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Setting the Stage
SECTION 1 OUTLINE
SETTING THE STAGE:
The Basics of Early Childhood Care for Development
This Section introduces you to Early Childhood Care for Development (ECCD). It provides you with the basic information you need in order to talk about ECCD knowledgeably, to be able to present evidence that supports investment in ECCD, and to be able to define the specific benefits that can be expected if investments are made in quality programming for children during their early years. This section also provides some basic principles that need to be taken into consideration in the development of ECCD programs.
Definition of Early Childhood Care for Development
Early Childhood Care for Development includes all the supports necessary for every child to realize his/her right to survival, to protection, and to care that will ensure optimal development from birth to age eight. Early Childhood Care for Development (ECCD) is about meeting the child’s multiple needs by taking into account health, nutrition, and psycho-social stimulation, while at the same time strengthening the environments in which children live.
·INTERNET LINK: Brain Research. www.worldbank.org/children/why/brain.htm
·LIBRARY LINK: P. Engle and L. Lhotska. 1997. The Care Initiative: Assessment, Analysis and Action to Improve Care for Nutrition.
·LIBRARY LINK: J. Evans. 1993. Health Care: The Care Required to Survive and Thrive. In Coordinators’ Notebook No.13.
·SIDE TRIP LINK: Engle and Lhotska. 1998. The Role of Care in Programmatic Actions: Designing and Evaluating Programmes Involving Care.
Arguments in Support of Investment in ECCD
There is a growing body of knowledge on the benefits of early investment. Taken together, the arguments in support of ECCD provide a compelling case for making a heavy investment in programs to improve care in order to enhance development in the early years.
Children have a right to live and to develop to their full potential
·LIBRARY LINK: The Convention on the Rights of the Child. 1989.
·LIBRARY LINK: The World Declaration on Education for All: Meeting Basic Learning Needs.1990.
·LIBRARY LINK: Salamanca Statement and Framework for Action on Special Needs Education. 1994.
·LIBRARY LINK: World Declaration on the Survival, Protection And Development of Children, Agreed to at the World Summit for Children on 30 September 1990.
·LIBRARY LINK: Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women–CEDAW, adopted on 18 December 1979.
The evidence is in on the value of early attention to the needs of the child
·ECCD BRIEF LINK: Applying Basic Research.
Evidence also indicates that investment in the early years leads to economic benefits for society
·ECCD BRIEF LINK: The Economic Benefits of Investment in ECCD.
·ECCD BRIEF LINK: Calculating Cost Savings: The High/Scope Perry Pre-school Project.
·ECCD BRIEF LINK: Benefits of Early Childhood Programs.
·ECCD BRIEF LINK: The Benefits of Investing in Early Childhood Programs.
·LIBRARY LINK: R. G. Myers. 1992. Investing in Early Childhood Development Programs in Latin America: Toward Definition of an Investment Strategy.
·INTERNET LINK: Why invest? www.worldbank.org/children/why/index.htm
Children are the future; they perpetuate the values of the culture
Early childhood programs promote equity
·ECCD BRIEF LINK: Ways in Which ECCD Programs Can Address Inequalities.
·ECCD BRIEF LINK: The Role of ECCD in Promoting Basic Education for Girls and Women.
ECCD is a vehicle for social participation
Adding an ECCD component can make other programs more effective
Characteristics and Needs of Young Children
Every child is a unique person with an individual temperament, learning style, family background, and pattern and timing of growth. As children develop, they need different types of stimulation and interaction to exercise their evolving skills and to develop new ones.
Child Development Principles
Experiences for children, at whatever age, should be designed around the child's developmental needs and abilities. Support for this position comes from international literature on how children develop and learn.
Development is holistic; it consists of inter-dependent dimensions
·INTERNET LINK: Young children and nutrition. www.worldbank.org/children/why/nutri.htm
·INTERNET LINK: Young children and health. www.worldbank.org/children/why/health.htm
Development begins prenatally and learning begins at birth
The first eight years of a child’s life form the foundation for all later development;early attention to the child’s needs is critical
Children’s needs differ across the early childhood years
Development is multi-determined, and varies as a function of the child’s nutritional and biomedical status, genetic inheritance, and social and cultural context
·LIBRARY LINK: J. L. Evans and R. G. Myers. 1994. Childrearing Practices: Creating Programs Where Traditions and Modern Practices Meet.
Children’s development is cumulative in nature, and not necessarily progressive
Children are active participants in their own development and learning
Development and learning occur as a result of the child interacting with people and objects in his or her environment
Children live within a context–family, community, culture–and their needs are most effectively addressed in relation to that context
Early Childhood Programming Principles
Given the need to respond to the rapidly growing interest in high-quality, affordable early childhood programs that can reach a significant number of children and families, an understanding of the programming process is critical.
There are a wide variety of activities that can legitimately be undertaken within the context of ECCD programming. There is no single model that could be applied appropriately in all settings. However, there are some principles that should guide programming intended to improve the welfare of children in their early years.
Contextual Principles
• Context is (almost) everything.
Social Principles
• Seek equity, but attend first and foremost to those at greatest risk.
• Begin with what exists and build from there.
·LIBRARY LINK: J. Timyan. 1988. Cultural Aspects of Psychosocial Development: An Examination of West African Childrearing Practices.
·LIBRARY LINK: J. L. Evans and R.G. Myers. 1994. Childrearing Practices: Creating Programs Where Traditions and Modern Practices Meet.
• Develop programs and activities with and for the family.
• Get communities involved.
Technical Principles
• ECCD programs should be developed within a broad conceptual framework that is part of a comprehensive, multi-faceted strategy; they should not be developed in isolation of other social services.
·LIBRARY LINK: J. L. Evans. 1997. Breaking Down the Barriers: Creating Integrated Early Childhood Programmes.
• Be flexible; seek diverse strategies.
• Create programs that are cost-effective.
• Ensure quality.
·LIBRARY LINK: J. L. Evans. 1996. Quality in ECCD: Everyone’s Concern.
• Begin small: increase coverage incrementally.
• Design the program to ensure sustainable benefits for the beneficiaries.
·LIBRARY LINK: R. G. Myers. 1997. Removing Roadblocks to Success: Transitions and Linkages between Home, Preschool and Primary School.
• Incorporate monitoring and evaluation from the outset.
Reflections on Some of the Dilemmas in
ECCD Programming
There are some obvious tensions and potential tradeoffs among the different principles and guidelines. Simultaneously seeking scale, quality, comprehensiveness, adjustment to local conditions, participation, cost-effectiveness and feasibility is bound to require making choices. But there are ways of reducing or working around such tensions.
·MEDIA LINK: What is ECCD? Available on CD-ROM, "Early Childhood Counts"
·MEDIA LINK: Why Early Childhood? Reasons for investing in ECCD. Available on CD-ROM, "Early Childhood Counts"
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