Quality drift within a narrative of investment in early childhood education

Abstract

This study contributes to the discussion of the policy discourses related to the investment narrative in early childhood education. The article begins by contextualizing the concept of ‘quality’ in a narrative of investing in early childhood education. Employing techniques drawn from the tradition of discourse analysis, the paper highlights the fact that the era of the OECD's inclusive liberalism is fading. Additionally, the study illuminates the fact that the transparent conceptualization of ‘quality’ resonates poorly with these new directions. Finally, the consequences of the inconsistent use of the concept of ‘quality’ will be discussed. In all, this study addresses the need for a profound empirical analysis of the investment narrative that current international early childhood educational policies have adopted and provides a more nuanced understanding of the construction of the concept of ‘quality’ within it.

Keywords:

• early childhood education
• quality
• human capital
• OECD
• educational policy

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to acknowledge the encouraging and insightful feedback provided by Antti Rajala, Jaakko Hilppö and Jaakko Kauko, as well as anonymous reviewers on an earlier version of this article.