Some of the workplace skills that we value most, whether it’s curiosity and creativity, or an ability to think independently while still working collaboratively, are best developed in the earliest years of life. Early childhood education and care (ECEC), as children’s first experience outside the home environment, holds immense promise for guiding children towards a positive and rich life-long learning and development path. However, this role of ECEC is coupled with great responsibility in not only ensuring access to but also quality of services.

The OECD Starting Strong series provides comparable international information on early childhood education and care (ECEC) to support countries and jurisdictions in their review and redesign of policies to strengthen their delivery of quality services.

High-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) holds tremendous potential for children, families and societies, laying the groundwork for the success of future generations. Specifically, children’s daily interactions through their ECEC settings – with other children, staff and teachers, space and materials, their families and the wider community – reflect the quality of ECEC they experience. Together, these interactions are known as “process quality” and are the most proximal drivers of children’s development, learning and well-being. This report explores how policies create constructive conditions that ensure all children benefit from rich interactions as part of their ECEC experience and investigates the full potential of these policies beyond their regulatory nature. It stresses that quality, as a multidimensional construct, requires multifaceted policy solutions.

This report is based on findings from the Quality beyond Regulations policy review, which was initiated to support countries and jurisdictions in understanding and enhancing quality in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. This chapter introduces the findings from the policy review and provides context for the results presented in subsequent chapters by summarising key issues and trends in the field of ECEC. Focus is given to curriculum and pedagogy, and to workforce development as key policy levers to enhance quality, with attention to three additional policy levers: governance, standards and funding; data and monitoring; and family and community engagement.

This chapter discusses the relationship between curriculum frameworks, pedagogy and process quality in early childhood education and care. By articulating policy-relevant questions and key indicators, this chapter links research findings and conceptual work with the policy levers needed to enhance process quality and support children’s learning, development and well-being. This chapter provides an overview of policies concerning these indicators across OECD countries and jurisdictions. It also provides concrete examples of good practices that can enhance process quality and child development through these policy levers.

This chapter discusses the relationship between the early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce and process quality. Building on research findings, this chapter discusses how ECEC staff’s initial education, professional development, working conditions and leadership can enhance process quality and support children’s learning, development and well‑being. This chapter provides an overview of the policies that affect the ECEC workforce through a range of indicators across OECD countries and jurisdictions. It also provides concrete examples of good practices that can enhance process quality and child development through these policies.