Quality in early childhood education and care (ECEC) : state of play in the EU Member States based on the European Quality Framework : executive summary

Quality Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is a priority both at EU level and in many EU Member States. An important outcome of this growing interest has been the development of the European Quality Framework (EQF), a comprehensive framework to define high-quality ECEC (Council of the European Union [CEU], 2019). In addition, the European Pillar of Social Rights and the Child Guarantee underline the importance of high-quality ECEC, especially in terms of inclusion, addressing child poverty and promoting equal opportunities for all children and families. As such, high-quality ECEC has been on the political agenda in recent years. This is exemplified by the EU Care Strategy and the revised Barcelona Targets, which stress the importance of enrolment and attendance rates of children in ECEC. However, high-quality ECEC constitutes a broader issue than attendance rates. In order for ECEC systems to have a positive impact for all children, families and societies, both process quality and structural quality are important. Structural quality is defined in the EQF, which proposes a comprehensive framework with five quality areas: accessibility, staff, curricula, monitoring and evaluation, and governance and funding. The current NESET report provides an integrative overview of the state of play and reforms at EU level, in the different EU Member States, on the 5 quality areas. The main focus is on accessibility and workforce.