Eurydice

Ensuring access to early childhood education and care (ECEC) is a primary concern of national and European Union decision-makers when developing policies for young children and their parents. The European Pillar of Social Rights established the right to affordable ECEC of good quality for all children. However, this right is not yet enshrined in the legislation of many Member States.

In Europe, two main approaches exist for ensuring universal access to ECEC: legal entitlement and compulsory ECEC attendance. Under the legal entitlement, public authorities must offer a place for every child within the specified age range upon parental request. With compulsory ECEC, public authorities must provide enough places for all children within the age range mandated.

When addressing ECEC access, the duration of childcare leave is another essential factor to consider. By aligning these policies, ECEC gap can be avoided. The ECEC gap is the difference between the maximum duration of well-paid leave and the start of the universal right to ECEC or compulsory primary education. This is the period when families with young children have to make difficult decisions about whether to stay at home, whether to turn to informal care, or whether and how to pay for expensive, private ECEC.

Affordability is a key factor in ensuring that children have access to early childhood education and care (ECEC). The most comprehensive measure taken to ensure affordability is providing free ECEC for all children. Targeted measures for vulnerable children or specific families (e.g. employed parents or those in education) are not considered here.

Affordability should be addressed alongside accessibility. Without a guaranteed place, free ECEC in public settings may have limited availability and long waiting lists. Therefore, the Figure also indicates whether a place in ECEC is guaranteed – either as a legal entitlement or compulsory ECEC. Under the legal entitlement, public authorities must offer a place for every child within the specified age range upon parental request. With legal entitlement, even when fees are charged, costs for families are subsidised and tend to be low. Compulsory ECEC is typically free of charge for all children.

In Europe, most families pay fees for ECEC for the youngest group of children. The availability of ECEC free of charge increases noticeably at age 3, and this trend continues with each year of age, becoming almost universal across Europe during the last year before primary education starts. 

Children’s development and learning is central to the quality of ECEC provision. At the national level, policymakers seek to influence the quality of educational processes taking place in ECEC settings by issuing a shared framework of guiding principles or a curriculum. The content of these guidelines varies, but they generally include developmental or learning goals and age-appropriate activities, sometimes in the form of a standard curriculum. They are intended to help settings improve the quality of care and learning and ensure that high standards are found across all ECEC services.

All European education systems have issued official guidelines to ensure that educational content is delivered in ECEC settings. However, there is still progress to be made in providing educational guidelines for the early years. In a quarter of education systems, curricula are exclusively directed at settings for children aged 3 and over. The regulatory framework for younger children in these systems primarily addresses norms related to health, safety and staffing rather than educational aspects.

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) staff play a crucial role in fostering children’s development, safeguarding their health and overall welfare, and facilitating their engagement in daily routines and activities. The quality of experiences children encounter is influenced by the competence of the staff. Establishing high minimum qualification standards for ECEC staff is imperative for enhancing the esteem and remuneration of these essential professionals.

In many countries, teams of people work together in ECEC rather than a single professional in charge of a whole group of children, as is often the case in primary schools. Some countries have set the same minimum qualification requirement for all staff members; others have varied job profiles and require different qualifications for different positions. In order to account for these different approaches, this Figure shows the minimum qualification requirements for the main type of ECEC staff, the core practitioner. 

A core practitioner is an individual who leads a group of children at the class- or playroom-level and works directly with children and their families. Core practitioners may also be called pre-primary, kindergarten or early childhood teachers, pedagogues, educators, childcare practitioners, pedagogical staff, etc.

Establishing the initial qualification requirements for staff working with children is only the starting point in ensuring a well-qualified workforce. Continuing professional development (CPD) is also crucial as it allows employees to upgrade their knowledge and skills throughout their career. 

Countries regulate the CPD of ECEC staff in different ways. The most fundamental distinction is whether the CPD is considered a professional duty or an optional activity. Here, CPD is considered a professional duty if participation is explicitly defined as such in top-level regulations. It is considered optional if there is no statutory obligation in top-level policy documents for ECEC staff to participate in CPD or if CPD is not mentioned.

CPD may also be defined in terms of the time that is allocated to each teacher for various training activities. Two types of time allocation are considered: mandatory and entitlement. CPD is considered mandatory if there is a specified minimum amount (hours, days, credits, etc.) of CPD required during a certain period (usually during a school year or a few years). When CPD is defined as an entitlement, a certain amount of CPD time is granted for staff during or outside of working hours. However, staff is not obliged to use these hours. Mandatory CPD usually means that support is offered to staff to participate in these activities, for example CPD is provided during working time or the costs of courses and travel are reimbursed. This is not always the case in education systems where CPD is considered a professional duty without mandatory time allocation or is optional.