6th Meeting of the Network on Early
Childhood Education and Care
7-8 December 2009, Paris
Item 9: Draft Template for Updating
the ECEC Database
Kathrin Höckel
Directorate for Education
Education and Training Policy Division
The OECD Database on ECEC
A one-stop-shop for data on ECEC
 Online and publicly available
 Simple and user-friendly
 Easy to update and extend
 Flexible to include a variety of data sources
Presentation of ECEC data and meta-data
 Data on a particular indicator organised by topic
 A sheet with meta data including:
 A precise definition of the indicator
 Information on data sources and their quality
 Comparability issues and specific country information where relevant
Future data gathering exercise
Minimising data collection effort
 Use of data already available through other OECD sources
(including main OECD Database, OECD Family Database,
ECEC Network questionnaires)
 Tight collaboration with DELSA (Child Well Being Module)
 Synergies between general data updating exercise and data
collection for the new project on Quality in ECEC
Remaining tasks for countries
 Pilot to test and refine the questionnaire
 One-off data updating and extension through questionnaire
administered to all countries through the ECEC Network
 Future data gathering depends on ECEC Network mandate
List of topics for updating (I)
Quantitative
 Funding
 Estimated costs of an ECEC programme (full-day; half-day) per child
 Private expenditure per child (expenses by parents, employer contributions)
 Ways of public spending (targeted/general, to individuals/providers,
through which level of government)
 Provision and access




Enrolment by type of institution (private, public, in primary schools etc.)
Number of children on the waiting list
Licensing requirements and regulatory frameworks for providers
Minimum standards for provider facilities, minimum space per child
 ECEC staff (countries that already sent data are exempted)
 Staff-children ratio
 ECEC staff wage in comparison with minimum wage/with primary school
teachers
 ECEC staff working hours, turnover rates
List of topics for updating (II)
Qualitative
 Governance
 Main responsibility for policy development, funding, legislation, provision
and quality control
 Integration (countries that already sent data are exempted)
 Data collection and research
 Monitoring mechanisms
 Evaluation of ECEC data and ECEC research centres
 Curriculum and pedagogy
 Curriculum and pedagogy from age 3-6 and under 3
 Recent developments in policy
 Outcomes
 Formal measurement (literacy and numeracy, school-readiness test etc.)
 Longitudinal data linking participation in ECEC with improved later
learning outcomes
Timeline and next steps for implementation
8 January 2010
Country comments on data
presentation and list of
indicators to be updated
Q1 2010
Development of the
questionnaire by the
Secretariat and piloting
Q2 2010
Countries to send responses
to the Secretariat
Q2 2010
Q2 2010
Country
responses
to the to the
Country
responses
Q3
– Q4
2010
questionnaire
questionnaire
Evidence
from country
responses fed into database
Questions for discussion
1. Does the suggested timeline seem reasonable to you?
2. Which country would be interested in running a pilot and
assisting in developing the questionnaire?
3. How should ECEC data gathering be handled in the future?