Quality early childhood education for all children?

In these times of uncertainty, with global conflicts and a pandemic causing rapidly changing circumstances, the lives of families and young children are hugely affected. Children’s right to education may be jeopardised (UNICEF 2022) and play opportunities limited. During the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and lockdowns were introduced and inequalities became apparent; disadvantaged and vulnerable families and children suffered the most (Pascal et al. 2020). Especially in times of crisis access to education is particularly important (Van Laere et al. 2021). For some parents, the ECE setting became a secure place for their children (Pramling Samuelsson, Wagner, and Eriksen Ødegaard 2019). Undoubtedly early childhood teachers had to carry a heavy responsibility for ensuring the quality of children’s education during this time. They were challenged to find creative ways, online or on-site, to support young children’s learning and development, ensure their well-being, give voice to their questions and worries, and safeguard their health under what proved to be very difficult and changing conditions (Pascal and Bertram 2021; Henderson, Bussey, and Ebrahim 2022).

Children’s right to education is clearly stated in the Convention of the Rights of the Child (UN 1989) and the importance of early childhood education for children’s development is well documented in research and acknowledged by international policy organisations. In the Sustainable Development Goals, the UN set a benchmark for all countries ‘to ensure access to high-quality pre-primary education minimum 1 year before compulsory school by 2030’ (UN 2015, 19). However, existing inequalities between countries are manifested when looking at the number of children who have access to ECE across the globe. In their report from 2019, A World Ready to Learn. Prioritizing Quality Early Childhood Education, UNICEF emphasises the benefits of high-quality ECEC and concurrently notes that

only half of the world’s preschool-age children receive this early benefit. 175 million boys and girls are not enrolled in pre-primary education during these vital years of their lives. In low-income countries, nearly 8 in 10 children – 78 per cent – are missing out on this opportunity. (UNICEF 2019, 4)

Today, three years later, a recent evaluation indicates that most countries, will not be able to reach universal access to quality education by 2030. It is estimated that ‘Less than two in three children are expected to complete primary school and achieve minimum learning proficiency by 2030, leaving 300 million without these skills’ (UNESCO 2022, 2). These are distressing and challenging figures which have severe implications for children’s development as well as for countries.

However, ensuring quality education is not only about investing in education it is also about the conceptualisation and construction of high-quality education (Karlsson Lohmander 2017). Even where ECEC is accessible and attainable there is a risk that the founding values of ECEC where play is a key part of the pedagogy are at risk (Moss 2017; Loizou 2022). Embedded in a context where international policy drivers impact national education systems, various lists and ‘league tables’ regarding international student achievements have become an important quality assurance factor e.g. PISA, Programme for International Student Assessment (OECD 2018).

To enhance accountability and ensure school readiness some countries are developing curricular frameworks with an increased focus on academic subjects, measurable goals, and learning outcomes often leading to transmissive teaching. Under the threat of increasing curricular focus on learning outcomes even for the very young child (Moss et al. 2016), where ‘the global construction of ECEC services acts as a regulatory gaze’ (Campbell-Barr 2017, 477) there is a risk that care and play are not valued ‘unless neutralised to produce definite learning outcomes’ (Wood 2010, 16).

The focus on top-down standardisation of decontextualised measurable goals and learning outcomes contrasts with the early childhood education tradition (Brown 2015) with its pedagogy of a holistic integrated perspective on play, care, and learning and a focus on children’s strengths and potentials (Sims 2017; Moss 2019). This calls for action and resistance from everyone engaged in early childhood education to reflect on and think critically about what the founding values of quality early childhood education in different cultural contexts are or might be.

Interestingly, findings from research indicate that ECE teachers find ways of resisting top-down policies ‘revealing educators’ complex, nuanced and subversive responses to discursive policy manoeuvres’ to ensure a child-centred pedagogy (Archer 2022, 431).

In different ways, the ten articles in this issue all investigate preconditions for high-quality early childhood education and invite readers to a wide range of topics with relevance to ECE policy and practice. With a focus on both teachers and children, employing a variety of methodologies and theoretical perspectives the articles present research from different countries. Topics such as teachers’ pedagogy during the COVID-19 pandemic, professionals’ perceptions of assessment, students’ work experiences, an arts-based development project for teachers, children’s well-being, bullying in early childhood education, children with language difficulties, education for sustainable development, and children’s perception of the environment provide the reader with interesting and thought-provoking evidence of ECE policy and practice.

The two first articles address the challenges teachers had to face during the COVID-19 pandemic. In A window of Change: how COVID-19 disrupted pedagogical approaches in Danish Kindergartens Karen Wistoft, Aske Clark, and Lars Qvortrup examine the learning environments and pedagogical approaches in kindergarten and primary schools in five municipalities and how the pedagogical approaches were redefined over time in response to the pandemic. Findings suggest that in addition to being afraid that they or their families and friends would become infected staff had to rethink and adapt play activities, meal situations, parent relations regarding their access to the kindergarten, and find strategies to handle children’s insecurity to new and changing circumstances.

The second article is entitled ‘Virtually Pen Green’: developing a synchronous teaching response for adult learners studying early childhood degree programs during COVID-19. Referring to an idea called Andragogical Isomorphism, meaning an altered sense of self, Sandra Clare and Kat Clark explore how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted female undergraduate early years students who were challenged to immediately adapt to online studies. Findings indicate that synchronous teaching that attends to students’ emotional and cognitive needs could lead to internalising an altered sense of self in academia-Andragogical Isomorphism.

The next three articles examine professional development and pedagogical development work in different ways. Bringing practicum experiences to the fore in the article Impact of students’ prior work experiences on their perceptions of practicums as support for their professional development, Artu Mykkänen, Päivi Kupila, and Asko Pekkarainen aimed to explore how experienced, students with prior ECE experience, and novice students without prior ECE experience, viewed successful practicums. Results suggest that there was no difference between novice and experienced teachers regarding fundamental aspects of the practicum. The relationship between the supervising teacher and the student together with feedback was considered particularly important.

The article by Cecilie Evertsson, Størksen, and Natalia Kucirkova, Professionals’ Perceptions of the Classroom Assessment Scoring system [CLASS] as a structure for professional community and development, focuses on Norwegian practitioner’s perceptions of the use of CLASS. The main findings indicate that CLASS contributes to positive structures that support professional community and development within which both individual and collective learning occurred.

Ida Pape-Pedersen presents an arts-based pedagogical development project in her article Teacher body(ing) kindergarten space(s) – an arts-based pedagogical development project for kindergarten teachers. Grounded in post-human perspectives and placed within performative research she aimed to develop what she calls bodily professional knowledge through dance-based soma-space workshops and arts-based reflections. According to the author, a warm, caring adult is crucial for an ECE teacher, and it is the holistic teacher body that performs this. Furthermore, the findings from this project can contribute to a widening understanding of teaching and learning within the ECE profession.

Moving from the adult to children Ruben G. Fukkink investigates young children’s well-being in Exploring children’s wellbeing in daycare: how do children feel all day? A baby group, 0–2-year-olds, and a toddler group, 2–4-year-olds, were observed daily for a month. Results suggest children’s well-being was on average neutral without dominant signs of joy or discomfort. There was a significant relationship between children’s well-being and the program and peer conflicts, where free play and teacher-led activity led to greater enjoyment and transitions and eating to lower.

This links to the next article Wider room for curbing bullying in early childhood education and care – emphasising a democratic, social and contextual approach to bullying phenomenon by Liv Torunn Grindheim and Alicja R. Sadownik. According to the authors, bullying-related phenomena seem to be a growing problem in ECE. The study aimed to investigate how an approach where bullying is considered social, socially situated, and contextual can facilitate and change teachers’ practice regarding these phenomena. Findings indicate that with this approach instead of correcting individual children’s behaviour the teachers discussed concerns regarding belonging and made them rethink their daily schedules and routines.

Language difficulties are a common, developmental challenge in children in ECE. In their article Children with language difficulties: identification and adapted language provision in Early Childhood Education and Care, and subsequent assessment by the Educational Psychological Service Maya Dybvig Joner, Elin Reikerås, and Marit Alvestad investigate how children with language difficulties are identified in Norwegian ECE settings and what kind of support these children receive before they are referred to the Educational Psychological Service (EPS) for assessment. According to their findings, compared to the observations conducted in the ECE settings the EPS identified a broader spectrum of language difficulties. Moreover, there was a gap between the referral and when the child received language assistance.

The two last articles address environmental questions and problems albeit in different ways. In The systemic vision of the environment through drawing of young Spanish children Amparo Carretón Sanchis, Ignacio García Ferrandis, and Javier García Gómez investigated how complex 5-year-old children’s perception of the environment was in their drawings. Findings demonstrated a high level of complexity in children’s drawings. They also found that drawings are an effective method to learn about children’s understanding and views of the environment.

Sustainable development (SD) has come a ‘buzzword’ frequently used in all sorts of policy documents. In Tracking education for sustainable development in ECE institutions’ annual plans, employing document analysis Aud Torill Meland explored how the notion of sustainable development is reflected in ECE institutions’ annual plans and argued that SD was not grounded in the plans. Furthermore, the focus was on ecological topics e.g. sorting, reducing non-recyclable garbage, caring for the environment, etc.

Taken together these articles offer important insights into the lives of young children and their teachers in ECE settings. Young children spend many hours in the settings. Children’s childhood is to some extent constructed and created in these settings, at least in countries where there is universal access (Halldén 2007). The quality of early childhood education and the qualifications of teachers working in the settings matter to children. Children’s rights to both education and play are clearly stated in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UN 1989 articles 28 and 31), and this makes it distressing to realise that so many children are denied these rights.

This is a wake-up call for policymakers worldwide and challenges them to work towards the Sustainable Development Goals of 1-year universal access to pre-primary education. Although there has been some progress, nine out of ten countries have set benchmarks for access to education, much more needs to be done. There must be a clear commitment to aligning benchmarks into actual education systems and ensuring access for all children to high-quality early childhood education (UNESCO 2022).

Although there is a large body of research available on quality ECE, still it seems like more work is needed. How can or might research support policymakers to make informed decisions regarding the quality of early childhood education?

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.