Education policy

Answer

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

Concepts of Policy and Education Policy

Introduction

Early Childhood Education (ECE) is a sub-system in the field of educational theory that incorporates quality skills in educating young children, either formally or informally up to an age of eight years where they can be enrolled into the normal systems of education at a primary level (Karila, 2012). If properly implemented, the systems tutor young children and further prepare them into being responsible and reasonable people that can handle the workload at primary level. Early Childhood Education is however managed in different states by regulatory policies to limit challenges that associate with this type of system. Moreover, such policies are established by enacting laws within educational sector to ensure proper management of these programs, subjection of children to quality services, employment of qualified staff to carefully handle children, initiating different funding systems to reduce the cost burden incurred on parents while ensuring the system is managed and regulated according to the set code of conduct (Worthman & Harchim, 2015). My research paper seeks to give an overview of the concept of policy and educational policy through provision of relevant readings to my case study for illustration purposes and current policy origin in my selected countries by describing their policy backgrounds, with regards to most significant recent achievements and current contextual status. It will further contrast by critically analyzing different policy implementations that have occurred in Australia and Finland with an inclusion of a vivid discussion on future directions that ought to be undertaken for improving programs and services offered in Early Childhood Education settings.

Early Childhood Education Policy

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is the most recognized voice for developing a high quality early childhood support system on a diverse basis within the dynamic of early childhood profession. For developing a strong, bright and highly competitive early childhood education programs, there is need to make strategic investment in geographic, political and demographic backgrounds. There are a number of policies, practices and standards developed among different nations for reasons advocating for research based study initiative to attain quality childhood enrollment (Strandell, 2012). Most organizations have public policies at both state, federal and local levels which define a reflection of its position statements and set standards for effective early learning programs, standards for enhancing professional preparation programs alongside other research based studies evident in the field.

 Issue driven advocacies are often driven by different policymakers under technical assistance for assisting all Affiliates and partners operating on shared policy objectives, efforts and target goals. There is equally an emphasis on policy frameworks for advancement in early childhood education (ECE) which responds to different raised concerns pertaining family development, early childhood education programs and parental support (Wothman & Harchim, 2015). The governmental missions for early childhood developments are increasing participatory levels in offering quality ECE service, promoting collaborative relationships among different firms and improving general quality of ECE services.

Deriving support from different researches, participation in programs for improving high quality ECE programs readily contributes to development of a strong learning foundation, with regards to children with a disadvantaged background. In such cases, victims benefit a great deal from this system which further identifies factors affecting interactions made between and among children, their collaborative nature with parents or guardians and availability of a resource rich environment to offer effective learning opportunities to a vast range of individuals. Educational policies often focus on such concepts to ensure support provision to regulate programs in team work, enhancement of parental support and other supportive initiatives to allow development of collaborative relations.

Apart from concerns on supporting quality participation in ECE, there are certain ECE regulatory and funding policies to account for diverse ECE providers range on a global scale. They include home based services, playgroups, kindergartens and educational care centers (Karila, 2012). Moreover, the reviewing programs of funding and regulations are mostly underpinned by different guiding principles alongside other set objectives. Such established policies aim at reflecting on diversity of Early Childhood Education services, recognition of value generated by virtue of implementing such services that equally involve parents and reflection on culture, communal aspirations and general use of language. 

ECE policies aim at facilitating set governmental roles and establishment of government contribution procedures to development of such programs to accomplishing family priorities. This entails providing children a quality Best Start in Life to establish a strong foundation for attaining a Life Long Learning process (Spodek & Saracho, 2014). Access to highly affordable and quality ECE programs for often support established goals of caring, working and making distinct choices for living. In such a case, development of action plans further improves employment and caring choices that are readily available to parents and other care providers to children.

Parent Support and Development (PSD) programs through governmental funding systems is often enacted by the Ministry of Social Development alongside Ministry of Education which entails a greater focus on linking families with other related ECE services. The established Educational policies regulate how ECE programs are conducted without constraining the operational system’s flexibility. They further ensure that the outcome generated in early childhood curriculum are broad enough to enable enactment of services that can readily generate their independent philosophical perspective regarding quality operational services. ECE programs under this policy encourages direct response to needs of children in picture while developing collaborative programs to establish a distinct parent-child bonding (Worthman & Harchim, 2015). Under the Statement of Desirable Objectives and Practices, it is clear that defined chartered services are quantitively met among them licensing requirements in the proposed criteria.

 The regulatory system further provides for other related operations in parent lay out playgroups without necessarily requiring licensure since it is a system that recognizes need for filling in existing gaps for improving project sustainability (Tayler et al., 2013). The Ministry of Education has a key role in funding such play groups even if it means merely meeting their basic minimum requirements while providing advice to parents on need for their support for ensuring continuous development of a newly recognized regulatory system for eligibility reasons.

The policy equally encompasses systems for setting out a range of necessary requirements for efficiently providing early childhood services to meet set criteria regarding ratio and qualifications for assigned staff members, children’s health and safety programs, facilities, resources and effective program delivery. Quality and competitive staff qualifications in a main factor that needs consideration for any applicants in different sectors of service delivery. It is the role of Secretary for Education to set a limit for regulatory qualifications in ECE programs, which must align with key objectives established for running such programs (Strandell, 2012). Further studies are however being established to effect teacher led services, on how child to teacher ratios can be made more flexible to improve quality of services delivered. Development of cognitive ECE policies in different countries have always been underpinned by the governmental bodies’ aim to create opportunities for all children while securing a participatory opportunity in high quality ECE (Ojala, 2015). Moreover, these policies seek to balance goals on facilitating diversification in Early Child Development sectors to allow for further continuation in meeting diverse needs for children alongside their parents or guardians.

Despite operations within the teacher led provision services seeming prominent specifically through teacher related registration goals, it does no comparatively reflect favorable policies on specific types of services yet to be delivered in these sectors. Furthermore, this type of educational policy operates in a manner to provide adequate support to continuation and improvement of parent led service types alongside piloting of ECE center based Parental Support Development through a continuous evaluation program. This forms a strategic initiative for helping governmental bodies to finding the best methodology for allocating funds to support ECE related developments in the near future. This can be considered a strategic move for achieving Sustainable Development Goals on a global basis.

Overview of the Policy Background and Origins of Current Policy

An Overview of Early Child Education Policy in Australia

Early Childhood Education at both territory, national and state levels were formerly initiated by development of the Child Care Act in Commonwealth of Australia back in 1972. The primary objective of this newly established legislation was to ensure provision of a funding system to expedite establishment of a large number of operational child care centers especially for working families on condition that a large percentage of working women catered for the related workforce expenses. In 190’s, the system introduced operational policies for ensuring provision of a more affordable, accessible and quality childcare with a distinct focus on national economic growth and development through utilization of a market model for driving expansion services (Raban & Kilderry, 2017). However, Brennan (2013) has clearly outlined that the model did not work well with most parents.

It was steered towards generating a greater diversity, lowering costs and expenditures while on the other hand generating a high-quality workforce. In 1996 however, there was a positive shift in the entire government discourse, which moved the entire system form a care based to a more educational program. The Economic Planning Advisory Commission of 1996 on final reporting advocated for Future Childcare Provision in Australia with clearly outlined recommendations for developing a more Systemic Reform. The Senate Employment and Training Committee on matters relating to childhood provided a report on Inquiry into Early Childhood Education back in 1996.

This section introduces, analyzes and explores all established Australian Policies with regards to Early Childhood Education (ECE). The policy operates on the basis of a framework of affordability, social justice, accessibility, accountability and sustainability in programs relating to betterment of child care and educational service provision. The reform agenda on making beneficial changes within the Australian early childhood sector is still in the process to ensure significant large changes to the operational system. Such changes have monitored transition of educational systems form a sanctuary on a child’s health to provision of quality care to their health system (Bowes & Grace, 2014). This was further made flexible by parental working to advocate for better settings for development of young children’s education quality. This has allowed shifting of the ECE programs form being viewed as a cost based initiative to both families and ruling government to an investment opportunity for enhancing economic and social growth in countries for generating a highly educated workforce.

National Partnership Agreement on ECE (COAG 2008) initiated by the Council of Australian Governments was steered towards ensuring all children were subjected to quality education for early childhood development before enrollment into normal schooling system (Tayler et al, 2013). It included provision of an early childhood education preschool programs which are to be offered by a 4-year university-trained personnel on early childhood education systems. The tutor should be subjected to up to 15 hours training on a weekly basis for a total of up to 40 weeks on a yearly basis that needed implementation over a period of specified time.

Implementing this program required a commitment of up-to US$790 by the Commonwealth Government to different states within a period of five years. It was an agreement by State Governments to effect the idea of enrolling children to childhood education programs by the year 2013, and ensure proper management for most institutions to adjust and fully implement. In 2009, COAG agreed on introducing a new strategic move in national early child development for investing in the early years to guide future investment reforms for supporting up-to two million families plus their children. However, the totality of expenditures made by the Australian government for boosting pre-primary school education programs is significantly lower than Organization for Economic Cooperation Development (OECD) in a number of comparable countries. The developed initiatives reflected the original policy reform agenda since they were qualitatively transpired, and regarded successive governments that inherited an accountable system as compared to other previous years on basis of its operation.

An Overview of Early Child Education in Finland

This was a government initiated policy adopted back in 1999 with properly established policies and objectives considered key perspectives in ECE and pre-school education programs. Its general objective was for Finland to be motivating, equitable, undivided and a socially sound state on a global scale. Its future success is a direct link with knowledge, ability to utilize resources and expertise for improving the quality of education provided to children through creation of new interventions (Brostrom et al, 2017). Moreover, raising expertise level in Finland will have direct impact on quality of living since it will further support development of a more civilized and competitive nation. This policy aimed at developing Finland into an information society, to allow expertise and knowledge become their culture and a main production factor while adapting a pioneer role for implementation of a sustainable and humane information society.

As per the policy too, the program will be in a position to relate with other family policy terms to ensure promotion of cooperative conditions in various quarters for supporting the idea of responsible parenthood, to secure young people a chance of growth and equitable progress to achieving a balanced adult maturity (Campbell-Bar & Nygard, 2014). It also sets goals for proper development of initiatives to effect provision of morning and afternoon quality care for young school children. It safeguards a number of different alternatives within child care organizations to endeavor an increase in day care flexibility for effectively corresponding to different needs in Early Childhood Education and quality care. It further investigates different possibilities in creating a more sustainable system to guarantee the right to a monthly parental leave to create a bonding session with his children. Finally, it aims at advancing equality in people’s working life experiences and implementation of quality practices in handling equality issues relating to the ECE programs.

The government of Finland aims at introducing more appropriate pre-school education free services, through incorporation with lifelong learning sessions to ensure young people are molded into more responsible citizens. It will also lower the age bracket for beginning compulsory education in learning institutions. It will further effect issues of social security and health affairs for steering national development and cohesion ensure children are exposed to a more sustainable security providing program and health care services while reducing mortality rates (Brostrom et al., 2017). It also maintains key strategies when implementing decisions made for ensuring a good number of children are enrolled into schools for learning purposes.

Creation of a more sustainable and safe sound growth environment among children while guaranteeing access to psychological and material resources to efficiently raise children into mature human beings. Societies are expected to offer financial support through making consistent child care arrangements to level out expenses associating with child bring up. Finland first introduced the child benefit system back in 1948 for the benefit of small children with a great significance to the entire society which contributed to up-to 4% of the general Gross Domestic Product. In 1950, the child benefit program was regarded as a crucial family policy benefit to account for various basic needs every child in Finland should be directly exposed to.

After implementation of a child benefit system which remained a point of policy focus for quite a while, the entire proceedings eventually changed focus to creation of health insurance alongside other pension security services. However, in 1970’s, policies in childcare revived though with a great decline in child benefit programs in schooling. In 1990, changes were made leading to a triple increase in total value as compared to the situation a few years back (Kangas et al., 2016). Ever since, ECE programs in Finland have been dealt with great concern, and it is everyone’s aim to ensure children are brought up properly in highly conducive environment, a factor to improve quality of their studies and general output to the society.

The factor of increasing investment for the good of a child was a great deal in boosting child care systems for young children which was implemented in 19970. The majority of Finish families with under school aged children are employed meaning they operate on a 24-hours basis. This therefore called for enrolment of a safe, reliable and quite reasonable priced daycare systems considered of vital importance in the child’s upbringing.

Contrasting and Critically Analysis of Policy Implementation

Policy Implementation in Australia

The type of ECE programs provided within Australia are entirely based on legislative, historical and political conditions. However; their current system of delivering preschool services is complex and their services are often provided by a wide range of providers, with varying acceptable qualifications while reflecting different service delivery profiles. This complexity often clears up after identification of diversifications in prevailing system delivery services. Australia equally provides its Early Childhood Education programs through Long Day Care settings, preschool programs, kindergartens, early learning centers as well as stand-alone schools within the range of sector of school independence. These Australian programs can broadly be provided along two broadly identified models of predominantly a non-governmental model or a predominantly government model. Among the 8600 preschools in Australia, almost half of the total are considered dedicated schools often initiated by either governmental or non-governmental institutions while the other half are long day care institutions which further incorporate preschool programs.

Pre-primary schooling programs in Australia mostly deliver a structured educational program among children in 555a specified number of hours on a daily basis just before embarking on a formal primary school system. Those programs are usually run by a university graduate as a n ECE teacher. In most cases, preschools are independent, co-located in a school setting or incorporated to fit into the Long Day Care (LDC) settings (Raban & Kilderry, 2017). In Australia, most government based preschools are run and overseen by either state territory governments or state local governments. Preschools regarded as being non-governmental comprise of those managed by private for-profit organization, independent schools, community managed schools like the non-for-profit organizations and some Catholic schools.

Most LDCs are center based systems for providing childcare, either as part time or all day for children with an age range of six weeks to five years. Back then, LDC was a predominant service for providing care to children until introduction of NQF, a program that viewed early childhood education considerably important and is incorporated reschool services in Australia incorporates this service in enhancing preschool funding initiatives. Long day care services are often provided by local councils, not-for-profit and for-profit organizations and community based organizations. They employ both qualified and unqualified members of staff even though currently, a number of requirements are being effected to ensure quality of their employees is reflected in their university results, a four years training duration (Spodek & Saracho, 2014). Schooling system in Australia includes three different systems of education; non-governmental, governmental and catholic schools. Funding of this programs is done independently either on a national, state or territorial level with different child age bracket recommended for starting schooling.

A new policy on National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education (NQF) for enhancing Australian quality of children’s education and care quality, which was an authority initiated and thereafter commenced in 2012. This new policy was an initiative for delivering quality services while promoting positive developmental and educational outcomes among Australian children under long day care, outside school hours care, family day care and preschool programs 5Taylor et al., 2013). It puts great focus on enrolling better qualified staff members while improving staff-to-child ration for allowing creation of quality time to put focus on needs of individual children. Another factor is on provision of national uniform educational standards on basis of physical environment, health and safety plus staffing programs. Lastly, introducing transparency in rating systems that allow for making comparisons on quality of service provided to allow making of informed choices regarded the specific service that best meets the needs of their children.

This new state approach of National Quality Standard (NQS) has integrated other different accreditation and licensing processes which were initially implemented by the state. Individual services only account for quality assessment programs within a single organization while reducing regulatory burden which enables them focus more on children’s education and quality care (Bawes & Grace, 2014). It is considered a very important aspect for setting a national benchmark in regulating early childhood education services available in Australia, which operates by consistently assessing ECE services to ensure compliance with the set standards. It allows incorporation of best possible school conditions to make sure children enjoy their developmental era while promoting a continuous improvement in quality care provision.

Policy Implementation in Finland

On the other hand, Finland poses varying policies with different implementation procedures as compared to Australian system.

Policy on parental leave guarantees parents a free period for securing a chance to spend with their children as regulated by the public funding systems. This creates an opportunity for providing care for children while in homes on child care leave. After the period, parents are subjected to three options, either to provide care to children by receiving a home care allowance which in most cases lasts until the child is three years old, enrolling the child in a private day care institution while providing related private childcare allowance to a point the skid starts schooling and enrolling the child in a municipal day care till he or she resumes schooling (Campbell-Bar & Nygard, 2014). For ensuring quality in ECE programs, while health clinics turns its focus on promoting, monitoring and supporting growth of children by providing guidance on the newly adopted life transition. It has promoted the psychological and physiological well-being of the child to enhance continuity in acquisition of Early Childhood Education without inconveniences caused by health uncertainties. It involves agreed periodic visits both in schooling institutions plus home-based care, to check up and ensure their health conditions are properly monitored. This system is a clinical based initiative in conjunction with ECE institutions for meeting health care services among young children for protection of public health.

The Act on Children’s Day Care concurs with parental responsibilities when raising children to promote personal balance between parents and their kids. Moreover, extension of the unconditional right to day care has boosted right to enrolling all school going children while emphasizing significance of need for the primary day care initiatives in ECE alongside care relation aspect. Local authorities further provide quality day care services in day based centers while organizing supervision of different play activities readily available to everyone within the center’s playground. This creates a bonding session, social-interactions and allowing children appreciate one another.

The number of enrolled children in these centers might vary in population, and therefore need for subdivision into smaller groups, those below three years and those in the age bracket of three to six years. however, the legislative policy under control outlines that there should be a maximum of four (under three old) and seven (three to six old) In whichever full-time care institution, to nurses in practical section of children and a normal kindergarten teacher. Family day care is often applied as a care form in small children, with a single child minder provided care upon enrolling in pre-school educational systems (Bronstorm et al., 2017). There are different institutions offering open day care centers, whereby the policy allows periodic visitations by child care minders for providing adequate social networking both to children and their minders. It diversifies human knowledge on how to handle the young ones to generate an equitable and quality upbringing into more responsible citizens.

On the policy of providing adequate support to small children, there developed a reliable system to facilitate making organizations for reasons of providing financial and day care to young children. These care systems have properly been developed with the aim of providing families with a number of child care options for taking into account necessary family needs. This form of active participation has effected or promoted development of legislations that further govern care for young children (Kangas et al., 2016). There are a number of allowances offered to ensure children are efficiently brought up. Provision of child care leave allows parents to take up unpaid child care leave for nursing their young ones to a point they are considered stable and a bit independent, after which they are guaranteed a right to get back to their initial job or rather to a more comparable job. Child home care allowance programs is applied in home settings to ensure children are qualitatively trained both in their living environments.

The system incorporates kindergarten services and practical activities often enacted through utilization of a pedagogical operating method and different subjects in form of physical education, art and craft and drawing various patterns. These creche activities are often implemented as part of public schooling systems, under a school proposal on monitoring pedagogical content of both urban based nursery schools and the rural village institutions. The introduction of folk kindergarten activities aimed at preventing child welfare work among the disadvantaged children from the pooper population section while providing adequate care to children whose mothers were fully committed to work, which is regarded a practical solution for the same (Ojala, 2015). Acts on Children’s Day Care are usually upheld, with greater focus on equal access to different forms of day care, entailing local authority participation to provide such services a large extent of people within the same municipality. It equally harmonized the general fee charges towards accessing quality day care services.

The Finnish Act on Children’s Day Care provides programs to monitor regulation of childcare among schoolchildren. Currently due to a high raise in economic demand, local authorities have greatly cut down on monitoring sessions and their available resources focused providing day care for specifically those whose enrolled kids have been subjected a right to quality day care patterns. It operates hand in hand with the Basic Education Act for providing club activities to reasonable kids (Campbell-Bar & Nygard, 2014). This session advances children’s skills by supporting different hobbies while generating positive learning experiences with others. It also creates a proper functioning of social associations between adults and their children. The entire concept of responsibility coordinates different activities under the concern of local authority.

Future Options for a Sustainable ECE System

To accomplish and achieve a sustainable ECE operational system where economic viability, flexibility, high quality, equity, flexibility and equity are addressed and effectively upheld. The policy direction should be dependent on how people perceive the existing programs, and critical and oppressing issues underlying it that need further clarifications. Putting into consideration the three perspectives on the same is considered relatively crucial, perspectives from the family, from the state’s childhood advocacy organizations and third from the national government. They are very crucial because they all in one way or another contribute to developing a more sustainable ECE sector in the coming years.

Families are very important stakeholders in in regulation of Early Childhood Education policies, meaning their concerns need full recognition as they form baseline of insights on how sustainability and efficiency can be enhanced. Whenever these families undergo multiple disadvantages when facing barriers like economic disadvantage, rural life and remoteness, and difficulties in language, it directly prevents and limits implementation progress of Early Childhood Educational services since it renders it an ineffective and inequitable system. It calls for incorporation of measures that can effect the system into being more sustainable to meet the needs of the future generation on provision of adequate and quality care. Among the already outlined factors include equity and affordability, curriculum and pedagogic quality, reliable and consistent funding system, staff competence, qualifications and access and participation.

Early Childhood Acts allows creation of chances to consider children’s interests very paramount especially when analyzing its flexible practices. It puts into account reconsideration of of children’s rights through identification, then handling them by treating all associated risks using more realistic approaches. It is crucial to link these practices with the National Quality Standards to enhance establishment of collaborative partnerships among children, community members and their family members. these acts should maintain children’s best interests as a main theme for generating great future reforms in the ECE programs. There is need to establish an ECE Outcomes Framework for making clarifications on specific systemic reforms and objectives on beneficial and credible investments in early childhood services.

For fully sustaining these investments, the economic and social impacts must be first measured and articulated clearly. The national government must put focus on effective workforce participation mainly involving the women. Necessities or resources needed to effect children development and learning process has to be included to enhance rate of school transition. Flexibility ought to be established to suit family needs, including regional families, non-standard work families among other disadvantaged children. Moreover, establishment of fiscally sustainable funding arrangements for bettering support flexibility, access to quality early childhood education and affordability of quality care service provision. There is need for national, state and territories to recognize the need for maintaining a sustainable ECE system. There is adequate rom for improving the general ECE sector in accordance with current national government’s priorities.

Conclusion

Early Child Education programs are conducted and established under policies or enacted laws within the educational sector to ensure proper management of these programs is adopted, including subjection of children to quality services and employment of qualified staff. Most states have adopted to this system, in my study case focusing on Finland and Australia. Comparisons between the two are closely related especially on the current practices with the already established future goals of achieving efficiency and sustainability. new policy was an initiative for delivering quality services while promoting positive developmental and educational outcomes among young children. There is need to put more attention on availability of affordable and flexible early childhood educational care services to diversify in provision of family requirements. They must put strategies in place to ensure provision of full support to children with disabilities, developmental and learning delays together with the group of children considered of the vulnerable type. Regulation of ECE services to ensure attaining sustainability in any business (elated transactions like funding, regulation and planning. they should further ensure public expenditure made towards providing ECE services to ensure efficiency and effectiveness in addressing the different needs of both families and their children.