Item 5: Brief Overview of SSI&II and Country Survey
Responses on “Financing ECEC”*
Miho Taguma
Project leader on ECEC
7th Meeting of the OECD Network on Early
Childhood Education and Care, Paris, 21-22
June 2010
* Included: BEL, CAN, FIN, IRL, ITL, JAP, MEX, NLD, NOR, SLV, SWE who
submitted the responses by the deadline or a little later than the deadline.
Agenda
1. Issues surrounding data collection (Item 6)
2. Sources of financing and reasons for investment
(Item 7)
3. Funding strategies (Item 8)
Agenda
1. Issues surrounding data collection (Item 6)
2. Sources of financing and reasons for investment
(Item 7)
3. Funding strategies (Item 8)
Data Needs for International Comparison:
Items on the Wish List
Quantitative data
•
•
•
Share of public and private sources for childcare (cf.
available in EAG for pre-primary education)
Net costs of childcare per child for parents; direct
contributions of parents with children (some by DELSA)
Costs of different ECEC services (unit costs or per child
costs/ full-time vs part-time)
Qualitative information
•
•
•
•
•
Updating definitions of early childcare, pre-primary education,
early childhood education, pre-school, etc.
Laws that regulates the financial and operational aspects of
ECEC services
Different systems for inspections and evaluations
Different systems to distribute resources for better quality and
equality of child outcomes – item 8
International comparison of children’s needs identified for
different ages
Constraints in data collection and international
comparison
•
•
•
•
•
Low policy priority
Fragmentation of ECEC services (central vs local; different
ministries) vs integrated ECEC services
Jurisdictional differences (different definitions, different fee
structures, different spending, etc.)
System is currently in flux.
Lack of knowledge about private sources of private institutions;
different accounting standards for private institutions and
public institutions.
Recent attempts to address the constraints
•
•
•
(CAN) Data needs: Set up a roundtable discussion among
different levels of governments – advance knowledge and
research.
(IRL) Cost info: Require for-profit providers to calculate
with ‘cost price’ – good indication although caution is
required to compare the commercial sector and the nonprofit sector.
(NOR) Financial info: Require private institutions to
present the annual account in a standardised
questionnaire - improved data on financial aspects of
these institutions
In Item 6
Presentations:
• International comparative data – OECD (EDU/DELSA), UNESCO
• Country experiences with data needs, international comparison, and
constraints – NOR, FIN, ESP
Questions for Reflection:
• How much do countries spend on each child (ECEC, cash benefits, tax
reduction, etc.)? Should parental leave benefits be inclusive or exclusive?
What is the optimal level of spending on ECEC?
• How much private sources are being spent on ECEC?
• How much does high quality ECEC cost per child or per unit?
• How much does ECEC cost to parents?
Agenda
1. Issues surrounding data collection (Item 6)
2. Sources of financing and reasons for investment
(Item 7)
3. Funding strategies (Item 8)
Who provides sources of ECEC? Why do they invest?
Private
business
community
Private forprofit
enterprise
Social
organisations
Parents
Governments
Resources
for ECEC
International
organisations
1. Supporting female labour participation
2. Reconciling work and family responsibilities
Private
Private for3. Managing demographic
business
profit challenges
community
4. Acting against
child poverty, educational
enterprise
disadvantage, and poverty chain
Parents
Governments
5. ECEC as a public good
Resources for
ECEC
Social
organisations
International
organizations
Focus in Item 7: Making a Case for Public Spending on
ECEC
Economic outcomes
Social outcomes
Educational outcomes
for
Children
Parents (esp. mothers)
Society at large
Purchase ECEC services
1.
2.
3.
4.
Female labour market attachment
Need for more family income with two earners
Private
Private
forNeed for time to be free from childcare
work
business
profit
Socialisation and education of their children
community
enterprise
Social
organisations
Parents
Stay home and devote
“time” and “materials”
to ECEC at home
1.
2.
Governments
Attachment to the
child
Culture, values, and
traditions to care and
educate children at
home
Resources for
ECEC
International
organizations
Private
business
community
Private for-profit
enterprise
1. To keep their qualified,
Parents by
trained employees
promoting their worklife balance
Governments
2. To encourage
their
(national,
state,
customers
with
children
municipal
and
to buy
services
(in a
combinations)
shopping
centre, etc).
•
Resources for
ECEC
Social
organisations
To make profits
Investment = taking a
financial risk/
loans
International
organizations
•
Private
business
community
For philanthropy, religious
commitment, social corporate
responsibility,
Private for- parental and
community engagement, etc.
profit
enterprise
Social
organisations
Parents
Governments
Resources for
ECEC
•
International
organisations
Part of foreign aid
programmes
(donations or loans)
In Item 7
Presentations:
• Intergenerational social mobility, social outcomes - OECD (ECO/EDU)
• Cost benefit analysis; economic and social returns – Prof. Steven
Barnett
• Country experiences – ENG, MEX
Questions for Reflection:
• What does recent research show about economic, social and
educational returns on investment in ECEC?
• How can countries actually use the research findings to make a case
to increase public spending on ECEC?
• How can countries effectively find and use other sources than public
funding to finance ECEC?
Agenda
1. Issues surrounding data collection (Item 6)
2. Sources of financing and reasons for investment
(Item 7)
3. Funding strategies (Item 8)
Political decisions on public investment on young
children, especially in time of financial constraints
• Balance between parental leave benefits and ECEC services
• Balance between cash benefits, tax credits, vouchers
(demand-side) and direct ECEC services (supply-side)
• Balance between universal measures and targeted measures
o If universal (e.g. making ECEC free or part of compulsory)
for what age group? for how many hours of provision?
o If targeted, how to define targeting criteria (e.g. family
income, residential areas/poverty areas, child’s
outcomes/needs, etc)?
• Balance between direct investment in expanding access (e.g.
infrastructure, workforce supply, etc.) and direct investment in
quality initiatives (e.g. curriculum development, upskilling
workforce, quality assurance/ rating systems, etc.)
• Maintaining national standards for quality and equity while
giving more financial autonomy to local governments.
• Maintaining national minimum for quality while deregulating
standards to give incentives to various service providers to
expand places.
In Item 8
Presentations:
• Market mechanism in school: implications for ECEC - OECD (EDU)
• Research on financing mechanisms – Mr. Myers, Ms. Bock-Famulla
• Country experiences – AUS, SLV, BEL(FL)
Questions for Reflection:
• What is the optimal division between parental leave and ECEC?
• Should subsidies for ECEC be on the demand side or the supply side?
• Should the government provide ECEC services through the public
sector and/or subsidise private ECEC? For the latter, should it allow forprofit institutions?
• How can governments ensure quality and sustainability of ECEC
services in a market or quasi-market mechanism?