OECD Country Note Early Childhood Education and Care Policy in France
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OECD Country Note Early Childhood Education and Care Policy in France Directorate for Education, OECD February 2004 The views expressed in this document are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of France, the OECD or its Member countries. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 5 Purposes of the Thematic Review............................................................................................................... 5 France’s participation in the Review........................................................................................................... 5 Structure of the Country Note ..................................................................................................................... 6 Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................................... 6 Terminology................................................................................................................................................ 7 CHAPTER 2 – CONTEXTUAL ISSUES SHAPING ECEC POLICY IN FRANCE ................................... 8 Geography and demography ....................................................................................................................... 8 Political and administrative organisation .................................................................................................... 8 Maternal employment and gender roles in the home ................................................................................11 Employment patterns and working hours.................................................................................................. 11 Immigration, poverty, and social exclusion .............................................................................................. 12 CHAPTER 3 – OVERVIEW OF ECEC IN FRANCE................................................................................. 14 Forms of ECEC provision for 2 to 6 year olds.......................................................................................... 15 Leisure-time services................................................................................................................................. 17 ECEC arrangements for children under 3 years........................................................................................ 18 Leave arrangements for parents ................................................................................................................ 21 Staff training and working conditions....................................................................................................... 22 Programme content and pedagogy ............................................................................................................ 25 Inspection, monitoring, and quality control .............................................................................................. 26 Family engagement and support ............................................................................................................... 27 Funding and financing............................................................................................................................... 28 Recent initiatives in child and family policy............................................................................................. 31 CHAPTER 4 – ISSUES ARISING FROM THE VISIT .............................................................................. 33 Views of children and families and the goals of ECEC............................................................................33 Co-ordination between care and education ............................................................................................... 34 Decentralisation and local autonomy ........................................................................................................ 36 Reconciliation of work and family responsibilities................................................................................... 37 Training and working conditions of early childhood professionals .......................................................... 39 Pedagogy and pedagogical frameworks.................................................................................................... 42 Inspection and evaluation.......................................................................................................................... 43 Data collection, research, and monitoring................................................................................................. 44 CHAPTER 5 – POLICY SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION .............................................................. 46 1. Focus more on quality from the child’s perspective ............................................................................. 46 2. Rethink the needs of two-year olds ....................................................................................................... 46 3. Ensure a real choice among quality ECEC arrangements..................................................................... 47 4. Support stable investment in ECEC and a comprehensive system of monitoring ................................ 47 5. Strengthen the training of early childhood professionals...................................................................... 48 3 6. Build a career lattice for early childhood professionals ........................................................................ 48 7. Encourage mechanisms for coherence and co-ordination at various levels of responsibility ............... 49 8. Develop a co-ordinated research programme........................................................................................ 49 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................. 51 ANNEX 1 – MEMBERS OF THE OECD REVIEW TEAM ...................................................................... 53 ANNEX 2 – TABLE OF CONTENTS OF THE FRENCH BACKGROUND REPORT............................ 54 ANNEX 3 – PROPOSED PROGRAMME OF VISITS............................................................................... 58 GLOSSARY ................................................................................................................................................. 59 4 CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION Purposes of the Thematic Review 1. This Country Note for France is an output of the OECD Thematic Review of Early Childhood Education and Care Policy, a project launched by the OECD’s Education Committee in March 1998. The impetus for the project came from the 1996 Ministerial meeting on Making Lifelong Learning a Reality for All. In their communiqué, the Education Ministers assigned a high priority to the goal of improving access and quality in early childhood education, in partnership with families, with the aim of strengthening the foundations of lifelong learning (OECD, 1996). The goal of the review is to provide cross-national information to improve policy-making in early childhood education and care in all OECD countries.1 2. Twelve countries were reviewed between 1998 and 2000 (Australia, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States). A comparative report—Starting Strong: Early Childhood Education and Care—was published by the OECD in 2001. France is one of nine countries participating in a second round of reviews that began in 2002. The others are Austria, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Korea, Mexico, and Spain. These countries provide a diverse range of social, economic and political contexts, as well as varied policy approaches toward the education and care of young children. 3. The scope of the review covers children from birth to compulsory school age, as well as the transition to primary schooling. In order to examine thoroughly what children experience in the first years of life, the review has adopted a broad, holistic approach to study early childhood policy and provision. To that end, consideration has been given to the roles of families, communities and other environmental influences on children’s early learning and development. In particular, the review is investigating concerns about quality, access and equity with an emphasis on policy development in the following areas: regulations; staffing; programme content and implementation; family engagement and support; funding and financing. 4. As part of the review process, each country hosts a review team for an intensive case study visit. After each country visit, the OECD produces a short Country Note that draws together background materials and the review team’s observations. France’s participation in the Review 5. France was the fourth country to be visited in this second phase of the review. Prior to the visit, a Background Report on ECEC policy in France was prepared by the Ministry of Education (Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche), the Ministry of Social Affairs (Ministère des affaires sociales, du travail de la solidarité), and the Ministry of Health, the Family, and Handicapped Persons (Ministère de la santé, de la famille, et des personnes handicappées). Guided by a common framework that has been accepted by all participating countries, the Background Report