International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy

Tại Hoa Kỳ, số lượng trẻ em đăng ký học tại các chương trình mầm non tập trung đã chững lại khoảng 75% đối với trẻ bốn tuổi và 50% đối với trẻ ba tuổi. Gần như tất cả các chương trình của chính phủ đều hạn chế đối tượng cho trẻ em trong các gia đình thu nhập thấp, và những gia đình này đã tăng mạnh tỷ lệ tham gia chương trình mầm non do đó. Tuy nhiên, trong thập kỷ qua, ít có tiến bộ trong việc gia tăng số lượng trẻ em đăng ký, mặc dù chi tiêu của chính phủ đã tăng, và ít hơn một nửa số trẻ em trong các gia đình nghèo tham gia các chương trình công lập ngay cả ở độ tuổi bốn. Chất lượng giáo dục trung bình của các chương trình tư nhân khá thấp, và các chương trình công lập chỉ khá hơn chút ít. Kết quả là, hiệu quả giáo dục của các chương trình mầm non tại Hoa Kỳ có xu hướng yếu hơn nhiều so với các chương trình nghiên cứu nổi tiếng được chứng minh là hiệu quả về mặt chi phí. Bài viết này xem xét liệu giáo dục mầm non tổng hợp công cộng cho mọi trẻ em có thể giải quyết tốt các vấn đề này hay không. Giáo dục mầm non công cộng chung sẽ tiếp cận được nhiều hơn số trẻ em trong các gia đình nghèo và thu nhập thấp. Đối với những chương trình được kiểm tra phương tiện, thu nhập liên tục thay đổi là một mục tiêu khó nắm bắt, trong khi sự kỳ thị liên quan đến các chương trình cho người nghèo cũng hạn chế sự tham gia. Hiệu quả chương trình ít nhất sẽ tương đương trong một chương trình phổ thông như đối với chương trình tập trung vào nhóm cần thiết, và hiệu quả có thể thực sự được cải thiện. Một nguồn tăng cường hiệu quả là ảnh hưởng của đồng học đến việc học. Ngoài ra, các bậc cha mẹ từ các gia đình có thu nhập cao hơn có thể là những người phản đối chất lượng tốt hơn, và sự ủng hộ chính trị cho chất lượng cũng có thể tăng. Trẻ em từ các gia đình có thu nhập trung bình và cao hơn cũng sẽ hưởng lợi từ các chương trình mầm non công cộng được trợ cấp chất lượng cao. Phương pháp tiếp cận phổ thông sẽ tốn kém hơn các chương trình nhắm tới mục tiêu hiện tại, nhưng chuyển từ giáo dục mầm non công cộng nhắm tới mục tiêu sang giáo dục mầm non công cộng bao quát có khả năng mang lại những lợi ích vượt xa chi phí thêm cần thiết.

Great progress in the field of early childhood education policy in China has been made in 2010. In the light of the National Plan for Medium and the Long-term Program for Education Reform and Development, the Chinese government has made a series of efforts aimed at promoting the development of early childhood education. The new policies include an increase in the 3-year early childhood program enrollment; the clarification of the governments’ main responsibilities for the provision of early childhood education; an increase of funding for early childhood education, (especially for disadvantaged children); the strengthening of teacher capacity; and the strengthening of program quality and management amongst other changes. Each province has developed a 3-year Action Plan to implement the policy. The challenges for the implementation of the new policy are also discussed.

Since 2000, the pre-school landscape in Singapore has been evolving and changing more rapidly than before. The interest of raising the quality of pre-school education is evident in the introduction of new policies and implementation of new initiatives in the last six years. These policy developments have resulted in significant changes in various aspects of the quality standards of pre-school education in Singapore. This paper presents the context of pre-school education policy and practice in Singapore and highlights recent key reforms introduced by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in order to promote quality kindergarten education.

The development of the childcare and kindergarten systems in Singapore took different paths historically before reaching common grounds for collaboration. While the objectives of kindergartens under the Ministry of Education have been vey much focused on preparing children for school, that of the childcare system, under the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports have been very much influenced by various policies throughout the years — welfare, economic, population, social and education policies. All these policies have helped to shape the quality of the care, development and education of young children in the childcare system today. To benefit all young children in childcare or kindergartens, services for the early years need to be geographically and financially accessible, of good quality and address issues of equity as well. Singapore depends on the political will and private initiatives working in partnership with parents to bring the early childhood field to the next level of development.

The rationale for this study sprang from the dissatisfaction expressed in many countries during the OECD reviews about the split in services. Because of the split, ministries had ceased to talk with each other: early education had tended to become a junior school and care a question of baby-sitting while mothers worked. In particular, the low qualifications of staff in child care and the suppression of children’s natural learning strategies in kindergarten had become matters of concern. Examples of integrated systems were already available in the Nordic countries to show that such oppositions were not necessary. The integration of early education and childcare is often considered a question of auspices or administration. To the contrary, our analysis shows that to be successful, integrations must go deeper than this. As examples, integration is examined in some countries, in particular, in the forerunners, such as New Zealand and Sweden, and then in some of the newcomers, such as Brazil and Slovenia. Finally, conclusions and recommendations are provided.

This paper discusses the main policies and efforts aimed at childcare support undertaken by the Korean Government from 2003 to 2007, as well as dealing with the ensuing policy issues which arose as a result of such efforts. This paper also seeks to review the details and implications of the First and Second Policy Scheme of National Childcare Support, as well as those of the Nationwide Survey of Childcare and Early Childhood Education prepared by the Presidential Committee in 2004 and 2005. In addition, this study investigates changes made to major childcare support policy indicators, which can be said to be the output of implementing policy tasks. Some quantitative indicators such as the supply of childcare facilities and childcare budgets indicate clear increases while other indicators, such as teachers’ salaries, the safety condition of facilities, and the actual measurements of the quality of childcare service do not indicate an increase. This paper also discusses some issues of controversy regarding childcare support policies which the government will encounter in the process of policy creation as well as actually undertaking policy projects. These issues include the expansion of public services as opposed to the utilization of private services, support for low-income families as opposed to general support, control of rather than self-regulation of childcare fees, support for institutions as opposed to direct assistance to young children, and maximization rather than the minimization of governmental intervention. This study concludes that Korea’s childcare policies are evolving from a conservative approach to a more progressive one. National welfare and associated policies are expected to continue to move towards a more progressive perspective, despite the diversity of opinion within Korean society over these issues, as evidenced in current debates. This is because general financial support has been greatly increased on an annual basis and this has taken place against the backdrop of a national consensus which has seen a broadening of governmental support for childcare due to the crisis of an ever lowering fertility rate.

Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) in Malaysia is catching much more limelight now than in the past. In a country where governance is very centralized, such attention has given rise to more quality preschool classes and initiatives. Comprehensive policies have been developed and implemented, however studies have shown that there are gaps between the aspired and the implemented. Good governance ensures successful implementation of policies. Good governance requires the authority and other stakeholders to focus on the vulnerable population including the indigenous people, children with special needs and refugee. Providing effective dissemination of policies, maintaining a sustainable mechanism of monitoring, attention to coordination and integration are tasks at hand to ensure successful implementation of policies. The ECCE Policy Implementation Review initiated by UNESCO and UNICEF has provided much evidence-based input to tackle these issues. This paper provides a situation analysis of the status of ECCE in Malaysia based on the findings of ECCE Policy Implementation Review.