress in policy formulation. Progress in legal framework, standards, strategic and operational plans. b.Exist a more coordinate work at the higher political levels: CARICOM, CECC- SICA, MERCOSUR Educational, Andean. c. Formulation of objectives goes beyond access to embrace issues related to comprehensive early childhood development. d. Transition, focus on specific actions without explicit relation to policies. e. Not consideration of the contributions of Observation 7 regardless its importance as an important instrument to support children rights since birth to eight years.

11. Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States POLICIES f. Fragmented practices among sectors without quality and respect to the integral development of the children. g. Discrepancy among the political priority of the sectors of education and health and the financial assignation to make these priorities effective. h. Incipient and biased participation of the media in the development of projects and services towards the early childhood.

12. Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States CURRICULUM AND PROGRAMS a.Significant efforts of Curricular review on 0-4 years, basic education and restructuration of pre – school level. b. Increasing development of working guides and materials for non formal education services according to diversity. c. Initial development of the use of the computer. d. Challenge: There is a need to develop working guides and materials on transition, for work with parents and 0-3 years, teachers and non teacher.

13. Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States STUDIES AND RESEARCHES a. Greater development and support on the research in Early Childhood in the North Hemisphere countries (longitudinal studies, children’s skills, the experiences in preschool, on their transitions to Kindergarten, etc). b.Little use of the knowledge produced in the academic sphere by the policy makers. c. Need to move forward to qualitative researches about the learning of children and about the impact of the services on the development of the childhood.

14. Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States TRAINING a. The policies of teacher education need to incorporate the multi – sectoral and inter- sectoral perspectives of work/dynamic work with parents. a.Limitation of the access to post graduate programs on their own country, more online access. Challenge: funds for university studies. b.Prepare families and educational agents using the appropriated methodology.

15. Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States ASSESSMENT, MONITORING, AND FOLLOW UP a.Governments are interested in developing evaluation systems: children competencies, programs and policies (USA, CANADA and Caribbean). b.Differences in the development of the systems of assessment and follow up in different levels (quality indicators, relevancy, equity). c.Lack of systems to evaluate the impact of the policies.

16. Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States FINANCING a.No less than 80% of the investments on Early Childhood has as its source the State and almost 100% of the investments on early childhood are from the State in the Rural areas. b.Little information about the national budget and annual cost per child. e.There are difficulties in the financial management of the resources assigned to the education. f.There are no studies able to give a precise return index on the human capital development.

17. Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States Final Thoughts -Look for the homogenization of a system of motoring and follow up with dimensions, categories, and indicators, that allow a trustful collection, organization and dissemination of the information and the data about early childhood. -Continue the efforts for the Universal integral attention to the children from 0-8 years old. -OAS, associated with other organizations, monitoring, evaluation and follow up of the policies and work plans that will be proposed at the Conclusion Forum of the II Symposium. -Continuation of the Project: Political trends for Transition Policies OEA/Van Leer.

18. Department of Education and CultureOrganization of American States Final Thoughts -Design a new proposal to the initial education and in the in work of the teacher. -Strengthen and amplify the collaborative work : government, organizations, civil society, companies, editorials, -Initiate flexible, integrated, decentralized experiences to handle the diversity, focusing on: Health, Education, Welfare, Nutrition and Affection.