SECRETARIA EJECUTIVA PARA EL DESARROLLO INTEGRAL (SEDI)

- 2 -

1

PREPARATORY MEETING FOR THE V MEETING

OEA/Ser.K/V

OF MINISTERS OF EDUCATION

CIDI/RPME/INF. 2/07

August 27-28, 2007

23 August 2007

Washington, D.C.

Original: spanish

FINAL REPORT

INTER-AMERICAN SYMPOSIUM

UNDERSTANDING THE STATE OF THE ART IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE: THE FIRST THREE YEARS OF LIFE

(Part of the Project “Policies and Strategies for a Successful Transition to

Socialization and school”)

EXECUTIVE SECRETARIAT FOR INTEGRAL DEVELOPMENT (SEDI)

DEPARTAMENT OF EDUCATION AND CULTURA (DEC)

INTER-AMERICAN SYMPOSIUM

UNDERSTANDING THE STATE OF THE ART IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE: THE FIRST THREE YEARS OF LIFE

Part of the Project “Policies and Strategies for a successful transition to socialization and school”

May 14 – 18, 2007

Organization of American States

1889 F Street NW., Rubén Dario Meeting Room, 8th floor

Washington DC, U.S.A

FINAL REPORT

Washington D.C., May 24, 2007

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We express our acknowledgement and profound gratitude, for their contributions and high professional quality, to the team of rapporteurs for the symposium. Coordinator: Sara Victoria Alvarado (CINDE, Universidad de Manizales, Colombia), Margarita Gutierrez Talamas (Prospectiva Educativa, Mexico); Regina Moromizato (Universidad Católica del Perú); Erika Dunkelberg (World Bank); Rosa Valera (Instituto Nacional de Educación Inicial, Dominican Republic); Martha Suárez (CINDE, Colombia); María Victoria Peralta (Instituto Internacional de Educación Infantil, Chile); Jairo Zuluaga (Universidad Nacional de Colombia); Ana María Stalla (National Inspector for Early Education, Uruguay); and Sian Williams (UNICEF-Jamaica).

It would not have been possible to accomplish all of the work we did, with the quality with which it was done, without the decisive support of the chairman and authorities of the Executive Committee of the CIE; the institutional support of international organizations and institutions such as the Bernard van Leer Foundation, World Bank, IDB, UNICEF, PAHO, OEI, CARICOM, Convenio Andrés Bello, AMEI, CINDE, FPG, CIAR, CEED, IIDI, OMEP, and Teaching Strategies; and the support of offices of the OAS, including, among others, the Department of Budgetary and Financial Services, the Department of Human Development, the Office of Conferences and Meetings, and the Department of Press and Communications.

CONTENTS

Page

INTRODUCTION

1

Part I

Frame of reference

4

Part II

State of the Art and trends in policies and programs of attention for children

under three years of age in the countries of the region

12

Part III

Significant experiences in the Americas

22

Part IV

Conclusions and Challenges

23

ANNEXES

I.In search of a post-modern pedagogy for educational work in the first three years of life. María Victoria Peralta

34

II.Neuroscience and education. Jairo Zuluaga

64

III.Agenda

86

IV. List of participants

94

V. Analysis of the results of evaluating the symposium

107

INTRODUCTION

This Report is an account of the symposium “Understanding the State of the Art in Early Childhood Education and Care,” held May 14 to 18, 2007, at OAS headquarters, in Washington DC, United States. It is organized into five parts. Part I is the frame of reference. Part II is a description of the state-of-the-art and trends in policies and programs of attention for children from birth to three in the Americas. Part III summarizes significant experiences in the Americas. Part IV sets forth symposium conclusions and challenges from papers and discussions. Part V (Annex) includes an article by María Victoria Peralta, Ph.D., “In search of a post-modern pedagogy for educational work in the first three years of life;” an essay by Jairo Zuluaga, Ph.D., “Neuroscience and education”; the agenda; the list of participants; and an analysis of the results from the evaluation of the symposium.

The symposium included the participation of highly qualified and internationally known professionals and researchers; directors representing 23 countries, namely Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, the United States, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uruguay; and 15 delegations representing international agencies and institutions.

The symposium was timely and relevant, as scientific, technical, and theoretical studies and developments from the different disciplines are posing major challenges to educational systems. In particular, science notes that one must begin from the womb and from a very early age. The neurosciences are showing us that the quality of the environment, the plasticity of the brain, and the preponderance of early experiences influence and have decisive effects on the development of the human being.

The symposium reflected the challenges of the 21st century, which are demanding structural changes in educational settings. Among them is the need to implement quality comprehensive programs as a means of social inclusion. The changes, in turn, are inviting governments to take the lead in designing appropriate policies for early childhood, and to pool efforts to ensure the implementation of those policies.

Motivated by these developments, the Fourth Meeting of Ministers of Education, held in Trinidad and Tobago in August 2005, approved the Declaration of Scarborough, in which the Ministries stated, in part: “We recognize the need to address the structure of education beginning with early childhood education, given its very positive impact on the quality of education and on the reduction of inequality.” To implement this mandate, the Department of Education and Culture (DEC) of the OAS, held two consultations (December 2005 and March 2006) to determine the issues most relevant to government decision-makers and civil society at this time. Twenty-five responses were received from the member states, which proposed deepening information and sharing experiences on two issues: the delivery of comprehensive services for children birth to three years of age; and transitions.

When the Inter-American Committee on Education (CIE) provided the opportunity to propose projects to be financed from what is known as the “Education Reserve Subfund” (Res. 831), the DEC, in consultation with the governments of Venezuela and Barbados prepared a proposal. In July 2006, the CIE recommended approval of the regional project “Policies and strategies for a successful transition of the child to socialization and school.”

The general objective of the project is: “To support member countries in their efforts to develop, strengthen, and evaluate policies and strategies that contribute to the extension and improvement of the quality, equity, and coverage of the education and care of children ages 0 to 6 years, to facilitate their successful transition from home to preschool programs and from the preschool program to basic education.”

The project was designed to identify gains made in the countries and subregions; to train decision-makers in theory and practice; to evaluate the situation of initial/preschool and basic education; and to pull together lessons learned and challenges for the design, implementation, and evaluation of policies in the hemisphere (early childhood education through the first two grades of basic education). The project has developed a series of activities which, it is hoped, will contribute to strengthening the institutional capacity of the participating institutions, improve the quality of services, and expand coverage with equity.

The project includes among its strategies the implementation of two symposia: “Understanding the State of the Art in Early Childhood Education and Care,” May 14-18, 2007, Washington, D.C., whose report is presented in this document; and a second symposium to be scheduled by the government of Chile in 2009 on “Policies and strategies for a successful transition of the child to socialization and school.”

The symposium’s Technical Committee circulated a questionnaire to the 34 member countries of the OAS in order to prepare a preliminary assessment to help contextualize the member states’ policies and programs (topics included: coverage, personnel, policies and legislation, curriculum, costs, challenges and lessons learned, research projects, and implementation of birth to three programs. A total of 19 questionnaires were returned and reviewed as a sample of input for drawing conclusions.

The agenda of the symposium offered participants the opportunity for reflection, research, and analysis of the scientific, neuroscientific, pedagogical, social, economic, and policy bases of child development, and the importance of the early years. It was consistent with a comprehensive view of human development, from a multidisciplinary perspective; from gestation to subsequent development in school, and throughout one’s lifetime.

When programming the symposium, the intent was to motivate and support the development of public policies for the birth to three-year age group, to share, among all those in attendance, the same theoretical/conceptual bases so as to gradually construct – with the contribution of the delegates – the conclusions and challenges identified of the symposium.

The research and studies presented made significant contributions to the processes of analysis and reflection among the participants. Special emphasis was placed on the importance of and rationale for providing quality services and education from the earliest ages; the effects of these experiences on successful transitions; and their effects on the countries’ human and social capital.

The panels on experiences, organized by subregion, contributed numerous innovative ideas for implementing policies. The important experiences carried out nationally or as pilot projects – Chile, Jamaica, Peru, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Reggio Emilia, Abecedarian, CENDI (Mexico), and Early Head Start, among others – and the observation visits on Wednesday, together with the theoretical and conceptual foundations, presented on Monday, provided a common frame of reference for the group work. That work was carried out on Thursday, in groups organized by sub regions.

Throughout the symposium an effort was made to follow intentionally selected set of issues that challenge the entire region: policies, programs, research, training, evaluation, monitoring, coordination, financing, and transition.

As part of the symposium, the overall design for project evaluation and monitoring was prepared, and an instrument was applied to measure the attainment of the objectives set for the event. (See Annex 5, Analysis of the responses.) Looking to the future, other instruments will be prepared to evaluate the objectives of the overall project and the gains achieved by member states. The indicators and instruments prepared after the symposium will be forwarded for consultation to all those in attendance, and to government and civil society institutions in the countries, before they are implemented.

The result of the group work made it possible to identify current trends, and to construct conclusions regarding the state-of-the-art and current challenges, in a collective and participatory manner. These conclusions are presented in the fourth part of this report.

Lenore Yaffee Garcia

Director

Department of Education and Culture

Organization of American States

Gaby Fujimoto

Senior Specialist, Education

Department of Education and Culture

Organization of American States

PART I

FRAME OF REFERENCE

THE RIGHT OF CHILDREN TO AN APPROPRIATE AND RELEVANT EDUCATION FROM BIRTH

The symposium began with some words from the speech of President Michelle Bachelet of Chile referring the need to give attention to the first years of a child. Her speech was followed by a dialogue session about the new theoretical and conceptual knowledge and the policy initiatives that being to go in some of the countries of IberoAmerica.

The research and studies presented contributed significantly to the simposio´s discussions addressing the early child care education and the effects on successful transitions. These research initiatives offered the fundamentals of early child care education; the challenges of education in the 21st century; and the impact of quality in early child care education for the countries’ human and social capital.

The key ideas discussed on the first day of the symposium can be summarized as follows:

A.Highlighting Chile’s approach to designing policies for 0 to 3 years, which occurs through the creation of a Social Protection System, which operates a program with the participation of all government and nongovernment sectors, and with the political commitment of the President herself.

The program of the Social Protection System for early child care services is called “Chile Crece Contigo” (“Chile Grows with You”). It addresses several areas including: (1) timely interventions; (2) accompanying the mother from pregnancy, giving her the tools to establish a bond with her child; (3) household visits and detection of developmental delays; (4) educational support with the participation of the parents; (5) support from the media; (6) improving legislation on maternity.

By providing services to children ages 0 to 3 years old it opens the participation of Chilean mothers, in the labor market. In the most vulnerable sectors only 9% of mothers hold jobs, while in the areas with better economic conditions, 60% of households both parents are employed. There is an expectation that if the mother is integrated into the labor sector, household income will increase, as well as, the self-esteem of the mother, which will have a repercussion on her relationship or bond with her child.

Chile is working to improve the quality of education in early child care education from several angles: (1) a system for accrediting centers; (2) establishing an oversight and enforcement agency, such as a superviser in ECCE ; (3) improving the teacher-child ratio; (4) professional education and training for personal who are working with children 0 to 3 years old.

B.Canada is stepping up its commitment to early child care education. In 2003 they experienced major changes: the federal government made a commitment to the provinces to increase the budget within five years, and signed an agreement to expand coverage and access to early childcare education programs. A Federal government budget was incorporated into the policies and programs of each province.

In the province of Saskatchewan, comparatively poor, the budget raised from 19 million to 56 million Canadian dollars, teacher salaries increase 21%; programs were establish for children 3 and 4 years of age; and a subsidy was provided for access to day-care centers that were registered.

In Canada’s experience the important issues that should be carefully examined were:

· Gender – It matters more than we think – women as teachers are poorly paid and is considered a low-status job. At present more educated women seek employment in other field , and those who are less educated remain in the teachers sector. At the country level, it remains the thoughts that they should not be paid, because early child care is seen as a family responsibility.

· Socioeconomic level – According to the studies done by Doug Willms and Clyde Herztman there are inconsistencies with the factors associated with vulnerability; the socioeconomic level is one of these factors, and in Canada the vast majority of children who are at risk or vulnerable are from the middle class level. Therefore, universal policies are not necessarily the best, and we should seek for policies in early child care education

· Differences in pedagogy – There are some questions for focusing a theoretical and conceptual considerations: Should the emphasis be on cognitive aspects, or on socio-emotional development? Cognitive development gets more political support?, Should we focus on early child care education to prepare children for school and for life?, Takeing measurements to make primary schools more friendly? Should the curricular philosophy be modified to emphasize cognitive development?

· Social policy – It matters and is linked to framing policies for early child care services. The commitment in policy is to examine what the citizens of our countries need at every level: family, academics, and community for the development of human capital.

· Sharing lessons Significant experiences, both good and bad.

C.UNICEF proposed the framework for social policy and public policy. Social policy consists of a series of public policies designed to foster social development.

· The challenge is to situate the development of early child care policies in the framework of public policy and social policy. Does the response entail framing policies for foster support, or demand?

· We need information that can be used, that is clearly related to local and global needs and policies.

· We need the countries’ experience in monitoring and evaluation results in researches on policy design.

D.The neuroscience researchers from Canada and Colombia underscored the following findings:

· A baby is born with the ¼ of the brain developed, up to the age of nine months, without mechanisms for controlling primary emotions –

· In the first two years of life, there is an explosion of synaptic growth – but at 8 months of life the synaptic connections not used begins to reduce.

· It is important to observe closely that the development of the brain is a dyadic phenomenon that is very bound up with the development of the higher regulatory functions such as the capacity for self-regulation and to develop emotions.

· For the development of that dyadic relationship the positive emotions that the mother and baby experience is a link approach that hold them together.

· Functional abilities/skills are important – healthy functioning is characterized not by IQ or how much one knows, but by who is capable of learning. We should no longer speak simply of cognitive abilities instead of what they constitute – attention, pattern recognition, sequencing of skills, visual and spatial processing, causal thinking. These are the types of experience that a child needs to develop with his or her caregiver/mother.

· Based on their research Shanker et al. conclude that 83% of the problems children experience nowadays can be prevented by intervention in the first two years of life.

E.The World Bank showed that there have been advances in coverage in the region, in building institutional capacities to measure learning, partnerships between the public and private sectors, and greater capacity for conducting research.

· Challenges persist: regarding coverage and quality of early child care education, completing basic education, improving learning, and reducing the gap with the OECD countries.

· To improve student achievement a conceptual framework is used and it has three levels: (a) analyzing the political and social conditions that affect the child’s learning; (b) analyzing the students’ characteristics (age, cognitive level, access to early childhood education, natural ability) and their families (values, level of education, time spent doing homework with children); and (c) analyzing the characteristics and conduct of the school, which also affects the child’s learning.

The corollary of these efforts was rounded out with the presentation of the status of children at risk. It was noted that investment in early childhood is receiving ever greater attention and recognition worldwide.

A message put out in a series in The Lancet/ notes that the estimated figure of 6 million preventable deaths each year in developing countries represents just the tip of the iceberg. In this series, it is estimated that more than 200 million children are unable to realize their potential development because they live in poverty, with poor health and nutrition, and deficient care. The risks are particularly harmful for long-term development when experienced at an early age. These risk factors affect the developing architecture of the brain, which is critical for learning, health, and behavior. Fostering early childhood development programs that are cost-effective is a priority for the global development agenda. The Lancet presents evidence that shows that promoting cost-effective programs that include increased investment in early child care is a priority for the global development agenda.

The academic coordinating initiative contracted María Victoria Peralta, Ph.D. and Jairo Zuluaga, Ph.D., who undertook a bibliographic review and the pertinent research in the areas of pedagogy, neurosciences, and education. They analyzed the policies, research, and technical documents created for the sector: macro-curricula, programs, orientations, materials, and experiences that have been unfolding in the region. The purpose of this effort was to obtain a frame of reference to help optimize the technical instruments permanently being developed in the countries, which support the practices in both the formal and non-formal spheres.

The complete documents are presented as Annexes 1 and 2 to this report; hereis only a summary.

F.The following was underscored as a frame of reference for a pedagogy for children under three years:

The aim that children have the right to an appropriate and relevant education from the time they are born has a lengthy history in the education and rearing of children. From Comenius, continuing with Pestalozzi, Froebel, and Montessori, among others, this concept evolved not only as a postulate, but as a practice consistent with the broad vision of a modern pedagogy, therefore, one respectful for children, and their characteristics and needs. This was the thinking that the various educators who established early childhood education in the hemisphere made their own and applied.

This pedagogy was grounded in philosophical and pre-psychological or psychological bases, depending on the period in question, in addition to its own constructed knowledge. In recent decades new contributions have been incorporated. In effect, the neurosciences, socio-cultural, anthropology, historical-situational, analysis, along with other frames of reference have further underpinned the pedagogical mission at this stage, and a more interdisciplinary and renewed approach to its theory and practice.

The most important thing about the aspects reviewed and the frames of reference obtained in the area of pedagogy:

1.The reaffirmation of the right of children under 3 years to an appropriate and relevant education.

In view of the antecedents noted, while it is true that there are still countries in which an educational approach is not taken to comprehensive care for babies, as the approach is, rather, from the standpoint of protection, labor, or health only, there is ever-greater recognition that the child, even before birth, has the right in which the education component is not early or anticipated, but appropriate to the stage they are at; it should be relevant to their needs, characteristics, and interests.

2.Existing programs, whether formal or non-formal, should not only be extended to the whole population in this age group, but substantial advances should be made in terms of educational quality.

Expansion of coverage at this stage, while it has been slow and not always addressed as a right of the child, is currently expressed through formal day-care programs (salas cunas, jardines maternales, crèches, etc.) and non-formal programs (home-based, day-care facilities, itinerant educators, Wawa-wasi, etc.).

While it is true that these offerings make it possible in some cases to address primary needs of children such as care and food, and in some cases adding the “recreational” components, they should go for proposals for quality in education that support the projects and learning needed in this area. The concept of “guardería” (a place to “keep” children, without any organized activities) should be overcome once and for all, and not be confused with educational proposals.

To move forward in this respect, the following aspects should be considered.

3.Enhancing the foundation underpinning a pedagogy for children under three years, giving children greater opportunities

In the region the review of the curricula at the macro level, and the analysis of the bibliography they’ve used, shows that gradual progress has been made, toward having firmer theoretical grounds and towards renewing the positions or contributions they provide. Foundations such as the philosophical and social bases postulate that a baby who is a subject-person-citizen in a context of rights who, as such, needs to be conceived in a different manner than the limited vision of “object of certain stimuli” characteristic of the traditional approach. All families should participate in significant formative actions, in which their empowerment with current knowledge and with a methodology for adults is essential.

The neurosciences and cognitive psychology and theories have highlighted the importance of this stage of life, from the fetal moment, reinforcing the need to support an enhanced cerebral architecture, through out enriched environments with timely and relevant learning opportunities grounded in quality affective interactions in de-stressed environments.

Sociocultural anthropology and ecology have placed emphasis on the cultural and natural environments that contribute to healthier lifestyles, with meanings for children in their family milieu that favor identity and a sense of belonging with an attitude of openness to other settings.

The theoretical construction particular in pedagogy, the active role of children in their learning experiences has been accorded greater importance, in interesting and contextualized educational situations that favor their integral well-being, where they are able to choose, do, and change, keeping with their interests and characteristics.

4.The development of a pedagogy for the first years of life is overcoming the approaches of “recipes of experimental activities” for children under 3 years, and progress is being made in operational work in the curricular development.

In the field of education, one observes a return to a basic sense of pedagogy that is valid for every stage, and even more in the first years of life. In that regard, there is more widespread respect for the uniqueness of each child and recognition of the complexity of education that makes necessary careful diagnoses and educational proposals for each situation. The need for specialized professional training in this area is a demand nowadays.

Accepting that at this level, we should develop a curriculum at a micro level, in which all key factors participate – planning, human and physical orientation, educational organization of the time and processes of qualitative evaluation and enlightenment – is basic for acquiring the corresponding educational status and turned into quality proposals.

This recognition of curricular development at this stage implies that all the problems of the curriculum – cultural selection, power struggles, the hidden curriculum – are revealed at this stage, in which the status of the subjects as children becomes confused with an “infantile” approach to education.

5.In some cases there has been progress from a pedagogical proposal of modernity towards a post-modern perspective

If establishing a pedagogy grounded in modernity for babies has been a slow process, based on “universal conceptions of child development,” and on principles and practices applied in undifferentiated ways to socio-cultural contexts, the move to a pedagogy of post-modernity is still quite incipient.

In effect, this pedagogy addresses diversity, situates education in the context of family and social projects, works with cultural and natural contexts, assumes that the milieu accords priority to certain aspects of development over others, views as relative the homogeneity sought by “standards” applied uniformly, and is still very incipient, even more so in this age group. Some current experiences are embracing this perspective, which should invite one to observe these contexts, as input for proposing one’s own way forward in this field.

G.What does neuroscience education have to offer today?

Following are some of the relevant aspects extracted from the conceptual discussion at this symposium, with inputs in the form of the papers and discussions specifically related to the neurosciences, as one of the points of reference in the sciences that has become fundamental for designing policies and educational strategies.

The conclusions and recommendations from the neurosciences can be grouped as follows:

1.The context of the sciences

· Socializing scientific knowledge in general and knowledge of the neurosciences in particular is not only desirable, but has become, for modern society, a duty and a social right associated with the right of access to information.

· This dissemination associates all risks of deviant interpretation and application of ethical and aesthetic precepts inherent to the human condition, demands special attention.

· The conceptual “diversity” entailed in these interpretations, beyond the facts and scientific inferences that can be characterized with levels of objectivity and universality wich are revealed in social, political, and economic contexts with the multiplicity and complexity these entail.

· The consolidation of a broad spectrum on globalized knowledge: from the most rigorous to the popular, the latter allowing inevitable fantasies and myths, which should be recognized and assumed within this framework as the socialization of knowledge.

· Neuroscientific knowledge should be applied to the classrooms and spaces of interaction for education and human development, bearing in mind the foregoing premises of vulnerability, which will regulate itself based on interdisciplinary social dynamics and collegial groups which, as in this symposium, include educators, scientists, policy makers, political scientists, sociologists, and the general public, advocating its critical and plural incorporation.

· The experiences in the OAS countries represented and included in forums, courses, symposia, are opportunities to debate in an effort to find common ground between education and the neurosciences, they have been very well received. More than snobbism, this highlights the innovative thirst for education in all societies.

2.The context of health and human development

· The issues inevitably linked to investment in education are generally issues our societies have not yet been able to face. Essential inputs for the neurodevelopment of the individual and the population at large, like access to food and health, continue to be insufficient and worrisome.

· The indicators for access to these resources, despite apparent changes towards expanded coverage in relation to early development (intrauterine development), need to be permanently reassessed and broken down into indicators that redefine poverty and its impact on development in general and on neurodevelopment in particular.

· In the context of inter-sectors dynamics, it is fundamental to strengthen maternal-and-child care programs as the basis for human development despite declining the high mortality rates.

· The different strategies for diminishing maternal and infant mortality in recent decades have given way to the survival of a new diversity of individuals. As an example of this new human diversity we have the newborns with a very low birth weight, and for that have a high risk of morbidity in their neurological development.

· This new diversity demands, the implementation of education policies for early child care services that transcend the sector boundaries.

3.The neurosciences context

· The language of neurosciences in education and the re-elaboration of the pre-existing languages reflect the inevitable processes of the socialization of knowledge, and involves the challenge of grasping the historical flow of words and things.

· The new paradigms for interpreting neurological processes development and the technological evidence based on different research methodologies in neurosciences, in particular on the studies of functional imaginology, allow us to recognize a changing in the nervous system, in the educational processes area, that helps to anticipate deviations in the early processes of changes linked to the construction of knowledge and learning of the world around us.

· Similarly they allow us to appropriate, recognize, and seek for differences among individuals, not only between men and women (gender), but also those associated with social, cultural, and ethno-anthropological contexts, demanding, consequently, the construction of educational models for this difference. We human beings learn and educate ourselves in diversity.

· Extreme idealization, in technical, progressive, scientific, utopian, or fundamentalist, for designing and implementing educational processes in the first stages of life, finds its borders in the evidence that human knowledge has not been able to transform, from its evolutional and historical essence, i.e. its diverse and unique social being, which operates from the complexity of the individual. This has been called many things in the symposium, but stands out as what’s natural.

· The neurosciences have made it possible to recognize, typologies in efforts to provide attention that make it possible to interpret them not as mere filters of stimuli, but as dynamics of prioritization in communicational interaction and in the interpretation and construction of reality, as fundamental elements of educational transformation. The assertive interpretation of such typologies of attention may favor educational interaction.

· In the concepts of plasticity and communicational (synaptic) reorganization of the nervous system, the neurosciences recognize diversity as the endless processes of the human being that can be use to adapt and transform his or her environment. Education and oneself education is translated as a dynamic of transformation. It is apparent that these processes take place as non-linear sets of interactions, with a permanent trend to complexity, in which hierarchies are established, based not only on the increased number of communicational contacts and cellular units, but also on their selection and loss.

· Research on the early organization of sensorial and motor processes makes it possible to recognize modifications in how the pathways of sensorial processes are prioritized. The developing of the nervous system integrates its particular perceptions of the world, on the basis that organize their acts, through movements. The early stages of life, including intrauterine life, have found to be those in which the capacity of our system to transform in the face of changes in the environment is at its peak. These periods, demands special attention as critical periods of development, involve the greatest capacity for transformation of the human being for future learning.

· Early changes in tolerance for sensorial stimuli, and inadequate perception as sensorial noise of those daily stimuli do not make other individuals uncomfortable. They are examples of early forms of alteration that can be observed in early indicators of neurological development. Those forms of alterations make it possible to anticipate changes that upset the subsequent stages of the educational process. We learn from the womb and models of social interaction that the impact can be transform throughout our development.

· The early stages of human neurodevelopment should be studied as they relate to practices with ever greater rigor, and not fall into inadequate appropriation of scientific knowledge, consolidating neuromyths that may be exemplified in an emphasis on plasticity, or in the literal interpretation of approaches to the imaginological localization of functions in specific places of the brain, or the valuing of the capacities for educational transformation of the individual.

· Thinking of an education based on scientific evidence poses a methodological issue that must be carefully considered, and it presents, from the outset, two major conceptual challenges. The first issue has to do with the construction of the levels of evidence, based on science, as one of the paradigms of truth. The second issue is ensuring flexibility of the model, to adapt it to different contexts, in terms of the heterogeneous and multicultural nature of the social world.

PART II

STATE-OF-THE-ART AND TRENDS IN POLICIES AND PROGRAMS FOR CHILDREN AGES 0 TO 3 YEARS IN THE VARIOUS COUNTRIES OF THE REGION

The results presented in this section attempt to show the progress and limitations in the countries of America in relation to policies and programs for children ages 0 to 3 years old. The information has been provided by the participating countries, through questionnaires and group work done as part of the activities programmed in the context of the symposium.

One must note that for the purposes of this report, gaps have been found in the information either because the countries have different criteria for organizing their information systems, (in many countries there is no information disaggregated by criteria for children diversity, cultural, social, and geographic groups); or based on physical and mental condition; or because indicators for registering children under 3 years have not been development until now. In addition, there is no disaggregated information from the health sector, as the information provided is given by the ministries and institutions linked to the education sector and the development/social assistance sector.

Following we present the information organized by sub-regions. The main objective was to reflect the state of the art in the categories of policies, curricula and programs, evaluation, monitoring, research, training, financing, coordination, and transition.

1.Andean Sub-region

Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru participated, providing the answers of the questionnaire. Bolivia and Venezuela did not participate. So the information presented corresponds to the three countries that participated.

Policies for the comprehensive attention for children under 3 years old

A trend is observed in the countries of the Andean sub-region to move from childhood policies with a sector approach to a multi-sector approach. This has led to recent initiatives to reformulate processes and criteria for targeting, i.e. moving from regional criteria to specific criteria, to identifying the most unprotected families, as they do in Colombia, with the SISBEN has done.

In most of the Andean countries, the efforts, methods, and procedures for targeting continue to be incipient and disarticulated, there is not information, especially on children under 3 years.

In the case of Ecuador, one important area of progress has been incorporating service care for children ages 0 to 3 years in the policies of the education sector by popular mandate; in the other countries consideration has been given to adopt universal early child care education for this age group.

A common denominator in the Andean countries is the low coverage for the 0 to 3 years age group, that exists is focused on basic health and nutrition aspects (child survival), and where education and development areas have not been sufficiently addressed. It is observed that the total number of children under 3 years is greater than the number of children ages 4 to 6 years; only in Peru the difference is minimal. Coverage for this stage of life ranges from 3% to 18%, far away from the coverage attained at subsequent levels of education.

In addition to the scant coverage, one observes that the focus on children under 3 years is in urban areas, which suggests the lack of equity in targeting the programs for children in this age group.

As regards the quality of care for children ages 0 to 3 years, is difficult to determine it objectively, due to the lack of criteria.

Within the policies for this stage of life, one observes gaps in legislation affording mothers who participate in productive activities to do with greater stability, and possibilities of providing services to their children during this stage of life.

Curriculum and programs geared to children under 3 years of age

There is a diversity of modalities for providing services to children under 3 years, these provide to look closely to coverage, there are no synergies among modalities, nether a record kept of the strategies or lessons learned, resulting in missed opportunities for constructing relevant models of intervention.

Most models and strategies have been designed by civil society (NGOs) with the support of international cooperation, with a well-defined time of operation, without actions that might guarantee the sustainability of such interventions.

While the diversity of modalities of attention is positive it attempts to respond to local particularities, we see, on the other hand that this gives rise to disorder in the implementation and operation of the programs that are issued from each sector, resulting a confusion in the providers of the services.

For dispersed and remote communities, the school programs do not continue to approach a viable alternative, and also they do not enjoy to support or look for resources that offer quality care.

Peru and Ecuador describe having curricula for children programs under 3 years old; in Colombia one is being designed. The countries note that there are processes for establishing and monitoring programs, yet one notes serious limitations in the aspects of evaluating the progress of children in this age group. There are efforts to move to a conception of active, participatory in child care, where children are seen as having rights, one note that the “adult-centered” view prevails, i.e. where the child depends on those who provide them with care, education, or assistance.

Evaluation and monitoring

On this issue there are clearly few systems with information, those that exist or have been developed by each sector (education, health, social development, or others) and are not unified in terms of their indicators and criteria, making it impossible to compare the information and also there is no link among the systems for monitoring and evaluating the policies and programs for this age group.

An inconsistency in the systems perpetuate a weak culture of evaluation of early child care policies and programs: as there are no clear and precise indicators, it is not possible for society as a whole to have basic and relevant information that might enable to take actions for monitoring, oversight, and social audit.

It is noted that the programs also shows resistance to evaluations, since the goals proposed are not met, and because the available resources are not used in a timely and relevant manner.

Research

The countries of this sub-region agreed that research looking at children ages 0 to 3 years is focused primarily on “child-practices,” that they are not able to establish links with the proposals made, and they are far removed from the programs for this age group. In addition, the studies carried out are not disseminated they are merely adjusted to the funders’ demands.

Early child care policies do not include research as a key element for the development and improvement of the policies and programs geared to ensuring comprehensive attention for children under 3 years old.

Training

In relation to training human resources, the countries indicated that there is no clear policy as to the requirements for suitable professionals to work with children under 3 years old, and that the training plans in early childhood education are not in line with the needs and specificities of this population.

There are isolated initiatives to train educators (professionals and non-professionals) not recognized in policy; non-professional care-givers have low levels of school and training, and there is no investment for continuing education and training. The criteria for evaluating teachers and care-givers who work with children under 3 years old have yet to be adopted.

Financing

The figures are uneven from country to country. Colombia invests 34% of the national budget in care for children under 3, at an average cost of $ 270 US per child/year. Peru reports that the government invests 0.10% of the national budget, with the education sector investing $ 61.7 US per child/year, and the social development sector $ 313.96 US per child/year. In that case, the difference in investment per child by each sector could be explained by the types of services (educational vs. comprehensive attention) and by the coverage of each sector.

The cooperation agencies have reimbursable loans for coverage without measuring the risk of future sustainability, i.e. whether the state will be able to assume the costs of care and coverage or when the financing for the project ends.

Coordination

Although there have been advances in the design of policies geared to comprehensive attention for children under 3 years old , this policy has weaknesses when it comes to ensuring effective coordination among sectors and institutions.

Transitions

Attention at this age is given by institutions unaware of the needs and cultural particularities of the children and their families, situation that makes the family-institutions transition difficult and traumatic.

2. Mercosur subregion

For this sub-region, the information was available for Chile, Brazil, and Uruguay, collected through the questionnaires, and additional information was obtained from the working groups, in which Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay participated.

Policies for the comprehensive care of children under 3 years old

There is a lack of policies for working with children under 3 years from the standpoint of equity with an emphasis on social inclusion. In this respect, we could note that like the Andean subregion, one observes a larger number of children under 3 years compared to the population ages 4 to 6; coverage ranges from 12% to 16%, less than the other levels of education.

The countries of this subregion have not reported information on children under 3 years, disaggregated by groups according to ethnicity and geographic location. Nonetheless, the overall data indicate that there are more services in the urban areas.

With the exception of Chile, one notes that the policy for children under 3 years is focused on social policies; in most of the countries of this region, early childhood education for children ages 0 to 3 years is not recognized as the first level of the educational system, and gender policies (which imply benefits for mothers) are weak.

Curriculum and programs geared to children under 3 years old

In those countries that have a curricular proposal or guides for working with children under 3 years old, there is a trend in which children are considered as persons, with rights. Advances in this regard have been uneven in this sub-region. In Chile, an open and flexible design curricula is proposed, offering general guidance to the operators of educational services; in Uruguay a curriculum for children under 3 years old has been completed. Brazil does not have a curriculum at all. The countries of this sub-region noted that very little has been done in the way of curricular developments for indigenous education.

Evaluation and monitoring research

There are some isolated research experiences that underpin the reworking of the curriculum or programs that are propose from the universities; in some cases longitudinal studies have been started to determine a program’s effectiveness.

At present, Chile has evaluations of curricula and learning, as well as actions for monitoring children under 3 years old in kindergartens. The countries stated with work that was being done to implement programs and indicators for children three-year-old and the evaluations on nutrition in their “maps of progress” that only had standards for children ages 3 months to 6 years.

Training

Although there are gaps in the training of professionals working with children under 3 years old , initiatives are being submitted for training the teachers in-service, in which continuing education takes place in higher education institutions and is supported by government funds.

Financing

Financing for the education budget of the country and states is determined by GDP, and is provided by the federal government (Brazil), through the ministry of finance. The countries of this sub-region did not report information on the percentage of investment in children under three years old or the cost per child/year.

Coordination

Organized civil society has demanded participation in early child care education; local networks are proliferating with each passing day, and have helped bring about a strong partnership among sectors and institutions. Experiences show that society, the state, the church, universities, and associations can coordinate and strengthen attention for children under 3.

Transitions

There are no studies in this respect, it is not considered in policymaking. In some cases it takes place in the transition between kindergarten and the next level of education.

3. Central American Sub-region

In this subregion, there was information from Panama and Costa Rica collected through the questionnaires, and information obtained from the working groups in which Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic participated. No response was received to the questionnaire from Honduras or Guatemala, and they did not participate.

Policies for providing comprehensive attention to children under 3 years old

The policies for children under 3 years old we note that in Costa Rica the population is considered from conception to 18 years of age. In the case of El Salvador, the participants stated that equity policies have been put in place in some countries of the region, but they do not specify in which areas the criterion of equity is reflected. In Nicaragua one observes that the policies for children under 3 years old are carried out as part of a National Strategy for Initial Education, and in the Dominican Republic, services for children ages 0-6 years are a compulsory stage.

The coverage for this age group, in the Central American sub-region we know that there is information from Costa Rica and Panama; as in the other sub-regions, the number of children under 3 years old is larger than the population on 4 to 6 years old. In the case of Costa Rica, coverage for children under 3 years accounts for 1.3% and in the case of Panama 10.75%. In terms of equity, services in Costa Rica are concentrated in the urban areas, with a minimal percentage from the rural areas or the indigenous population. In Panama, the population under three years old that receives the most attention is concentrated in the indigenous areas.

Costa Rica’s legislation provides attention for children of working mothers, tey have policies and programs that provide support to the working women, with services for children under 3 years of age. Panama did not respond reporting policies or programs that benefit the indigenous or rural population, or for the working women.

Curriculum and programs for children under 3 years of age

The programs and curricula in this sub-region conceive the children as persons with rights and potentials. The curricula in Panama and Costa Rica covers children ages 0 to 6 years old; only Costa Rica has a plan to implement the curriculum, decentralized agencies, and training and monitoring. They also note that no evaluation has been done about children under 3. While Panama has the curriculum, it does not have an implementation process. Nicaragua has a curriculum but only for children ages 3 to 6 years.

Evaluation and monitoring Research

In this sub-region, the members of the working group integrated aspects having to do with evaluation to those related to research. They note that international organizations have issued reports that describe attention for children ages 0 to 3 years old, they add that there is little evaluative research on programs and projects for children in this stage of life, and those that exist are isolated, depending on the initiatives being furthered in each country. As indicated for other sub-regions, existing research is focused on studies that refer the guidelines for children range; and there are difficulties when it comes to incorporating them into the programs.

Training

The countries noted that there is little professional training to care for children under 3 year old. They also noted that in the case of non-professionals who work with children in programs for the 0-3 years age group, there is differentiated training based on the description or function they perform.

Financing

The only information on record is the one that provided by Panama, which indicates that it invests, annually, $ 408.38US per child under three years old. The other countries do not report figures, but indicate that there are financial resources that come from international loans; in other cases they are provided by NGOs, grants, and other sectors of civil society. Yet they are insufficient for expanding quality coverage.

Coordination

There are differences in this respect. Whereas in some countries actions are taken for children under 3 years old and are coordinated with the different institutions that provide comprehensive attention; in other cases there is no coordination among the institutions.

Transitions

There are few formal studies that account for the transition of children under 3 years old.

4.North America Sub-region

In this sub-region, information on Mexico and the United States was collected from the questionnaires but Canada did not response to the questionnaires. Additional information was obtained from the working groups, in which Canada, Mexico, and the United States participated. Canada’s experiences shared with the working group are important efforts being developed through private institutions that work in coordination with governments; therefore, the following information does not necessarily reflect the national data from Canada and present the same structure for the United States and Mexico cases.

Policies for comprehensive attention for children under 3 years

In the case of Canada, there is a universal national policy of early childhood care that dates to the year 2000 and was reformulated in 2006. It establishes the legal framework for services for children 0-3 years age group. In the case of the United States, there is a targeted policy (for children from low-income families) implemented through the Head Start program.

As in the sub-regions described above, the number of children under 3 years old is larger than those in the 3 to 5 years age group. Mexico reports 76% coverage for this age group, yet the largest number of children served is concentrated in urban areas. In the United States, according to the report by Head Start, current coverage is 61,970 children under 3 years in vulnerable circumstances.

As regards policies for children under 3 years and their mothers, Mexico has rules that regulate services for children under 3 years old, yet there are no specific provisions for the border population or free programs for children with special educational needs. In the case of the United States, Head Start has an Early Head Start program that provides attention to children under 3 years old from low-income families; there are also ways for social support for mothers, such as allowances and cash transfers.

Curriculum and programs for children under 3 years

In the case of Head Start, there is no curriculum, but ‘program performance standards’; private organizations decide what curriculum or curricular framework to use, mindful that the objective is to comply with the training programs that propose indicators. There is no curriculum for this age group, but there are guides and materials to orient the adults who work with children in

programs that provide services to children under 3 years old. In the case of Canada, there is no national curriculum, just programming standards. In Mexico, there is a curriculum for children ages 0 to 4 years in the Early Child care Education Program; they note that they have a plan for implementing the curriculum setting, training actions and support materials for actions in the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the program.

Evaluation and monitoring

The system considered a formalized evaluation in both the United States and Canada. In the case of the United States, the programs are subject to a systematic internal evaluation annually and every four months. The benchmark for growth and development is applied to children ages 0 to 3 years old at the federal level in the United States.

Research

Funds are allocated by the federal governments for research in both the United States and Canada. In Canada, the research is financed by provincial funds. In the case of the United States, the funds come mainly from the federal government; a given amount or proportion of the total Head Start budget has been earmarked for evaluation and research. And in Mexico the butget comes from the government (federal and state funds and there a few that include the municipal funds) but with the substantive support of the international agencies.

Training

The performance standards for caregivers and educators are established by each province in Canada. It was also noted that training of professionals who provide services to the children of this age group has no bars to entry for those who provide the service in Canada (except in Quebec) or in the United States. Continuing professional education and training is encouraged by the institutions of both countries. In the United States these are the CDA and the NAEYC.

Financing

Mexico invests 1% of the national budget in services for this age group; in the United States this figure is 10%. The financial funds are added (federal/provincial) to optimize resource use in the United States, Canada, and even in Mexico, and the funds are administered by the states or provinces. Services for children 0 to 3 years old are supported by federal, local, and private funds.

Coordination

The Head Start program in the United States has scant relations with other sectors. In Canada, the provinces of Alberta and Quebec have cooperation and relations among services providing attention for children with special educational needs, and cooperation among the public and private sectors is promoted in the implementation of day-care services.

Transitions

Parents in the Head Start program are given support accompanying their children under 3 years old in the transition from home to the day-care center and from the day-care center to kindergarten. There is close coordination of parents with day-care centers in Canada.

5.Caribbean Sub-region

For this sub-region, the information from Dominica, Grenada, Santa Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Belize, came through the questionnaires, and from the working groups, in which the above-mentioned countries participated, along with Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and Jamaica.

Policies on comprehensive services for children under 3 years old

In the case of the Caribbean sub-region, CARICOM accounts for the largest number of the English-speaking countries, and has fostered the drafting of the Regional Plan of Action for ECD. In this regional plan, the 20 member countries of CARICOM have inter-sector policies for services for children under 3 years old. They also have guides for the development of policies, regulations, and standards in early education. These guides include basic standards for the services provided in these countries.

In the Caribbean sub-region one notes slight differences between the population ages 0 to 3 years and the population ages 4 to 6 years. Coverage ranges from 25% to 38%, with equal or greater coverage in rural areas.

Curriculum and programs for children under 3 years

Grenada, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Belize have curricular proposals for children under 3 years old in which the responsibility for the implementation is entrusted to the education sector. In addition, they note that there is a process for implementing the curriculum, yet in general lines evaluation actions are not done with respect to the children; only Saint Kitts and Nevis reported carrying out this activity.

Evaluation and monitoring Research

In the Caribbean sub-region, research has been undertaken on programs that service children under 3 years old. This research has been an evaluations, such as Jamaica’s birth cohort study (1986), status of the preschool child (Profiles Project) 2003, stimulation of children 0-3 years old, and effects 18 years later (Lancet 2007), surveys of learning environments in 10 countries, instruments for measuring developmental, outcomes piloted in Jamaica 2006, plan for screening referral and early intervention 2006 (8 countries), and MICS completed in UNICEF country programs. Jamaica’s Annual Survey of Living Conditions recently included a special module on parenting and will include a module on ECD in 2006.

Training

The Caribbean sub-region has the Regional Qualification Frameworks 2006, which include performance indicators for both professional and non-professional personnel who work with children under 3 years old. In addition, it has a proposal called Framework Development for the Establishment of a Regional Accreditation, an instrument used within the country in relation to the parameters established in the Regional Qualification Frameworks.

Financing

With respect to financing, two of the eight participating countries have information on annual cost per child. In the case of Saint Lucia, cost per child is $ 23 US in public services and $ 92 US in private services. For Saint Kitts and Nevis, the cost in public services is $ 6 US, and in private services $ 15 to 20 US per child per year. Studies on costs/investment in education and early care are being undertaken in four countries.

Coordination

Institutional ties have been strengthened in the Caribbean sub-region. CARICOM plays a major role in the actions and the integration of the member countries and institutions associated with child care. The sub-region has national level organizations such as the Early Childhood Commission (Jamaica), Pre-Primary Education Council (Dominica), National Council on Early Childhood Education (Trinidad and Tobago), and the Inter-ministerial ECD Commission (Suriname).

Transitions

There are few formal studies on the transition for children under 3 years old. They note that the most important learning objective set forth in the designs and structures is to guide support for transitions, sharing the responsibility for doing so with the parents.

PART III

SIGNIFICANT EXPERIENCES IN THE AMERICAS

Among the most significant programs and experiences being undertaken at the national level in the hemisphere is the program “Chile crece contigo,” which provides comprehensive care to children ages 0 to 5 based on coordinated actions among the different sectors. Peru presented the comprehensive attention program known as the “Programa Nacional Wawa wasi” for the population under 4 years living in poverty. The United States has the Early Head Start and Good Start, Grow Smart programs, which serve children under 5 years old from low-income families. And in the Central American countries one finds the Project for Strengthening Mothers’ Literacy (Proyecto de Fortalecimiento a los Procesos de Alfabetización a Madres de bajos recursos) called “Toma mi Mano”) undertaken by the OEI. Also presented were programs being developed to train professionals in early child care education in Barbados.

The programs and experiences being developed from the local level presented include the prenatal program “Construyendo un Mejor Futuro” carried out by the CENDI in the state of Nuevo León, Mexico. In the United States we found the University of Ohio’s “Learning from Reggio Emilia” initiative, which draws on and adapts the Italian educational proposal to the U.S. context, with positive results for child development. Also presented was the “Creative Curriculum” experience developed by Teaching Strategies. And in Spain, the program “Educating the child’s personality in values” is being developed, using primers that illustrate different situations.

Research at the local level includes the longitudinal study of the Proyecto Abecedarian, which corroborates what investment in the first 5 years of life can mean in the long run for children, families, and communities. A study has been undertaken in Peru in the context of the project Niños de la Amazonía, of the Universidad Católica and the van Leer Foundation, that reveals the processes and conditions for a successful transition from home to school in children from the Peruvian Amazon.

In the context of the symposium, the participants had an opportunity to make observation visits to two educational centers, the House of Representatives and the Greater Mount Vernon EHS. In general lines, the participants discussed the importance of the environment, the relevance of the relationship between parents and schools, and the fundamental importance of ongoing training for the personnel who provide such services. (See CD from the Symposium, with complete information, or the website .)

PART IV

CONCLUSIONS AND CHALLENGES

Initial Considerations:

Pursuant to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by most of the countries represented in this Symposium, in the context of Education for All and based on the project “Policies and Strategies for Young Children’s Successful Transition to Socialization and School,” special attention was given to the gains in the policies and normative frameworks with respect to early childhood care, which for the purposes of this symposium begins in gestation and continues through 3 years.

In recent years, research on child development has emphasized the importance of comprehensive attention, beginning at gestation, in which the social, historical, and cultural context is a decisive factor for the life of the individual. Accordingly, it is not sufficient to approach the child from a solely neurological perspective or an exclusively educational perspective, rather a broader vision that integrates other disciplines, which view the child from a complex cultural, historical, environmental, and social context (ecology of childhood).

Given that this stage of a child’s growth, development, and learning is critical, as expressed by the 34 countries of the Americas, it is imperative to review, deepen, and construct the criteria and orientations that make it possible to find the most efficient and relevant mechanisms for putting such policies in place, in which the conditions to benefit those characteristics and potentials of children are clearly established. In this regard, children are seen as individuals with rights, full-fledged citizens, curious, happy, loved and capable of loving, creative, free and autonomous, capable of establishing relationships of otherness with others who are different and in an attitude respectful of their surroundings. These qualities will enable children to begin to act as responsible and critical citizens who contribute to the social setting in which they grow up.

This vision requires that one have integrated social policies in which children are treated not just as “educable” subjects, but as competent individuals from a rights-based approach, whose rights reflect quality and equity in terms of life cycle, gender, culture, and geographic context, this approach acknowledges the integration of the systems for information and evaluation, and research and knowledge, with the shaping of human talent that sees to the care and education of children. Subsequently, these strategies need to be integrated with the policy-makers and decision-makers, ensuring stable financial resources to sustain and develop these policies.

These propositions were supported by the various international agencies that participated in the symposium, who have also envisioned the need for inter-agency and inter-institutional collaboration to attain better results.

In this context, the main thoughts that derive from the work done during the symposium are grouped in the following categories, setting forth the main trends encountered and the challenges they pose to the Hemisphere.

Policies:

State of the Art:

1. All the countries of the region have moved towards designing policies, laws, and regulations, or strategies for early childhood, some with more participatory approaches in which, in addition to the government, there has been involvement of civil society, NGOs, multilateral agencies, and others.

2. In most countries of the region, early childhood policies are more focused on the 4 to 6 years age group; the specific normative frameworks for the under 3 years age group, where they exist, are very limited.

3. All the countries accord priority to expanding early childhood coverage, focusing attention and resources on children over 3 years, from a perspective of equity and social inclusion, serving populations that are more marginal and excluded socially, economically, and culturally. The development of formal and non-formal programs for children under 3 has shown slow growth, despite the results of research demonstrating how crucial this stage of life is.

4. All the countries note as one of their priorities improving the quality of health care, child care, education, and other services directed to children ages birth to three or early childhood. Nonetheless, the resources, orientations, and criteria are focused mostly on children over 3 years, and the personal, socioeconomic, ethnic, and cultural particularities of the families and children are not considered.

5. Most of the countries still preserve a sectored approach to policies for early childhood, without considering the child as an integral being. The result is fragmentation in the agreements and regulatory frameworks for early childhood policy.

6. There is still a tendency for each successive administration to design and implement policies, rather than having policies of state for early childhood, which translates into discontinuity, fragmentation, and the lack of sustainability of the programs through which those policies are put into practice.

7. Although all the countries have normative frameworks that stem from early childhood policy, the processes of implementation are negatively impacted by budgetary limitations, the failure to accord priority to this age group in the political agenda, and fragmentation in the decision-making processes in the state.

8. There is a gap between research on early childhood, especially for the stage of life from birth to three years, and policy making for this sector of the population in most of the countries. Policy making is not necessarily grounded in accumulated knowledge nor does it use evaluation and monitoring to help systematize policy.

9. Serious weaknesses are observed in the information systems and in the statistics they generate, which are only overall figures, not disaggregated ones, often constructed merely as approximations, which makes decision-making and monitoring of policy difficult. Qualitative information is almost non-existent, making it difficult to learn about the processes, specificities, and diversities one finds in the different population groups.

10. In the policies and normative frameworks for services to children under 3 there is greater emphasis on aspects related to early childhood care, without clear considerations of the educational aspects unique to this stage of development.

11. In most countries of the region, there is an absence of policies and normative frameworks geared to early childhood that address the special educational needs, gender, and indigenous, rural, Afrodescendant, and border populations.

12. There is little policy-making in the area of communication to raise citizen awareness of early childhood in general, and in particular awareness of the importance of comprehensive attention and quality care for children under 3.

Challenges:

1. Making progress in constructing normative frameworks that ensure comprehensive attention from gestation to 3 years, moving from the sectoral approach to a population approach, with a rights-based perspective and greater citizen participation.

2. Proposing the population approach not only for this stage of life, but also considering the particularities that stem from the cultural, social, and geographic diversity of children, as well as the diversity of physical and mental conditions, and of the situations of vulnerability of the families and their children, which contributes to specific interventions.

3. Moving, in the region, from policies of particular administrations to state policies, so as to ensure the continuity, articulation, and sustainability of the programs that stem from such policies.

4. Designing policies, criteria, and normative frameworks that address the particularities of the stage of life from gestation to 3 years through different alternatives, both formal and non-formal, depending of the needs of children and their families.

5. Putting in place processes of articulation that overcome the gap between research and policy-making. Drawing on the knowledge constructed from different plural paradigms, from a quantitative and qualitative perspective, as a starting point and reference point for monitoring, evaluation, and implementation of policies.

6. Putting in place policies for equity and social inclusion that consider the particularities of children and their families in relation to their special educational needs, gender, ethnicity, and geographic location.

7. Putting in place communication policies and strategies that raise the awareness of the entire society to the importance of birth to three and the role that should be played by the different actors and institutions to guarantee and implement actions for the well-rounded development of children under 3 years.

Macro-level Curricula and Programs:

State of the Art:

1. Most of the countries of the Hemisphere have made progress in terms of moving towards macro-level curricula that give direction to pedagogical work with children under 3 years. In some cases the foundations of these curricula are the traditional ones, and in others they have broadened out so as to incorporate the contributions of the neurosciences, cultural and anthropological considerations, and historical/situational analysis. In the pedagogical orientation of these curricula, two tendencies can be observed, one more holistic and constructive, and the other more concrete, yet at the same time with greater degrees of flexibility when it comes to adapting to the particular characteristics of each child and his or her family.

2. Although most of the programs conceive of children as individuals with rights, this conception doesn’t always translate into specific actions. Some experiences still view the child as vulnerable, requiring protection and care, which can lead to welfare-oriented approaches.

3. One finds a diversity of expressions, interventions in the field of education and care of children under 3 years (formal and non-formal), with a wide variety of quality of services. In addition, these experiences are highly fragmented in relation to one another, and one observes little effort to integrate services. If integrated, it might make be possible to determine their potential contributions, so as to disseminate them, and help identify trends and construct relevant models.

4. There are initiatives aimed at further specifying the components and characteristics of a proposal for quality services for children under 3 years: equipment, teacher-training, materials, integration of education and care. Nonetheless, they fail to take into account the contexts, realities, and characteristics of children at this stage of life.

5. Components such as democracy and construction of citizenship are being incorporated in early childhood programs in general, but for children under 3, there is a limited conception of them as individuals with rights, resulting in a lack of guidelines and criteria for applying those components.

6. There is a tendency to replicate programs drawn up in other contexts, applying them in different situations without evaluating their relevance, and also limiting the participation and creation of the different actors who participate in providing care to children under 3 years.

7. One observes a greater effort to ensure family-program coordination, yet there is little clarity in terms of the meaning and forms of families’ participation in their children’s education, considering, in addition, their particular ethnic, labor, and geographic conditions.

8. There is a major trend in the governments to work together with civil society to expand and implement programs for early childhood. Nonetheless, it is important to mention that in a large percentage of the experiences, the participation of civil society lacks state support.

9. In a large number of the programs, one observes difficulties in implementation due to the lack of human, technical, and financial resources for the comprehensive implementation of the programs, putting at risk the basic quality of the services.

10. Existing monitoring systems have a tendency to accord greater importance to indicators having to do with completion of activities (workshops, productions, etc.) as opposed to qualitative indicators that make it possible to assess the development of processes and the achievement of results relevant to this age group (under 3 years).

11. Some programs are beginning to consider attention for children from the prenatal stage, although the health-sector approach prevails.

12. Few programs in the region make explicit the inclusion of children with special needs, and few are based on studies of child-rearing practices in the different communities of the Hemisphere.

13. There is scant research with a view to constructing pedagogy for children under 3 years, confusing it with experimental situations for measuring child development.

Challenges:

1. All the countries should have curricular programs and pedagogic orientations at the macro level for the birth to three age group, with a holistic, comprehensive, and multidisciplinary outlook in terms of their foundation, and should consider children as full citizens, with rights, as their central focus, in both the conception and implementation of their programs.

2. Redirecting child care programs for children under 3, bringing them closer to operationalization of the comprehensive attention approach, which includes, in addition to protection, health, and nutrition components, education with an up-to-date approach relevant to the age group.

3. Along with developing the curricular design at the macro level, there should be planning of its implementation with strategies and resources relevant to the characteristics that these instruments seek to support, such that the adults who are going to carry them out also develop a participatory, reflective, and constructive approach to the processes of curricular development, ensuring their adequate implementation.

4. Creating the conditions for quality participation of families, care-givers, and the community in general, in the design, implementation, and evaluation of the programs of comprehensive attention for children under 3 years.

5. Contextualizing every program to the sociocultural realities and encouraging their appropriation by the actors in keeping with their collective projects and the assessment of each community, and particularly the children.

6. Grounding every program on a set of rationales that confer a multidisciplinary perspective on curricular design and implementation at the macro level.

7. Using the knowledge produced by the programs developed through their various channels – research, monitoring, evaluation, and systematization – to ensure their optimal implementation and to achieve greater relevance.

Evaluation and monitoring;

State of the Art:

1. Most of the countries do not have clear systems for monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of policies and their statistical information systems are not very reliable, especially for the groups most excluded, due to their special educational needs, ethnicity, gender, and geographic location.

2. In most of the countries of the Hemisphere, monitoring and evaluation of programs are deficient, especially in the qualitative aspects that address the development and learning of children under 3 years. They are not linked to an information system; therefore they do not influence the direction of the programs or their decision-making process.

3. Indicators of supply and demand, coverage, and access are used, yet there are still no indicators of quality or result expected of the programs for providing comprehensive attention to children under 3.

4. Although in some countries the issue of design and implementation of instruments for monitoring and evaluation has been addressed, there is no system, but rather fragmented information that does not account for implementation of the programs or their results.

5. There is scant participation from civil society in oversight/social audit actions to keep tabs on the policies and effective provision of services geared to children under 3.

Challenges:

1. Generating systems for monitoring and evaluation of the policies and programs for comprehensive care for children under 3 years that yield information useful for seeing the impacts of policy, improving the quality of programs, following up on the transition processes, and making quality, timely, and relevant decisions.

2. Generating quantitative and qualitative systems of indicators that make possible effective monitoring and evaluation by those who design policy and administer programs, and by the very social actors involved in such programs.

3. Strengthening the participation of civil society in oversight/social audit actions in coordination with the ombudspersons’ offices that see to the quality of comprehensive care services for children under 3 years.

4. There is a need for a more contextualized and participatory approach based on the actors’ meaning that makes it possible to take into consideration their points of view regarding the validity of programs for their children under 3 years.

Research:

State of the Art:

1. In most of the countries research is not used as a basis for design or as a point of reference for the monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs geared to children under 3 years.

2. There is limited research on processes of socialization, outlooks, and cultural points of reference for children under 3 years and their families, which limits the development programs that address the needs and particularities of children in different contexts.

3. Knowledge about children generated in academic scenarios is scarcely considered in the design and implementation of the programs, thus it is not expressed in the actors’ social practices, and at the same time the actors’ practices are not considered in the region’s accumulated knowledge.

4. Priority has been accorded to quantitative research which provides valuable yet partial statistical information on the development of children under 3 years of age, and on the programs and their impacts, with important shortcomings in terms of approaches that account for qualitative processes related to learning, practices, and the scenarios in which they take place.

Challenges:

1. Closing the gap between research and social practices in the processes of providing comprehensive attention to children under 3 years, so as to use the knowledge for improving the quality of the programs, making them more relevant, and being able to assess their impact on the development of the child and on constructing quality of life for themselves and their agents of socialization.

2. It is necessary to begin to work with data disaggregated by population, gender, and age, among other considerations, to clarify the main lines of attention. In addition, there is a need for indicators and qualitative data on children’s learning processes, their processes of socialization and acculturation that make it possible to characterize their outlooks and conditions of reality to ensure the programs are more relevant.

3. Making progress in longitudinal studies and information systems tied in to national surveys such that they contribute an ongoing flow of information to evaluate the quality of child attention and its effects on the development of children under 3years, their families, and their community contexts.

4. Promoting the use of qualitative methodologies that make it possible to characterize the development of children under 3 years, the practices, and the scenario in which they are carried out.

5. Fostering evaluation/research on the impact of programs for the birth to three age group. Very few have been rigorously studied, thus there is little information to distinguish which types of programs in the region for birth to three years are effective.

Training:

State of the Art:

1. Some countries have systematic and quality processes for training educators at the professional level for the under 3 age group. In most, teacher training continues to be focused on preschool care for children 4 to 6 years, with no specific pedagogic specialization for children under 3 years. It is important to note that in some countries, especially in the Andean subregion, programs for children under 3 years are not attended by teachers but by care-giver mothers or educational promoters; apparently there is no system for their education and training, properly speaking. Another aspect to consider is the scant training for health personnel who provide care to children ages 0 to 3 in relation to skills for offering orientations to parents on issues of integral development of their children.

2. There is a strong discipline-based and sectoral tendency in the proposals for training agents involved in designing and implementing of programs geared to children under 3 years, limiting the integrated approach needed for there to be quality care in this stage of life.

3. There is a marked trend in the development of programs geared to children under 3 years to put in place training geared to families, care-givers, and community actors, yet most are discontinuous, instrumental, and with methodologies that are hardly apt for adult education.

4. Most of the countries do not have a system for professional development in which home-based care-givers and other volunteers (known by different names in different countries, including cuidadoras de hogares, madres comunitarias, and animadoras) can enhance thei