Nora Milotay - EECERA 2013 Keynote

Date: in 12 pts

European policy cooperation in the field of early childhood education and care (ECEC)

DG Education and Culture EECERA,Talinn, August 2013

Education and Training

Date: in 12 ptsEducation and Training

What will I talk about ?

• European policy context–holistic approach to children

• Issues at European-level for policy cooperation - Communication and Council Conclusions on ECEC

• European policy tools in ECEC • Cross-sectoral synergies


Policy framework: smart, sustainable and inclusive growth

Headline targets in the EU 2020 strategyThe share of early school leavers should be under 10%20 million less people should be at risk of povertyAt least 40% of the younger generation should have a tertiary degree


EU co-operation in education & training

• Programmes: Lifelong Learning

Programme, Erasmus for

All, Erasmus Mundus,

Tempus…

• Political co-operation: Europe 2020 strategy, Education and Training

2020 Strategy,

European Semester

• Open method of coordination

• Common objectives• EU reference tools supporting

national reforms• Monitoring of progress (indicators

and benchmarks, biennial joint reports)

• Peer-learning, peer-review


Communication and Council Conclusions on ECEC

• Improving accessibility and quality

• Holistic approach to children – from birth to compulsory school age


PARENTALSUPPORT

POLICY MAKERS MAY HAVE A DIRECT INFLUENCE ON

HIGH QUALITY EDUCATION AND CARE Intensive verbal interactions

Cognitive stimulationGood climateSocialisation

STAFF TRAINING Level

Duration Skills required

PROVISIONCapacity/volumeAge of access

Staff ratioFees

InvolvementIn ECEC

ReducingCost

GREATEST BENEFITS TO CHILDREN AT RISK Source: Eurydice


Accessibility: Barcelona

target

Formal child care by age category (2011)

Children cared for as a percentage of all children in the same age category

Sources: Eurostat — EU-SILC 2010 Notes: ‘Close to an objective’ refers to countries that had around 25 % of coverage for children under 3 (Finland) or around 80 % coverage of children aged 3 to the mandatory school age (Austria, Ireland).


Accessibility: Participation in

ECEC–but quantity without

quality is of little merit

France 100Netherlands 99.7

Spain 99.3Belgium 98.9Denmark 98.8

Italy 98.1United Kingdom 95.1

Germany 94.5Sweden 94

Luxembourg 93.9Hungary 93.6

EU 27 92.7Austria 92.6

Slovenia 90.7Estonia 90.7Portugal 89.2

Malta 88.8Czech Republic 88.2

Latvia 86.7Ireland 84.7Cyprus 81.8

Romania 79.8Bulgaria 79.4Lithuania 76.6Slovakia 71.1Poland 69.8Greece 68.2Finland 66.8

Participation in early childhood education, 2010 (%) Evolution 2010-2010 (% relative change)

32.4

6.1

30.9

1.8

29.2

7.9

21.4

31.8

16.3

33.6

-1.4

-11.0

13.2

3.2

8.0

8.9

8.5

0.4

-0.1

13.8

16.5

-3.3

-2.9

2.5

0.0

-0.6

0.1

0.0

-15 -10 -5 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

73.1

73.5

76.3

77.5

78.3

79.2

82.1

85.3

85.4

87.4

88.7

89.0

89.3

89.8

92.0

92.1

92.4

94.3

94.6

95.1

96.2

96.7

97.1

98.1

99.1

99.4

99.6

100.0

020406080100120

Be

nc

hm

ark

20

20

Age 4 to start of compulsory schooling


What is in legislation and policy documents on quality in the Member States?

• Always an explicit reference in legislation or policy. However some:– operate local or regional systems– use accreditation or inspection systems– provide frameworks within which others act– require local authorities to be responsible.


Quality criteria

• organisational – such as group size, space, staff/children ratios etc

• professional – such as curriculum, staff qualifications, social cohesion etc

• quality assurance – such as self-assessment or inspection


Outcomes and outputs in legislation and policy

• there is a greater focus on inputs and processes than outputs

• the short term impacts (outputs) are more explicit than the longer term impact of ECEC (outcomes);

• measures or indicators to record progress or impact are rare.


Quality/1: Age-appropriate content / curriculum

• Integrating care and education (independent of system type)

• Addressing children’s needs in a holistic way (cognitive, social, emotional, physical)

• Skills beget skills – non-cognitive are crucial

• Play is learning


Quality/2: Staff

Minimum requirements for the level and duration of initial education and training for staff working with children under 2-3 years, 2006/07

Level and minimum length of initial teacher education for pre-primary level (ISCED 0), and the compulsory minimum proportion of time devoted to professional training, 2006/07


Quality/2: Staff

Source:CORE study 2011


Quality/3: Governance

Finance of public sector and publicly subsidised private ECEC settings (2006/07)

Main models of (accredited and subsidised) ECEC provision according to the age of children 2006/7


Quality/4:Funding

Public spending on early childhood education and care as a % of GDP 2009

Source: OECD Family database, Indicator PF3.1 2009).



Current initiatives at EU level


Building momentum through Europe 2020

•National Reform Programmes presented by MS in April•Examples of CSRs proposed by the Commission on 29 May •Child poverty/income support measures (BG, EE, HU, IT, RO, LV, UK)•Social services for children/desinstitutionalisation (BG, RO)•ECEC and childcare (AT, CZ, DE, EE, ES, HU, IT, MT, PL, UK, SK, RO)•Inclusive education/combating early school leaving (AT, BG, CZ, HU, ES, IT, MT, PL, SK)•Adoption late June


Thematic Working Group on ECEC

•27 countries•Different backgrounds of representatives•Peer learning and peer review•Development of European reference tools (quality framework, glossary of terms)

Date: in 12 pts

Standards alongside values Voice of the child

Diversity

Outcomes and processes Participation of

parents

Education and Training


Widen the evidence base

• Open calls for tender and 7th Framework Programme for Research and Development (quality and testing and setting the ground for a large scale longitudinal survey on children)

• Forthcoming Eurydice study – Key data• Cooperating with OECD (Monitoring quality project and ECEC

Network)• European Platform for Investing in Children to collect and

disseminate innovative practices• Test the effectiveness of conditional cash transfers and their

impact on children (PROGRESS study)• Focus on households with children in projects on reference

budgets, right to housing• Social experimentation projects with a focus on quality childcare

services (selection ongoing)


Making better use of existing financial tools

• European Social Fund and European Regional Fund • Erasmus for All • Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD)• Programme for Social Change and Innovation (PSCI)• Horizon 2020


Strengthening synergies across sectors: DG EMPL

• Social Investment for Growth and Cohesion - including implementing the ESF 2014-2020 (COMM)

• Investing in Children - Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage (REC)Common vision to stimulate policy reforms and social innovation

Policy guidelines and a set of indicators to monitor progress

• Indicator based monitoring framework (ANNEX)Overall objective (Europe 2020)Access to adequate resources (parents' access to the labour market, income support)Access to services (education, health, housing)

• No indicator related to pillar 3 (participation) nor to children in most vulnerable situations


Strengthening synergies across sectors: DG JUST

Report on progress towards the Barcelona targets on childcare: calls for stepping up efforts (esp. under 3), enhanced focus on quality, affordability

Study on child participation by end of 2013 (map legislation and practices in all MS, focus on children in vulnerable situations)

Follow up to the 7th Forum on the Rights of the Child (EU guidelines on child protection)

DG SANCOJoint Action on Mental Health and Well-being between MS (work package “Mental health and schools”) on cooperation between health, social, education sectors

Date: in 12 pts

Thank you for your attention.

Education and training