Measuring and forecasting progress in education: what about early childhood?
Abstract A recent Nature article modelled within-country inequalities in primary, secondary, and tertiary education and forecast progress towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets related to education (SDG 4). However, their paper entirely overlooks inequalities in achieving Target 4.2, whi...
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2021-09-01
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doaj-0e3b0653d29e4d8d913a394262d49ea32021-09-12T11:26:28ZengNature Publishing Groupnpj Science of Learning2056-79362021-09-01611710.1038/s41539-021-00106-7Measuring and forecasting progress in education: what about early childhood?Linda M. Richter0Jere R. Behrman1Pia Britto2Claudia Cappa3Caroline Cohrssen4Jorge Cuartas5Bernadette Daelmans6Amanda E. Devercelli7Günther Fink8Sandra Fredman9Jody Heymann10Florencia Lopez Boo11Chunling Lu12Elizabeth Lule13Dana Charles McCoy14Sara N. Naicker15Nirmalo Rao16Abbie Raikes17Alan Stein18Claudia Vazquez19Hirokazu Yoshikawa20DSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development, University of the WitwatersrandEconomics Department, The Ronald O Perelman Center for Political Science and Economics, University of PennsylvaniaUNICEFData and Analytics Section, Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring UNICEFFaculty of Education, The University of Hong KongHarvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard UniversityDepartment of Child and Adolescent Health and Development, World Health OrganizationWorld Bank GroupDepartment of Epidemiology & Public Health, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, University of BaselFaculty of Law, University of OxfordWORLD Policy Analysis Center, Fielding School of Public Health, University of CaliforniaInter-American Development BankDivision of Global Health Equity, Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical SchoolEarly Childhood Development Action NetworkFaculty of Education, The University of Hong KongDSI-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development, University of the WitwatersrandFaculty of Education, The University of Hong KongUniversity of Nebraska Medical CenterDepartment of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of OxfordUniversity of Buenos AiresGlobal TIES for Children, New York UniversityAbstract A recent Nature article modelled within-country inequalities in primary, secondary, and tertiary education and forecast progress towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets related to education (SDG 4). However, their paper entirely overlooks inequalities in achieving Target 4.2, which aims to achieve universal access to quality early childhood development, care and preschool education by 2030. This is an important omission because of the substantial brain, cognitive and socioemotional developments that occur in early life and because of increasing evidence of early-life learning’s large impacts on subsequent education and lifetime wellbeing. We provide an overview of this evidence and use new analyses to illustrate medium- and long-term implications of early learning, first by presenting associations between pre-primary programme participation and adolescent mathematics and science test scores in 73 countries and secondly, by estimating the costs of inaction (not making pre-primary programmes universal) in terms of forgone lifetime earnings in 134 countries. We find considerable losses, comparable to or greater than current governmental expenditures on all education (as percentages of GDP), particularly in low- and lower-middle-income countries. In addition to improving primary, secondary and tertiary schooling, we conclude that to attain SDG 4 and reduce inequalities in a post-COVID era, it is essential to prioritize quality early childhood care and education, including adopting policies that support families to promote early learning and their children’s education.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-021-00106-7 |
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DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Linda M. Richter Jere R. Behrman Pia Britto Claudia Cappa Caroline Cohrssen Jorge Cuartas Bernadette Daelmans Amanda E. Devercelli Günther Fink Sandra Fredman Jody Heymann Florencia Lopez Boo Chunling Lu Elizabeth Lule Dana Charles McCoy Sara N. Naicker Nirmalo Rao Abbie Raikes Alan Stein Claudia Vazquez Hirokazu Yoshikawa |
spellingShingle |
Linda M. Richter Jere R. Behrman Pia Britto Claudia Cappa Caroline Cohrssen Jorge Cuartas Bernadette Daelmans Amanda E. Devercelli Günther Fink Sandra Fredman Jody Heymann Florencia Lopez Boo Chunling Lu Elizabeth Lule Dana Charles McCoy Sara N. Naicker Nirmalo Rao Abbie Raikes Alan Stein Claudia Vazquez Hirokazu Yoshikawa Measuring and forecasting progress in education: what about early childhood? npj Science of Learning |
author_facet |
Linda M. Richter Jere R. Behrman Pia Britto Claudia Cappa Caroline Cohrssen Jorge Cuartas Bernadette Daelmans Amanda E. Devercelli Günther Fink Sandra Fredman Jody Heymann Florencia Lopez Boo Chunling Lu Elizabeth Lule Dana Charles McCoy Sara N. Naicker Nirmalo Rao Abbie Raikes Alan Stein Claudia Vazquez Hirokazu Yoshikawa |
author_sort |
Linda M. Richter |
title |
Measuring and forecasting progress in education: what about early childhood? |
title_short |
Measuring and forecasting progress in education: what about early childhood? |
title_full |
Measuring and forecasting progress in education: what about early childhood? |
title_fullStr |
Measuring and forecasting progress in education: what about early childhood? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Measuring and forecasting progress in education: what about early childhood? |
title_sort |
measuring and forecasting progress in education: what about early childhood? |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group |
series |
npj Science of Learning |
issn |
2056-7936 |
publishDate |
2021-09-01 |
description |
Abstract A recent Nature article modelled within-country inequalities in primary, secondary, and tertiary education and forecast progress towards Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets related to education (SDG 4). However, their paper entirely overlooks inequalities in achieving Target 4.2, which aims to achieve universal access to quality early childhood development, care and preschool education by 2030. This is an important omission because of the substantial brain, cognitive and socioemotional developments that occur in early life and because of increasing evidence of early-life learning’s large impacts on subsequent education and lifetime wellbeing. We provide an overview of this evidence and use new analyses to illustrate medium- and long-term implications of early learning, first by presenting associations between pre-primary programme participation and adolescent mathematics and science test scores in 73 countries and secondly, by estimating the costs of inaction (not making pre-primary programmes universal) in terms of forgone lifetime earnings in 134 countries. We find considerable losses, comparable to or greater than current governmental expenditures on all education (as percentages of GDP), particularly in low- and lower-middle-income countries. In addition to improving primary, secondary and tertiary schooling, we conclude that to attain SDG 4 and reduce inequalities in a post-COVID era, it is essential to prioritize quality early childhood care and education, including adopting policies that support families to promote early learning and their children’s education. |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-021-00106-7 |
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