No child should be left behind. UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank have highlighted the central role of Education and Early Childhood Development across all UN Sustainable Development Goals. As such, they represent a key... [ view full abstract ]
No child should be left behind. UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank have highlighted the central role of Education and Early Childhood Development across all UN Sustainable Development Goals. As such, they represent a key strategy for empowering mothers, fathers, families and caregivers through the formation of human capital.
Neurosciences have recently confirmed that a baby’s brain development is shaped by their earliest experiences, including during pregnancy: a baby’s exposure to stress from any cause within the family, such as parental mental illness, neglect, mistreatment, domestic violence or simply poverty related stress, can significantly affect their brain development, and therefore their future outcome.
It is now estimated that 250 million children aged under five are now at risk of suboptimal development (The Lancet Papers). Therefore, early parenting is key since parents, both mother and father, or caregivers, provide the immediate physical, emotional and cognitive environment that will be the foundation for a child’s development, and evidence shows it starts in the womb. Early Childhood Care and Education can have a lifelong impact on children and their future as adults. Evidence in various countries shows that a child who lacks the benefits of early childhood education is less likely to succeed later in primary and secondary education. This is why we argue that ECEC, especially when it is of the highest possible quality and it is culturally sensitive, has the potential to break the cycle of disadvantage. Further, in addition to benefiting children (and their parents), the benefits of quality early childhood education extend to society as a whole, including reductions in crime, and lower expenditures on health care and on remedial education.
Keywords: Early Childhood Care and Education, Early Parenting, Neuroscience
