The role of early childhood education in social behaviour of children

Abstract

Public investments in Early Childhood Care and Education have grown and continue to grow considerably, in part based on rigorous research establishing the importance of investing in the first 5 years of life. A large body of evidence on early childhood interventions has found short-and medium-term effects that extend beyond narrowly academic or cognitive outcomes to improvements in pro-social and anti-social behaviours, skills such as self-regulation, commitment to schooling, risky adolescent behaviours, aggression, delinquency, crime, employment and earnings, and both mental and physical health. The potential of high quality early childhood programs to affect a broad range of children's social behaviours, attitudes and skills has strong implications for the development of programs and policies that can prevent antisocial behaviours, delinquency and risky behaviours while improving productivity in the workforce. Given the importance of the early years in child development, this chapter focuses on summarizing the evidence of the impact of early childhood interventions on children's social and emotional behaviour in the United States and globally, describes which aspects of these interventions are associated with larger short-term and long-term social and emotional effects, and identifies which types of programs have been found to affect parenting and households in ways that matter for children's behavioural development. These programs demonstrate remarkable consistency. Implications for international educational policy in the areas of justice and equality are discussed.