Reaching the marginalized: EFA global monitoring report, 2010; 2010

PROGRESS TOWARDS THE EFA GOALSEarly childhood care and educationDeveloped countries vary considerably in theirblend of crèches, pre-primary schools, centrebasedday care and home support. They also differin the balance between public and private financingand in the age groups that programmes reach.Some countries, notably in the Nordic area, havehigh rates of coverage for children under 3, thoughmost early childhood programmes in OECDcountries cover ages 4 to 6. The duration of preprimaryeducation varies from one to four years.In Sweden, full-time free early childhood educationis available to all children, from age 3, for elevenmonths of the year; in the United Kingdom, freeprovision is available part time for 3- and 4-yearolds(EACEA, 2009). Most European Union countriesprovide two years of free pre-school. 3 By contrast,in the United States, there is no statutory right topre-school before age 5, though about 60% ofchildren in the pre-school age group were enrolledin 2007.Differences within countries are often as markedas differences across borders. This is especiallytrue of countries that combine high levels ofdecentralization with subnational autonomy. TheUnited States provides a striking example. Virtuallyevery 4-year-old in Oklahoma can start school atage 4. In eight other states – including Florida,South Carolina and Texas – more than half of4-year-olds attend a public pre-school programme.At the other end of the range, twelve states haveno regular state pre-school education programmeand in eight states less than 20% of children areenrolled (Barnett et al., 2008). There are alsomarked differences in the quality of provision(Ackerman et al., 2009). Ten benchmarks havebeen established for assessing quality standards. 4However, programmes in Florida are required tomeet only four benchmarks and Texas sets nolimits on class size or staff/child ratios. Spendinglevels per child also vary markedly: five statesspend more than US$8,000 per pupil while anotherfive spend less than US$3,000 (Barnett et al., 2008).Reaching the vulnerable and disadvantagedGoal 1 of the Dakar Framework for Action commitsgovernments to expanding early childhood careand education ‘especially for the most vulnerableand disadvantaged’. This is for good reason.Children from disadvantaged households have themost to gain from early childhood care – and themost to lose from being excluded. Unfortunately,cross-country evidence strongly suggests thatthose who need it most receive it least.Household poverty and low levels of parentaleducation are two of the most pronounced barriersto early childhood programmes. Evidence from asurvey of fifty-six developing countries shows thatbeing born into a poor household or having aChildren fromdisadvantagedhouseholds havethe most to gainfrom earlychildhood careTable 2.1: Pre-primary enrolment and gross enrolment ratios by region, 1999 and 2007WorldDeveloping countriesDeveloped countriesCountries in transitionSub-Saharan AfricaArab StatesCentral AsiaEast Asia and the PacificEast AsiaPacificSouth and West AsiaLatin America and the CaribbeanCaribbeanLatin AmericaNorth America and Western EuropeCentral and Eastern EuropeSource: Annex, Statistical Table 3B.Total enrolmentGross enrolment ratiosChangeChangeSchool year ending inbetween 1999School year ending inbetween 199919992007 and 2007 1999 2007 and 2007(millions) (%) (%)(%)113 139 24 33 41 2680 106 32 27 36 3225 26 4 73 80 107 8 7 45 63 395 10 82 10 15 532 3 26 15 19 251 1 13 19 28 4437 39 4 40 47 1837 38 4 40 47 190.4 0.5 12 61 67 1121 36 69 21 36 7116 20 22 56 65 170.7 0.8 16 65 74 1316 19 22 55 65 1719 20 6 75 82 99 10 5 50 64 303. In the European Union,about 87% of 4-year-oldsare in school (EACEA, 2009).4. The standards includeteacher and assistant teacherdegrees and specializedtraining, in-service trainingprovision, class size,staff/child ratios, supportservices, meals andmonitoring. Just two states– Alabama and South Carolina –meet all ten benchmarks.51