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International Policy Scan

The World Forum Foundation promotes global exchange of ideas on the delivery of quality services for young children in diverse settings. Windows on the World provides information on child demographics and early childhood policies and practices in over 100 nations of the world. Another useful site for international information on early childhood can be found at the Association for Childhood Education International website. Highlights of international policies and practices in countries related to the work of the LINC initiative are highlighted below.

Integrated Service Models

Cross-national research is currently being conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of an integrated service approach to early childhood education. Many countries have implemented integrated service models, including Australia and Great Britian. Organizations such as UNICEF and UNESCO have been and are still conducting research on how these countries compare to one another in regards to their integrated service approach, and providing research on implementation practices.

United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF): Integrated Approach to Early Childhood

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO): Caring and Learning Together: A Cross-National Study of Integration

UK: Sure Start Children's Centres

• Research Report: Sure Start Program
• Every Child Matters Green Paper

Australia's Best Start Program

Governance

• Sweden: In 1996, the government responsibility for Childcare in Sweden was transferred from the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs to the Ministry of Education and Science. This policy brief describes the impact that this has had on creating an aligned learning system.
• Canada: Ontario, Canada is in the process of implementing an one-stop approach of consolidating and re-engineering the resources, governance, and mandates of existing child care, family resource, and early intervention services. Part of the concept of Best Start Child and Family Centres includes an integrated “full-day early learning” for all four and five year olds, which merges the public kindergarten system with a market-driven childcare sector leading to co-teaching of classes between public teachers and early childhood educators. This concept of was adopted based on a report to the Premier by the Special Advisor on Early Learning and is planned to be rolled out to almost 600 schools by 2015-2016. This paper discusses the background and beginning of the move to full-day early learning programs for all four and five year olds in Ontario.

Standards

Certification

• Great Britain: The National College for School Leadership (NCSL) is charged with the responsibility of preparing and developing educational leaders for England’s primary and secondary school system and follows a leadership continuum model. Included in this continuum is training for primary headmasters, specific to the challenges and needs of primary schools. A case study on NCSL’s distributed leadership model is also available.

Professional Development

• Canada: The Canada Association of Principals provides materials to assist school-based administrators with enhancing the readiness of their schools in early elementary grades.

Curriculum

• Through funding by the Bernard van Leer Foundation, the Centre for Advancement of Functional Capacities in Even-Yhuda, Israel developed the Program for Promoting Children’s Learning and Behavioral Competence in Kindergartens and Schools in response to assist schools with the developmental, learning, and behavioral difficulties that more and more children in Israel are experiencing, especially children in disadvantaged environments. The program is based on the Neuro Developmental-Functional Approach and aims to provide educators in Israelian kindergartens and schools with tools for understanding children’s developmental needs.

Data

• Canada: The National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth a long-term study conducted in partnership by Human Resources Development Canada and Statistics Canada. The primary objective of the NLSCY is to monitor the development and well-being of Canada's children as they grow from infancy to adulthood. The survey follows a representative sample of Canadian children, aged newborn to 11 years, into adulthood, with data collection occurring at two-year intervals. The initial sample was approximately 22,500 children. The data is collected from several sources including parents, teachers, principals and the children themselves

Conditions

 

Resources

• Australia: In Australia, the Australian Primary Principals Association and Early Childhood Australia wrote a book, Your child's first year at school: A book for parents  to make the first year of school a good experience for everyone.
• Canada: In fall 2006, the Canadian Association of Principals devoted a publication to the issue of Early Childhood Education. Information on other Canadian initiatives can be found by linking to other Canadian Early Learning Organizations.