The UNICEF Innocenti Report Card
A league table of early childhood education and care in economically advanced countries
The UNICEF Innocenti Report Card series monitors the performance of industrialized countries towards securing the rights of their children; demonstrates what is practically achievable in the world’s most economically advanced countries; and provides comparative experiences and evidence-based insights to further debate on children’s rights issues.
UNICEF Report Card 8 (RC 8) provides a comparative analysis of the status of early childhood education and care in the 25 most affluent countries, and identifies key features to help ensure that investments in this critical time of human development create positive outcomes for children.
What the report says
“A great change is coming over childhood in the world’s richest countries”.
RC 8 observes that this is the first generation of children in which a majority will be in some form of out-of-home child care. This child care transition at once offers an enormous potential for the child, and a risk if key quality issues are not considered in the planning and delivery of early childhood care and education. Approximately 80 per cent of the industrialized world’s three-to-six-year-olds, and about 25 per cent under the age of three, are in some form of early childhood care and education.
Potential of quality care and supportive family policies
Risks with minimal investment in quality care and supportive family policies
Reduced impact of disadvantage for second-language children and those living in low-income families
Limited choices for quality placements of young children
Equality of opportunity for women
Child care that is too early for too long can be damaging
Support to dual-income families
Poor quality care and education can result in impaired social relationships, poorer mental health, less than optimal cognitive development, and weaker parent-child attachments
For nations, higher GDP and tax revenues, lower poverty rates, reduced welfare budgets and expenditures in education and justice systems
Higher psychosocial and cognitive development of children – better educational performance
Key findings
- Most children in industrialized countries are in some form of child care and education.
- High quality early child care and education services together with supportive policies and programmes for working families are hugely important for all aspects of children’s development - and have major social and economic benefits for individuals, families and society.
- There is evidence that in the first year of life, parental care is optimal, and strengthens the case for full-year parental leave that is well-remunerated, available to self-employed parents, and offers job security.
- Investing in and monitoring equitable access to early childhood services of high quality – giving all children the chance for the best start in life - is affordable for governments: it pays huge social and economic dividends and reduces costs down the road. On the other hand, under investing risks poor outcomes and little value for money.
“It is estimated that $1 invested in the early years saves between $3 and $9 in future spending on the health and criminal justice systems, as well as on social assistance”. The Chief Public Health Officer’s Report on the State of Public Health in Canada, 2008.RC 8 proposes 10 benchmarks of minimum standards for early childhood education and care that all governments can pursue so that the child care transition is managed in the best interests of children, families and societies. While not exhaustive, they are based on evidence and experience across the industrialized world.
Read the report
Canada’s status – a glimpse
Canada achieves only 1 of 10 benchmarks of minimum standards for early child care and education.
Canada is one of the most affluent industrialized countries (by GDP) but invests relatively little in the earliest years – a critical period of development that lays the foundation for each child’s potential. Canada invests about 0.2 per cent GDP in early child care and education (for 0-6 years) according to the OECD Canada Review (2006). Investing in quality services available to all children who need them would cost about 1 per cent of GDP.
"With all the knowledge about early childhood development and the long-term benefits of investing in early childhood education and care, we can no longer afford to ignore the importance of devoting more funds to our human capital. It is therefore necessary to invest in a universal, subsidized and not-for profit ECEC system with qualified staff which is clearly beneficial for children, families and the economy, and a significant step towards an economic recovery".Christa Japel, Professor, Faculty of Education, Université du Québec a Montréal (UQAM), and team member leading Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development.
Close to 70 per cent of Canadian mothers work. Many families in Canada lack child care spaces for their children – particularly affordable, high quality child care and education. About 24 per cent of children (0-6) in Canada had access to regulated child care space in 2004. The choices available to parents for other forms of quality care vary considerably, with generally less choice available to families of low income. The costs of child care vary widely across Canada – on average, parents pay 50 per cent of the costs in Canada, in contrast to about 30 per cent in much of Europe.
All provinces and territories in Canada have early childhood plans and programmes, and many are gathering strength, but their standards, access and quality vary widely. Quebec’s advanced services meet about 6 of the 10 benchmarks proposed in RC 8. All children in Canada have the right to the best start in life through the equitable provision of services, respectful of different provincial and local choices for delivery. Overall, the chances of a child born in Canada having access to early care and education services that meet minimum standards of quality are considerably fewer than the chances for children in many other affluent countries.
"As a first step, rather than directing unspecified social transfer payments to the provinces and territories without any accountability as to how public funds are being spent, Canada needs to have clearly defined quality standards and accountability for its investments in its youngest citizens. Secondly, federal leaders must recognize that political ideology does not replace evidence based public policy research that clearly demonstrates how child care and early learning services benefit all Canadians, help to build a better economy, and reduce social costs down the road". Don Giesbrecht, President, Canadian Child Care Federation.
All orders of government share responsibilities for policies in support of families with young children. Parental leave is one such policy examined in cross-national comparison in RC 8. Combined, the Canadian maternity and parental leave standard is 50 weeks at 55 per cent of earnings (excepting Quebec, which is more generous) – yet parents take, on average, less time than the 50 weeks they’re eligible for. The income gap and lack of job security are often cited as reasons for this. Outside Quebec, self-employed parents are not eligible for parental leave benefits.
Children are holders of all the rights in the Convention on the Rights of the Child from birth, including the right to appropriate assistance to parents in their child-rearing responsibilities through the development of institutions, facilities and services for the care of children. All children deserve the chance for the best start in life, with equitable access to quality services according to at least minimum guaranteed standards.
“access to high- quality and affordable care and learning environments should be a right and entitlement for all children, rather than a privilege”. Children: The Silenced Citizens, Final Report of the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights, 2007.
New!
"Canadian consensus is clear. There is a lack in communities across this nation of quality, affordable child care and early childhood education programs to meet the needs and the choices of parents". Early Childhood Education and Care: Next Steps, Report of The Standing Senate Commitee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, 2009.
Concerned Canadians can discuss these issues with their elected officials in provincial and federal governments, in their workplaces, and in their professional organizations, including:
- Stronger policies to give all Canadian children the chance for the best start in life by guaranteeing quality child care and education for those who need and want it according to cross-national minimum standards.
- Improved parental leave provisions – increasing the level of remuneration, extending full coverage to self-employed and part time workers, and introducing dedicated paternity leave.
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More investment in the equitable provision of high quality early childhood services – and a national strategy that coordinates federal investments and standards with strong provincial and Aboriginal systems and services to help ensure that the child care transition is good for children.
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Reducing the serious shortage of trained early childhood educators across the country by addressing challenges such as competitive salary levels, benefits, training, hours of work, and career advancement opportunities while keeping high quality child care affordable for working families.
"Canada's failure to achieve nine of UNICEF's 10 indicators for ECEC provision should be a "heads up" to Canadians. As UNICEF points out, robust public policy and significant public funding in early childhood education and childcare are not only urgently overdue in Canada but high quality ECEC should be part and parcel of strategies to respond to current economic challenges. This report is an excellent tool that can assist with the urgent action on ECEC that Canadian families need sooner, not later". Martha Friendly, Director, Childcare Resource and Research Unit.