This infographic depicts the main findings of the report Key data on early childhood education and care in Europe 2025. The findings are based on analysis of policies in 37 European countries (39 education systems). The report covers the EU 27 Member States and Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina,...

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) is a basic right for all children and a foundation for lifelong learning. It plays a critical role in reducing inequalities and enhancing women's participation in the workforce. This third edition of Key data on early childhood education and care in...

This research estimates by how much the NCS reduces childcare costs for families who use formal childcare in Ireland. The cost 'coverage' of the subsidy, measured by the ratio of the subsidy to the total cost of care, is estimated using the microsimulation model, SWITCH, linked to 2022 data from...

Aging populations in Asia are worried that they are facing a "care crisis," with many older people in need of care having no one to care for them. However, we do not have a clear picture of current care patterns: How much care is currently being consumed? Who is providing that care? Are women...

Early childhood is a crucial period for skills development and socio-emotional growth. Forcibly displaced children experience significant trauma, necessitating effective interventions. This paper examines the effect of Early Childhood Development (ECD) programs on the psychosocial and...

This note provides guidance for policymakers, World Bank country teams, and development practitioners to enhance the quality, affordability, and sustainability of home-based childcare (HBC) services in low-income settings. It outlines a comprehensive approach to recognizing HBC as a public good...

We adapted a violence-prevention, parenting program (the Irie Homes Toolbox, or IHT) for integration into Jamaican preschool services. The adapted IHT was evaluated in a mixed-method feasibility trial in Kingston, Jamaica. Twenty-four preschools were randomly assigned to intervention (n12) or...

Unlike most developed countries, the U.S. lacks a federal paid sick leave policy. As a result, many workers must choose between losing earnings and attending to childcare responsibilities. To date, 17 states and the District of Columbia have adopted or announced paid sick leave mandates that...

ECCD discourse, policy, and research have understandably focused on parents: their roles, knowledge, practices, and lived experiences. However, it truly 'takes a village' to raise a child, perhaps particularly so in a very intergenerational, communal society like the Philippines where both of...

This study investigates whether (and how) working from home (WFH) affects the gender division of parental unpaid labor. I use the recent COVID-19 pandemic that brought an unanticipated yet lasting shift to WFH combined with a measure of occupational WFH feasibility (Alipour et al. 2023) as a...

The composition and quality of the child care workforce may be uniquely sensitive to changes in the complementarities between home production and market work. This paper examines whether the expansion of oral contraceptives and abortion access throughout the 1960's and 1970's influenced the...

Fachkräftemangel, Demokratiegefährdung, alternde Bevölkerung, digitale Transformation, Migration - die Gesellschaft verändert sich rasant, die politischen Rahmenbedingungen für gute Bildung aber bisweilen nur langsam. In dieser dynamischen Umgebung wird Lernen zum lebenslangen Thema, was...

Im Herbst 2021 wurde das Gesetz zur ganztägigen Förderung von Kindern im Grundschulalter (Ganztagsförderungsgesetz - GaFöG ) verabschiedet. Damit haben Grundschulkinder, die im Jahr 2026 oder später in die erste Klasse kommen, bundesweit einen Rechtsanspruch auf eine Förderung im Umfang...

Wie sich die Platzbedarfe in Kitas und Schulen entwickeln, hängt vorwiegend von der demografischen Ausgangslage in den Regionen ab. Diese wird wiederum maßgeblich vom Verlauf der Geburtenzahlen bestimmt. Hier unterscheiden sich die ehemaligen beiden deutschen Staaten auch mehr als drei...

We evaluate impacts heterogeneity of an Early Childhood Intervention in Colombia, with respect to the Educational Attainment Polygenic Score (EA4 PGS) constructed from DNA data based on GWAS weights from a European population. We find that the EA4 PGS is predictive of several measures of child...

This report brings together the findings of a comprehensive programme of work that IFS has led on the short- and medium-term impacts of Sure Start on children's outcomes. At the time this research started, there was little evidence on whether Sure Start had benefited children, especially beyond...

This study examines the care arrangements and needs of urban households with young children in Honduras and measures them relative to the provision of childcare services in the country. The study also investigates the changing burden of childcare during the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting...

This study evaluates the impact of an Italian government initiative launched in 2007, which allocated €1 billion to regional governments to enhance early childhood care services for children aged 0-2, targeting both public and private childcare options. Exploiting variations in the timing of...

This study investigates whether (and how) working from home (WFH) affects the gender division of parental unpaid labor. I use the recent COVID-19 pandemic that brought an unanticipated yet lasting shift to WFH combined with a measure of occupational WFH feasibility (Alipour et al. 2023) as a...

We evaluate impacts heterogeneity of an Early Childhood Intervention, with respect to the Educational Attainment Polygenic Score (EA4 PGS) constructed from DNA data based on GWAS weights from a European population. We find that the EA4 PGS is predictive of several measures of child development,...

We examine gender gaps in early childhood cognitive and social-behavioral skills across several Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries. Our study complements previous research focused on older children by analyzing the preschool period, a critical stage for lifelong human capital...

Parental caregiving responsibilities can disrupt paid work, contributing to persistent gender inequalities in employment and earnings. Using Australian employer-employee linked data and a dynamic difference-in-differences approach, this study examines how workplace environments shape the impacts...

We evaluate impacts heterogeneity of an Early Childhood Intervention, with respect to the Educational Attainment Polygenic Score (EA4 PGS) constructed from DNA data based on GWAS weights from a European population. We find that the EA4 PGS is predictive of several measures of child development,...

We leverage pronounced changes in the availability of public schooling for young children - through duration expansions to the kindergarten day - to better understand how an implicit childcare subsidy affects mothers and families. Exploiting full-day kindergarten variation across place and time...

We study how changes in couples' relative wages affect the division of childcare. Using a nationwide wage reform that raised pay in the female-dominated teaching profession, we find that closing 25% of the earnings gap between female teachers and their male spouses led to a 12% reduction in the...

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...

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...

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...

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...

The system-level indicators on early childhood education and care (ECEC) explore main aspects of the situation in Europe regarding the right to affordable ECEC of good quality for all children. These indicators focus on key policies in the areas of access, educational guidelines and staff in 38...