EFA 2000 Assessment >
Report for Western Europe and North America


TRENDS AND ISSUES FROM AN OECD PERSPECTIVE
WESTERN EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I - INTRODUCTION

II - THE CHANGING OECD CONTEXT OF THE 90s

III - THE FOUNDATIONS: EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE

IV - STRENGTHENING PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLING AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

V - ENDURING PROBLEMS: KEY GAPS AND PRIORITIES

VI - THE WAY AHEAD

VII - DIRECTIONS

VIII - REFERENCES

IX - STATISTICAL APPENDIX


I - INTRODUCTION

'The capacity to learn is at the heart of human development … Equal opportunities for learning are indispensable if development is truly to be broad based and sustainable, and if the enormous future costs of exclusion … are to be avoided' (Draft Dakar Framework for Action, 05/11/99)

'Lifelong learning will be essential for everyone as we move into the 21st century and has to be made available to all' (Communique of the OECD Education Ministers, January, 1996).

The Education for All vision is an ambitious declaration of intent to overcome outstanding weaknesses and gaps in the provision of a high quality of basic education for all people. In the ten years since the Jomtien Declaration these weaknesses and gaps have been studied and extensively debated nationally, regionally and in global conferences and reports. Many countries have taken determined action to address them. Yet there are in all countries difficulties and barriers still to be surmounted: in some they are so severe as to jeopardise the foundations of civil society and economic survival. Difficulties continue to exist not only in the poorest and least educationally developed countries; they are also to be found in the most educationally, socially and economically advanced parts of the world, where the concept of universal basic education is now being incorporated within frameworks for lifelong learning for all.

In recognition of the varied nature of the challenges facing all education systems, of the progress made and that still needs to be made, targets are being proposed for endorsement by the Unesco World Conference in Dakar in April 2000. Stocktaking and recommitment have their point, but their effectiveness depends first on a well developed capacity to gather and analyse data, second on a sure sense of purpose and direction, third on a determination to draw in and mobilise all available resources in pursuit of clear, definite and realistic objectives, and fourth, on a readiness to extend the conceptual and policy boundaries so that basic education is progressively brought under the umbrella of continuing, lifelong learning for all. The Dakar conference must be of demonstrable value if the great efforts and costs of the preparatory, planning and organisational work are to be justified. Hard pressed national education systems and international agencies need to be assured of the relevance and practicality of the measures proposed and the decisions that are made. For some OECD countries, at any rate, it appears that conviction of the value of the Dakar enterprise is yet to be established. In the final stage of the preparations, it is necessary to focus not only on gains made and on chronic problems, but also on key policy issues and on the likelihood of their being subject to practical, problem-solving appraisal. Declarations, verbal commitments and undertakings must be based on a clear and firm understanding of the capacity and readiness of countries to translate them into policies and action programmes, even if some of these are long term in nature.

The present report outlines relevant trends and developments in the OECD countries in Europe and North America in the1990s and indicates likely future directions. Although the central orientation is towards these countries, many of the issues are common to the whole OECD membership and much of the internationally comparative data and reporting refer to the overall membership or to selection of countries from the whole membership. There are known weaknesses and shortcomings including enduring problems in the education systems of all member countries and these receive attention alongside the gains that have been made in recent years. The data are drawn mainly from EFA sources for those countries that submitted reports, and from OECD documents based on country data, including the international education indicators. Interpretations and conclusions drawn are the responsibility of the authors and do not commit either the OECD or the reporting countries.

The scale and often the nature of education problems in the regions and countries of the world are of course different. It may evoke a sense of relative deprivation to draw attention to the problems of the more well-off societies when the hardships of the poorest countries are so extreme. There are striking differences between the OECD countries and many others. For example, a much lower proportion of the population in the former are in the 5 - 14 age group; there are fewer resources in the less prosperous countries to allocate to education, and there is a much smaller percentage of the population with upper secondary qualifications (although the gap is closing); and there are substantial differences in rates of participation in basic education (OECD/CERI, 1998a, p.29).

These and other differences call for careful contextual referencing in applying the cross-country policy objectives of Education for All. Nevertheless, as attainment of the goals of universal access and participation in the OECD countries comes ever closer to realisation, the gap between those students and citizens who are the beneficiaries of a sound education and those who fail, perform poorly, drop out and discontinue study at the earliest opportunity becomes both highly visible and yet ever more difficult to close (OECD/CERI, 1998c). Thus the Jomtien vision - and, with due care, the goals and directions set therein - and now the renewal of effort now proposed for Dakar are as relevant to those countries which have already traversed far along the road as to those which are well back.

The OECD nations of Western Europe and North America sustain many of the world's most highly developed and smoothly functioning educational systems. Indeed, they were largely responsible for the invention and establishment of national systems of universal public education. These systems are - despite some quite acute difficulties - relatively well financed; schooling of a generally reasonable standard is virtually universal between the ages of 5 - 7 and 14 - 18; there are in several of the countries near universal systems of early childhood education and care, highly developed systems of vocational, multiple forms of large scale tertiary education, and a large and varied array of adult education facilities and opportunities. Moreover, these countries are responsible for the bulk of the world's educational research effort.

These achievements reflect values, commitments, policies, legislation, organizational capacity and resource flows that have been built up, in most cases, over at least a century, sometimes considerably longer. They are the fruits of highly developed economies, well-established democratic political systems, decades of sustained policy making and administrative effort and underlying values and traditions concerning the rights and liberties of individuals and complex sets of societal needs. It is necessary to bear these and related considerations in mind in making global educational comparisons and in the setting of targets for countries which have yet to reach these levels of educational development and maturity.

II - THE CHANGING OECD CONTEXT OF THE 90s

The OECD 'region' is defined not geographically, but according to a range of economic, political, social and cultural features which determine countries' membership of the Organization. Briefly, these are full and active subscription to free market economics, trade liberalization, parliamentary government, democratic institutions and cultures, freedom of association, human rights and an overall commitment to liberty, equity and justice. Susceptible as these broad principles are to a variety of interpretations, and uneven as they may be in application, OECD member countries are characterized by a wide range of common structures, forms of social organization and policies which reflect their values and historical associations. Established in the aftermath of the Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of post World War 2 Europe, the initial West European - North American membership was progressively enlarged to include all the Scandinavian countries, Western and Southern Europe, North America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. During the 90s, a further expansion of membership occurred, to include the Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary, Poland, Mexico and South Korea. There are now 29 member countries, 25 of them in Europe and North and Central America. It may be expected that in the decades ahead there will be a further increase in the number - and diversity - of member countries.

The decade of the 90s opened in a spirit of optimism and confidence in the future, following the destruction of the Berlin Wall, the ending of the Cold War and the emergence of new regimes across Eastern and Central Europe and in the former Soviet Union. Throughout the OECD region, the 90s have been marked by increasing interdependencies and openness among nations, peoples, their institutions and ways of life. The great boost to international investment and trade following in the wake of the liberalization measures of the 80s is one indication of this. Another is increasing recognition of the need for 'outreach' policies through which relations of different kinds are forged with other countries and organizations both national and international. These have not been confined to the European theatre but include new links with Asian countries one of which, South Korea, achieved membership of OECD in the latter part of the 90s. Joint programs and partnerships with other international bodies such as the World Bank and Unesco have increased in number and variety. Reviews of national education policies, once almost exclusively confined to member countries, have been made at the request of non-member countries during the 90s. In the international drive to improve educational statistics, many non-member countries are now providing data for Education at a Glance. OECD Education Indicators. Through the World Education Indicators Programme which OECD co-ordinates in co-operation with Unesco, the coverage of some of the indicators is almost two thirds of the world's population (OECD/CERI, 1998a, p.29). The recently launched PISA program (Programme for International Student Assessment), building on the long-running International Education Achievement studies, will draw together data on aspects of students' performance, in the first assessment phase, from 26 OECD countries, and from a number of others. In these and many other ways, OECD in the 90s has become a much more open, permeable and global organisation dedicated to sustainable economic growth, social development worldwide, the freeing of the multilateral system of economic relations among nations, and a growing number of partnerships and shared programmes not least in education.

On the basis of already firmly established socio-political-economic structures and policies, OECD countries in the 90s have generally aimed to achieve greater economic discipline - structural adjustment, balanced budgets, debt reduction, privatization, fiscal and other incentives to entrepreneurship, private sector development. These policy moves have had an impact on education, particularly in funding, financial management and use of resources. The scale of government and public sector activity have not diminished but their nature has changed in many countries as part of a steady turn toward more strategic policy intensive operations and less detailed administration and micro-management. There has been a growing recognition that economic and social policies need to be balanced and indeed mediated by a clear recognition of such risks as may arise, in large-scale change, to social cohesion, equity and valued features of the social and cultural heritage. Education during this decade has become a more prominent and significant element in many countries and correspondingly within the OECD itself, signalling its increasing importance in social development and economic growth. Thus education and training were prominent in the analysis undertaken in the major organisation-wide studies of employment trends and issues throughout the 90s, and the lifelong learning studies, launched in 1995 (OECD, 1996a), were endorsed by the OECD Ministerial Council, the OECD Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Ministers, and the G8 Summit in Cologne.

Due in the main to economic dynamism, rapid technological advances, highly developed entrepreneurial cultures and stable, well-functioning social organizations across the OECD region, increasingly sophisticated products and services have become ever more widely available in the 90s. Advanced and widely dispersed knowledge is now well recognised to be a vital component in economic growth and social development. The pursuit of quality, competitiveness and cost containment has resulted in a preoccupation with efficiency and - especially - the skills and competencies of the workforce. So far from this leading to a focus on narrow, over-specialized training, the trend in labour market preparation and the continuing education and training of the workforce has been towards a sound, broad, basic education, with many innovations to foster a learning society and a culture of lifelong learning for all. There has been a resurgence of interest in adult literacy; in the aftermath of International Literacy Year (1990) OECD published its first study on this subject early in the decade (OECD/CERI, 1992), and this has been followed by international surveys which have produced disquieting results. Interest in the human capital theories dating from the work of Schulz, Becker and others in the sixties has been renewed: work began in the second half of the decade on human capital indicators in response to the 1996 OECD Ministerial Council request. For the purpose of this activity, human capital was defined as 'The knowledge, skills, competence and other attributes embodied in individuals that are relevant to economic activities' (OECD/CERI, 1998b, p.9). Major international studies were carried out during much of the nineties on the employment trends, needs and difficulties of member countries (OECD, 1994a; Bowers et al, 1999). In these, and in the work referred to earlier in this paragraph, the core theme might be summarised as a growing need for a workforce displaying highly intelligent, flexible, knowledge-based production and information processing capability, together with resourcefulness, initiative and skill in group problem solving.

Although the 'OECD model' has enjoyed considerable success in the 90s - after the difficult years following the major changes to the global economies in the early to mid seventies - significant problems with educational implications continue to exist alongside overall growth. These implications are taken up in subsequent sections of this report. In most - but not all - OECD countries, youth and young adult unemployment has remained high. For the 15 - 24 age group it was 16% in 1997, 4 percentage points higher than in 1979 (Bowers et al, 1999), although there have been substantial improvements in several countries. Many jobs are regarded as of poor quality and are low paid; job security has diminished; and in all countries employment opportunities increasingly favour the well educated, the mobile, the multi-skilled, the self-employed, the part-timers and the casuals. In general, there has been a rise in income disparities following relaxed fiscal policies and tax regimes, a weakening of organized trade unionism in several countries, increased competition for professional and managerial staff and greater investment opportunities for individuals. By contrast, previous generations in many of these countries enjoyed swift entry into the labour market and lifetime careers with the prospect of steadily increasing incomes; there was also a marked emphasis in fiscal policy on income redistribution and, in social policy generally, on equality, welfare and a social safety net.

There are many forces and values at work in social and educational policy in member countries. Attention need only be drawn, for example, to the depth and intensity of scientific knowledge and research and their applications (molecular biology, biotechnologies, physics, materials science, electronics, chemistry, chemical industries, design and engineering), to the major role several of them play in contemporary arts and global communications and media, and to their influence in trans-national regional and global political bodies. In all of these, as in other spheres, the OECD region as a whole and in particular the North American and West European members have strengthened their overall international role and impact in the course of the 90s. These numerous and varied international roles and responsibilities afford greater visibility and influence to the educational work of member countries and to the Organisation itself. At the same time, they serve to turn the spotlight onto any weaknesses in international capability, competitiveness and market penetration adding strength to the case for still greater efforts to overcome shortcomings. Education has become a major instrument of competition policy whereby countries seeking to better position themselves internationally. Hence there is a definite move across the OECD membership to raise standards of performance in all spheres.

Education and training in the OECD countries has become a matter of major public concern, and appears to be higher than ever before on the national policy agenda. An example, with its origins in the 80s and continuing throughout the 90s, is the highly publicized education policy initiative in the USA involving successive presidents and the state governors in formulating the Goals 2000 programme and seeking to establish national standards for school subjects (National Education Goals Panel, 1992). Major themes included improved learning of mathematics and science, control of drugs and violence, readiness to learn, and near universal graduation from high school. Although not reached by the year 2000, the goals movement was designed to alert the community at large to the need for educational reform. It signalled a national priority for education and drew upon public concern at weaknesses in the school system. There is now a general acceptance in the community, not just in professional circles and among policy makers, that development depends fundamentally on both a well-educated populace - of all ages - and on highly sophisticated knowledge workers in all key sectors of society, culture and the economy. It is well understood now that it is not enough - as was still the common belief in many countries until the 60s and 70s - to provide a basic, terminal schooling supplemented with vocational training for the masses, with a highly selective, advanced system of education and training for elites and specialists. The rapid, continuing expansion of upper secondary and tertiary education testify to the changed understanding of society's needs for a highly educated citizenry and workforce. A recently completed review of the transition from school to work underlines the need for more and better targeted education for young people, especially those whose attainment levels at school are modest or poor and for adult education especially among the workforce (OECD, 1999; in press).

Compounding the economic and social need for a widely dispersed education extending over the lifecycle is a change in the demography of OECD members- the so-called ageing population phenomenon. Sharp falls in birth rates since the 1970s mean less quantitative demand for health and social services for young people, and for basic education, but increasing requirements for the care of the elderly, new avenues of activity and greater attention to adult education for leisure as well as work. In the late 90s, however, the size of the school population is in some countries beginning to rise after years of stabilisation which resulted from a balance between smaller age cohorts and rising participation rates (OECD/CERI, 1998a, p.12). Changing patterns of family life and participation in the work force mean an increased demand for early childhood education and care (OECD/CERI, 1998a; OECD/CERI, 1999a).

Across the OECD membership in the 90s the concept of inclusive, lifelong learning for all as a long term goal to be progressively attained has entered the mainstream of educational thinking and policy making. While no country has yet attained this objective, it has ceased to be a vague and remote aspiration and become a definite target whose acceptance is beginning to impact on specific objectives and policies for early childhood and adult education, tertiary and higher education, as well as on basic schooling (OECD, 1998a). The quality, effectiveness and efficiency of educational systems is coming to be assessed with reference to the criteria of lifelong learning for all. Thus, from the perspective of OECD countries it is necessary to enlarge the understanding of 'basic education' and hence of Education for All, to incorporate a continuing and lifelong learning perspective which is inclusive of all people and not, as hitherto, selected elites and self-selected minorities pursuing their own interests. From this perspective, learning will extend from early childhood education and care, through the stages of basic primary, lower and upper secondary/ vocational, tertiary, adult, and comprise a mixture of part- and full-time study, continuous and discontinuous phases. It will be of individual importance and a personal responsibility but equally an economic and social necessity and responsibility.

III - THE FOUNDATIONS: EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE

The two outstanding gaps or areas of uneven provision in North America and Western Europe are early childhood and adult, continuing education. Adult, continuing education is nowhere universally accessed or accessible and many decades of sustained effort and innovative practices will be required before continuing, adult education for all becomes a reality. Important as shortcomings in adult and continuing education for evolving lifelong learning policies, they are not death with further in this paper. Neither the Dakar remit nor the EFA country papers has provided data on adult education. For the further development of inclusive education policies, it will be essential to include upper secondary, tertiary and adult education, in other words, a framework of lifelong learning from birth to old age.

Some countries have achieved virtually universal access and high levels of public provision for children from age 2 or 3 upwards. Others, however, fall far short; not all even accept it as an appropriate target (reflecting in part traditions of family-based early care and training).

The legally required age of entry to schooling has typically varied across OECD countries from five to seven. Early childhood education and care, provided in different ways, including institutions with many of the characteristics of schooling, may be available, in some countries, from ages 0- 2 upwards. 'Early childhood education and care' in the professional literature extends from infancy (0) to 6, 7 or even 8 years of age. Thus the term may refer to the first years of schooling; or to the pre-school years, or both. Moreover, the concept of 'care' is a reminder that parental responsibility for the well being of young children is often shared with different public authorities - mainly health and education but also welfare and related services. A holistic concept of early childhood and care seems to be gaining ground. It refers to developmental processes, relationships, institutional settings, parenting and a wide variety of services for infants and young children from 0 to 6-8 years of age.

Due to the variety of agencies involved, the diversity of educational provision both formal and informal, and weaknesses in both data collection and policy and programme coordination, it can be difficult to form a clear picture of the provision and its effectiveness. Statistical data are uneven and in several countries they lack transparency and coherence. An OECD thematic review is in preparation to examine trends and discuss issues in early childhood education and care for future policy consideration by member countries. It is likely that this will, in time, lead to not only to more coherent, inclusive policies but also to improved, more comparable data sources. Where some countries with a tradition of well-documented publicly provided early childhood education and care - France and Belgium for example - can provide detailed statistics and regular reports, for others, data are either unavailable or come from such a variety of sources as to make clear documentation and hence strong policy initiatives and comparative analysis more difficult than they should be. This has led early childhood specialists to advocate national policy frameworks where they do not already exist and an improved research capability including a capacity for longitudinal studies and continuing R&D effort (Sylva and Moss, 1993; Kronemann, 1998). This is especially true of countries where there is a large amount of unregulated private provision including child minding and where, either not at all or until very recently, policy frameworks were relatively undeveloped.

The scale and diversity of provision for early childhood education across OECD countries, while still not adequately documented, for reasons given above, is to some extent shown in the OECD education data base (OECD/CERI, 1999a, p.29), see Appendix 1. Universal enrolment generally starts in the age range 5-6 years. In Belgium, France, the Netherland, New Zealand and Spain, virtually all 4 year olds are enrolled; for the 2-4 year age range, Belgium, France, Iceland and New Zealand, the rate is more than 75% but is less than 25% in Australia, Canada, Finland, Greece, Ireland, South Korea, Mexico and Switzerland. Acknowledging the diversity of care facilities including private providers and data difficulties, however, these figures need to be treated with caution.

In most countries there either exists or there is now a definite trend towards more purposive, developmental and education focused policies for early childhood. A mixture of public and private providers and sources of finance is evident; it is, however, increasingly, subject to regulation and recommended procedures. While pre-school attendance is not generally required, it is strongly encouraged. Access tends to be wider or narrower according to whether it is considered a right or something in the nature of a special need or a privilege. There are divergent views and varied purposes, for example social development, the foundation of lifelong learning, prevention of delinquency. In the Dutch national report a link is made between the integrated, continuing process of education and services for ethnic minorities, from early childhood to secondary school (Education for All, The Netherlands, 1999). The report from Norway makes similar points about the continuity of education and development grounded in early childhood provision (and again separately from more contact and better provision for migrants (Education for All. Norway 1999).

Emphasis is increasingly being given to the development and strengthening of learning capability as a foundation for continuing growth from as early as 2 - 3 years of age. Noted in the Irish EFA report, this is a trend in many countries. There is a discernible interest in and impact of developmental psychology and research findings concerning cognitive growth, social experience and health. Perhaps no less important are changes in labour market participation whereby women with young children are re-entering the work force. A third consideration is the need to equalize opportunities and to ensure early learning opportunities for children who are actually or potentially disadvantaged and liable to later educational retardation. These and other benefits perceived by member countries have been reviewed in a chapter of OECD's Education Policy Analysis (OECD/CERI, 1999a) and in an Education Committee document proposing a thematic review of early childhood education and care policy.

Ireland, with a history of low participation rates in pre-school education and care, is one of the countries which, during the nineties have prepared policy documents, initiated legislation or declared an intention to expand and improve provision for early childhood education and care. A representative national forum was held in 1998 and, drawing on the experience of other countries with advanced systems and reviewing its own requirements, it recommended a comprehensive, co-ordinated, inclusive system through a partnership between public and private authorities. The potential for learning of very young children, the economic and social benefits of investment, the forestalling of later learning problems, the opportunity to advance parent education, and the need for a good quality of child care when both parents are working were the main arguments advanced for the new initiative. The case made by the Forum and by other bodies has been accepted by the Irish government which is now 'committed to developing a national policy framework for early childhood education and to the provision of a specific budget for pre-school education' (Education for All, Ireland, 1999 ) and is preparing a White Paper. While the approach is comprehensive, it is characteristic of current climates of opinion that there is to be a particular focus on two target groups: socio-economic disadvantage and special education needs. This approach combines the idea of a right with that of targeting.

It must be noted, in interpreting statistics and reports on early childhood education and care, that there is great variety in types of pre-school provision. In the UK, for example, these include publicly maintained nursery schools and nursery classes which are integral parts of primary schools, mostly part-time and taking children aged three and four; reception classes in primary schools, mostly full-time, to which children are admitted before the age of five; day nurseries both public and private (often run as a business) which look after the under fives for the length of the adult working day; playgroups for children between two and a half and five and mostly run on a self-help basis by parents and community groups; and childminders, who look after the under fives (and also older children) outside school hours in domestic premises (Sylva and Moss, 1993). Similar diversity is noted in EFA national reports from the Netherlands and Portugal.

Data sources on countries with this variety of provision are often insufficient for firm conclusions to be drawn about participation and quality of provision. Often, too, the regulatory framework is variable, with responsibility divided among a number of different private agencies, groups and individuals and several public authorities (health, social affairs, employment, education). Some countries have consolidated services for all children (e.g. Finland, Ministry of Social Welfare; Spain and Sweden, Ministry of Education). Others have well developed procedures for co-ordination of public-private partnerships (e.g. Denmark and the Netherlands). Overall, however, the field of early childhood education and care is quite variable in both quantity and quality of provision. Realisation of this is resulting in policy interest in policy frameworks, finance, partnerships, educational content and in evaluations of what is actually available.

Several major policy issues have emerged from the moves to extend and diversify provision of early childhood education and care, seek new avenues for funding and ensure a fair distribution of opportunities for access to services and to benefit from them. They include:

1. Inclusiveness which in several countries means how best to raise participation to near universal levels;

2. Equitable access and participation to overcome socio-economic disadvantage and equalise cultural development opportunities, in face of the tendency for educational practice to reproduce poverty rather than counterbalance it;

3. Attention to individuals and groups with special needs including immigrants and ethnic minorities, young childrensuffering multiple disadvantage and those with learning difficulties;

4. Partnerships in the definition of need, in provision and in meeting costs;

5. Quality of learning, with a growing interest in ways to ensure that all forms of early childhood care have discernible educational values and functions;

6. Policy coherence and co-ordination of services and provision, in face of the responsibilities which have historically been divided among different ministries and public authorities;

7. Knowledge base, including both improved statistics on forms of supply, access to and take up of provision, standards of educational performance and cost effectiveness, together with more research into conditions affecting early development and its benefits for subsequent learning in school.

IV - STRENGTHENING PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLING AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

As noted above, OECD countries have long-established and well-functioning systems of universal basic education. The issue is not, as in some other parts of the world, ensuring an effective, functioning legal, economic and social basis for universal access and participation, or of providing an organised, efficient system of universal, continuous schooling, or even adequate levels of resourcing and equipping schools (although some critics would dispute this last point). Rather, it is how best to educate the whole age group, spending many years in school, to an acceptable standard across a broad array of subjects and activities, and to achieve such levels of interest and motivation as to ensure a continuing, lifelong commitment to learning.

Primary schooling was made free and attendance compulsory in many OECD countries in the latter part of the nineteenth century and, in the first third of the twentieth century it became the norm for all children to attend school full time with the age level gradually increasing, resulting in a greater differentiation between primary and lower secondary, then upper secondary schooling (Connell, 1980). It would appear that, by the beginning of the 1990s, the OECD region had achieved universal primary, secondary and initial vocational education. Valid as a generalisation, this masks numerous variations, distinctive features, difficulties and shortcomings which have now become the targets for present and future action. In short, basic supply problems having been overcome, it has become possible to concentrate policy initiatives and resources - beyond those needed to maintain an adequate base - on specific weak points in the teaching- learning process, special needs and key qualitative priorities.

From both member country and OECD Secretariat sources, a picture can be drawn of trends which have characterised basic education in OECD countries in the nineties, with due allowance for national and regional variations.

1. There have been sustained efforts to extend to all young people some form of full secondary education, up to the age of sixteen, seventeen or eighteen (sometimes beyond) (OECD/CERI, 1998a). Participation data for both primary and secondary education are given in Appendix 2.

2. Where students are not intending to continue from secondary into tertiary education (increasingly, a minority of the age group), they are expected to complete vocational training either within upper secondary schools or in a separate vocational sector. Students are actively discouraged from leaving the education- training system without either an academic qualification, enabling entry to tertiary level studies or a vocational qualification recognised in the labour market. The pathways open to - and needed for - the 14-24 age group have been described and analysed in the first two of a new series of multi-national thematic reviews respectively on tertiary education and the transition from school to work (OECD, 1998b; OECD, in press);

3. Where students have performed poorly at school, failing to reach an adequate academic or vocational standard, special job-oriented/ preparatory programmes have been widely introduced, but with varying degrees of success. There continues to be a serious problem in many countries of inadequate preparation, either academic or vocational, affecting perhaps 15% - 20% of the age group (OECD/CERI, 1998c). A high standard of basic education is seen as a high priority - in an official UK document it was given first place (Department for Education and Employment, 1997). Education for employment was accorded second priority, with lifelong learning taking third place.

4. Countries in the OECD region have moved to strengthen measures of student performance and progression, and to increase cross-country comparisons. These include participation in the International Education Achievement (IEA) programme, the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and, in the recently launched OECD/PISA study referred to above. Perhaps the most far reaching of the changes aimed at setting and monitoring national standards of basic education in a national context is the United Kingdom but in most countries there is a trend towards more detailed monitoring, reporting and evaluating student progress. The French Direction de l'Evaluation et de la Prospective is the source of numerous, regular reports on the functioning of the national education system, from many perspectives; as an illustration, in 1998 a special number of Education et Formation was devoted to rural education and, in 1997 number 5 of Geographie de l'Ecole provided an overview of the principal regional and academic characteristics of the education system in France. Another example of this trend in OECD countries to monitor, compare and publicly report on the functioning of their education systems is the Flemish publication of indicators in an international perspective (Education Department of the Ministry of the Flemish Community, 1998).

5. In addition to monitoring and comparing, countries are putting a greater emphasis on the quality of teaching and learning and standards of student performance. One major reason for this is the rapidity of technological and structural changes indicating that higher levels of competence and expertise are needed in a rapidly changing labour market. Another is the impact of globalisation: 'improved competitiveness' has become the hallmark in an open system of international production, trade and distribution of goods and services. The standards issue came to the fore in the late 1980s, featuring in the 1989 five yearly meeting of the OECD Education Ministers (OECD, 1992) and has recurred throughout the 90s. How countries conceived, monitored, reported on, evaluated and sought to improve standards was the subject of a set of national reports published in the middle of the decade (OECD/CERI, 1995). The PISA programme, referred to above, is one of many other demonstrations of policy concern over the nature and level of student attainments.

6. Changes in curriculum, pedagogy and student assessment have been a continuing theme in OECD countries at least for the period of the curriculum project movement initiated in the later 50s in the United States initially in mathematics and science. Although the model of specially funded project teams often working independently of or loosely coupled to ministries of education declined in the 80s, a wide array of initiatives has continued in the 90s. These range from the highly convergent national frameworks of basic or core subjects with prescriptive curriculum content, pedagogical guidance and standardised attainment levels as in the UK, to projects aimed at fostering variety and local teacher initiatives (Black and Atkin, 1996; OECD/CERI, 1993; OECD/CERI, 1994b). However, perhaps the major changes in curriculum and pedagogy have occurred in the train of the rapid advances in communication and information technology, with all countries moving towards computer literacy. The impact of the new technologies on schooling has given rise to many issues, including their place in the curriculum (permeating many subjects, or commanding separate curriculum space or, most often, a mix of these two; difficulties of resourcing; developing software of appropriate quality; and the potential use of the Internet - and more broadly of multi-media - in facilitating less formal schooling and reinforcing lifelong learning (OECD, 1999, ch.3).

7. Growing concerns over evidence of widespread social problems: crime, homelessness, substance abuse, rejection of legitimate authority, and threats to social cohesion have re-ignited interest in the domains of social, civic, political and health education. New programmes and curriculum requirements in these areas have been introduced, alongside the competencies defined for employment. Thus there are, in parallel, two fundamental curriculum orientations that signal the responsiveness of education to economic, social and cultural change: employment-related competency; personal-social and civic education. The importance countries attached to values and social education as part of a broad-based core curriculum was reported in an OECD/CERI survey at the end of the 80s (Skilbeck, 1991) and signalled again in an international curriculum conference early in the nineties (OECD, 1994b).

8. While public sector control, administration and direction of education remain dominant in all OECD countries, in several there is a growing emphasis on the sharing of responsibilities and the roles to be performed by different stakeholders: parents, employers, community bodies, religious organisations and others. In some countries (Australia, Ireland, Netherlands, UK, for example) there has long existed a partnership between the state and churches in the provision and administration of education. What is of growing importance everywhere is the tendency, even in almost wholly state-run systems, for responsibility to be devolved from large, all-powerful central ministries, to regions, individual school governing bodies, statutory authorities and community groups. A policy framework of 'steering at a distance', well developed for example in Scandinavian countries and in the Netherlands, ensures that a strong set of national policies operates, including monitoring and evaluating performance, in combination with enhanced local, regional and community decision-making.

9. In the matter of financing and resourcing, several trends corresponding to the devolution movement are noteworthy: budget control with increasing emphasis on outcomes and performance; strengthened capacity for financial management, reporting and accountability; quest for new private sources and shared funding; more scope for local financial control and management. Although there is a widespread sense of budget constraint, between 1990 and 1995, expenditure on education generally grew faster than national wealth (OECD/CERI, 1998a, pp.69 - 72).

10. Progress towards achieving the goal of a high quality of education and training for all depends on a large number of factors, not least the quality of the educational environment and the resources for teaching and learning. OECD countries have co-operated through the OECD Program on Educational Buildings in the data gathering and studies on ways to improve the quality and sustainability of educational buildings. There are 3 main purposes: to contribute to educational quality; to ensure efficient and effective use of resources; and to give early warning of the implications for educational buildings of educational and broader changes. A useful practical service is the documentation of exemplary practice in both new and refurbished buildings (OECD/CERI, 1996b). Countries having largely met the quantitative targets for school buildings and essential equipment before the beginning of the 90s, have increasingly focused on the educational and aesthetic quality of new buildings and on refurbishing existing ones to meet overall changes in curriculum and pedagogy and particularly, now, to respond to the new communication and information technologies. Budget constraints have reinforced moves to produce built environments with multiple purposes and joint uses - cultural activities, sports, recreation, library facilities, summer residential schools, evening classes and so on.

11. Sustained high growth rates might have been expected to ease pressure on educational resourcing. In one, (Ireland), measurable increases in resources allocated to education are reported. Reduced pupil-teacher ratios, the strengthening of services, capital works, and so forth are in the pipeline. But growth alone is not sufficient and many countries report no improvements in educational resourcing. Other public sector demands, continuing high levels of unemployment, ageing populations and rising costs (for example of medical treatment) have combined with the preferred policies of fiscal restraint and balanced budgets, to keep education budgets severely constrained in most countries (OECD, 1998b). One of the consequences of budget constraint is that there has been little if any improvement, and as noted in the German EFA report, actual declines, in the percentage of GDP allocated to education and for poorer countries.

12. Policy makers, administrators and managers have been under continuing pressure throughout the nineties to improve financial management - for which advances in information technology have been of considerable value, to reduce unit costs, and to bring about a closer relationship between expenditure and outcomes. Disclosure and reporting procedures have improved, with some emphasis on greater public awareness of education costs - long established features of traditionally decentralised - local control systems (notably in the USA) but of much more recent origin in highly centralised systems. Four important principles have been enunciated. First, that there should be transparency; second that there is public accountability; third, that there is an obligation to direct public funds to the ends and purposes of declared public policy; and fourth, that there should be integrity and efficiency in the use of funds.

V - ENDURING PROBLEMS: KEY GAPS AND PRIORITIES

Despite the very significant achievements of the mature education systems of the OECD region, here are enduring problems, gaps and weaknesses which indicate a need for renewed attention to goals and priorities. Due to the continuing budgetary pressures, attention to deficiencies in national education will most likely require reallocation of resources. These will be extremely difficult to achieve in what are commonly highly, indeed tightly organised, systems where interest groups and powerful lobbies often play crucial roles in policy making. The will may be there and, in a global sense, the capacity, but the ability to redirect resources is likely to prove the stumbling block. There are also dilemmas: for example, while justifiable on equity grounds and to reduce subsequent remedial costs, heavy investment in low performing primary age students has to be set alongside the claims of high cost university research which may have major socio-economic benefits.

Improving opportunities for all to learn and succeed - As noted above, the achievement of universal access to and participation in primary and secondary education cannot be taken to mean that there are fair and equitable opportunities for all students to learn and succeed. There is disquieting evidence of poor motivation, severely unequal opportunities reflecting not only broad socio-economic differences in the population but unequal conditions in different regions within countries, different suburbs within cities. Gaps in the provision of early childhood education and care and in adult education are further indicators of inequity. Virtual housing ghettos in poorer city suburbs produce virtual ghetto schools often functioning under the most difficult conditions. Numerous interventions and funded support programmes have not succeeded in changing a basically unequal set of educational opportunities but there have been considerable equity benefits from the massive expansion of educational systems (OECD, 1997, pp.101-110). For some sub-groups - migrants in Norway (among others), travellers in Ireland, some racial minorities in the USA and the UK - schooling as commonly structured ,organised and provided has yet to prove its educational and social worth. The institutions and the processes whereby they function appear to be alienating and inhibiting rather than engaging students and supporting and encouraging effective learning. It may not be inappropriate to characterise such situations, not as pupil failure, but as school failure, leading some commentators to conclude that schools enhance the cultural capital of many while denying it to others (OECD/CERI, 1998c).

Strengthening vocational education and training - An enduring concern of education systems over several decades has been - and continues to be - the adequacy and relevance of vocational preparation either within the schooling sector or as a parallel system. Four key issues stand out. The first is the scope and scale of provision especially in those systems (e.g. Australia, Canada, UK, USA) in which traditional apprenticeship has declined (and which in any case always lacked the breadth of coverage of several of the Continental European systems) and not been replaced by a comprehensive system of induction into trades and middle level occupations. Second, rapid changes in work and demands for new kinds of competence and technical knowledge mean that the content and organisation of vocational studies must change. Debates have continued over several decades between supporters of a broadly defined set of competences and generic learnings, and those who affirm a continuing need for occupation-specific training. Third is the question of the locus of education and training - whether best in a school setting with a strong, continuing base of general education, in vocation specific institutions, or in the workplace itself. In practice, most systems have a mixture of all three, but with quite different balances among the parts. However, as already noted, whatever the system, not all young people who could benefit are doing so. The fourth key issue is the balance between general and vocational education, a complex matter given their separate and different traditions, the demarcations in funding, administration, conditions of employment for teachers, and the differing structures and arrangements for assessment, certification, recognition and qualification and so on. Consciousness of this and other issues was raised through a series of international studies, meetings and progress reports on the changing role of vocational and technical training (OECD, 1994b). In many countries the enduring problem of the status of vocational and pre-vocational preparation has not been solved. Stratification of secondary education for functional reasons too often results in a hierarchy of esteem with academic education leading to prestigious universities and college retaining its position at the top (OECD/CERI, 1998c). In countries, even those with a strong, long-established vocational systems such as the German-speaking countries and the Netherlands, there seems to have been on the one hand, a popular move towards general education, with vocational preparation for the majority delayed to the tertiary stage or beyond. Many young people, however, do not participate at all, and swell the youth unemployment figures. Efforts to reform and restructure vocational education including its incorporation within upper secondary schooling are a response to changing needs and expectations not only in the labour market but among students and families.

In the thematic review of transition from initial education to working life, five elements of a successful transition system, were noted and analysed: a healthy economy; well organised pathways that connect initial education with work and further study; tightly woven safety nets; good information and guidance; effective institutions and processes. These need to be drawn together in well articulated, co-ordinated policies (OECD, in press). Based on an appraisal of good practice across member countries, these elements set a direction for future policy frameworks. No country would claim that all are in place or are working effectively and ways to improve transition from initial education to working life will remain high among country education and training priorities.

Lifelong learning for all - In section II above, reference was made to the policy initiatives of the OECD Education Ministers leading towards implementation of various models of lifelong learning. This movement is still at a relatively early stage, where policy declarations are being made and conceptual frameworks are being defined. Work is beginning on several of the key issues to be addressed: for example, shared financing (OECD/CERI, 1999a), the kinds of foundations needed in early childhood education, the changes required in well established parts of the existing educational system. However, the changes and developments that will be required to achieve the ambitious goals will take considerable time, effort and resources. There are specific problems to be addressed, which include the uneven provision of early childhood education and care, and traditions, assumptions and structures that treat schooling and formal education as terminal. Serious educational deficiencies also exist in the present generation of adults, as reported in the international adult literacy surveys. Countries vary considerably in the provision they make for second chance or further professional development for adults (OECD/CERI, 1998a). Data are provided in Appendix 3. To improve access and opportunities for adult and continuing education, innovatory approaches are required. The medium of distance education, now moving in several countries from traditional correspondence courses towards highly interactive communication and information technologies, has a key role to play in extending opportunities including second chance learning for adults (OECD/CERI, 1999b). But the costs, although reducing, remain high and access is limited.

Teachers and the teaching profession - The conditions of employment, remuneration and status of the teaching profession varies across OECD countries and according to the level and nature of teaching. Overall, there appears to be little change in the trend towards a relative lowering of the status of teachers compared with other occupations. The incidence of part-time, contract-based employment is increasing in some countries - especially at the tertiary level - and teaching, along with other public sector workers, have been unable to make substantial headway in their salary claims. Conditions of employment have improved in some countries, but, at the same time, working environments are often highly stressful and difficult, due both to increased competitiveness and to the challenges of economic and social deprivation, pupil violence and school rejection and so on. These trends make it increasingly difficult in some countries to sustain an idealistic model of a highly educated and highly regarded profession. On the other hand, the high - and increasing - social, economic and cultural demands placed on schools and teachers call for new types of professionalism. There is a move from improving individual skills of teachers to collaborative efforts to raise the quality of student learning in accordance with national goals and priorities. In a review of research and data on the characteristics of teachers, the 'new professionalism' was defined to include expertise continually updated, advanced pedagogical skills, technological capability, ability to function as members of a 'learning organisation', flexibility and innovativeness, career mobility and openness to working in teams with parents and other professionals (OECD, 1998a, chapter 2). These are very challenging demands for a large and varied profession whose members are often working under great pressure. An issue that will continue to arise is the readiness of society to accord the support and esteem needed to sustain the 'new professionalism'.

Educational R&D - An OECD study has presented evidence and drawn conclusions about the need for a stronger base of educational research and development (OECD/CERI, 1995). In the communique from their 1990 meeting, the Education Ministers commented that 'the level of investment in research and development in education and training is far lower than in any other sector of comparable size' (OECD, 1992, p.35). There have been throughout the 90s very substantial improvements in educational statistics, thanks to the efforts over nearly two decades of OECD countries to develop an internationally comparable set of education indicators. Recognition that in addition to these statistics there is need to develop indicators of student learning performance has resulted in the PISA study which, over the next decade, will provide a systematic overview and appraisal of student performance in selected curriculum areas. Work of this nature is positioning individual countries and the OECD as a whole much better to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of their education systems. There are other areas, however, on which systematic knowledge is lacking. For example, a relative dearth of longitudinal studies makes it very difficult to draw firm conclusions about the effectiveness in subsequent learning of early childhood education on the impact of secondary education on the readiness to continue learning throughout life. The topics of school failure, dropout and non-completion of studies, to a satisfactory standard, are still not well understood. Data even when recorded, are seldom analysed in any depth across whole systems. While there is a considerable volume of studies usually on relatively small numbers and isolated situations, a coherent picture of the problems of inadequate school performance and early attrition have yet to be drawn and analysed in ways that will facilitate major new policy initiatives.

Policy coherence and systemic reform - The division of responsibility for education and training -- among different parts of ministries, separate ministries and a growing range of agencies and partners -- creates a need for a more coherent approach to educational policy making (both vertically and horizontally). Improving equity in tertiary education, for example, requires action at the primary and secondary stages, and may entail supportive action across several portfolios. Effective early childhood education and care is enhanced by coordinated action among the authorities responsible for different aspects of the well-being of children and their parents. Some moves of a structural nature have been made: the combining of previously separate ministries of employment and education in Australia and the UK (subsequently separated in Australia); ministries of education often combine research, higher education, schooling and some parts of pre-schooling in a single ministry (e.g. France, Belgium, Finland and Sweden). It does not follow, however, that the separate parts of these large ministries work closely together, or that the several ministries with some kind of educational role, albeit indirect, co-operate. A conference organised by OECD at the beginning of the 90s flagged these issues, but further progress has not been startling.

The concept of systemic reform, developed by some researchers and policy makers in the United States (Smith and O'Day, 1990), has been discussed in several OECD conferences and reports. The message can be simply stated, but is difficult to put into practice: curriculum reform, pedagogical change, teacher development are interrelated in such a way that each can support and reinforce the others. Such mutual reinforcement is more likely to occur when they are considered together as integrated elements in a co-ordinated process of educational development. Yet to bring them together is, in practice, usually very difficult even where it is possible, due to the divisions of authority and responsibility, the different financial bases, and at times, regulatory and legislative complexities. Although there has been growing recognition during the 90s of the need for more coherent policies and more integrated, mutually reinforcing reform strategies, and although there are examples of progress being made, there remain many unresolved practical issues.

VI - THE WAY AHEAD

Education and training policies, provision and programmes in OECD countries may be seen from three viewpoints. First, they are national, designed to advance the interests of the country concerned. Second, ideas and experiences are exchanged among members of the Organisation and collaborative programmes of development are undertaken for mutual advantage. Third, policies and programmes are designed to foster and facilitate worldwide development; they involve both non-member countries and co-operation with other international organisations. Co-operation with Unesco and the World Bank for data development are one important example. Member countries also collaborate in major regional groupings, e.g. the European Community and the North American Free Trade Association. In these and other ways, education in OECD countries is fast becoming globalised. These several viewpoints and relationships need to be borne in mind in any consideration of future goals and strategies for educational development.

From the many challenges facing OECD countries and the directions which seem likely to be pursued in the coming decade, several stand out in the context of the Unesco programme, Education for All. Since all of them are continuations and extensions of policies, programmes and ideas which featured in the nineties, their presentation here serves both as a brief summary of that decade and indicate the way ahead that many OECD countries are likely to pursue. It is prudent, as well, to acknowledge the possibility of unexpected developments and disjunctions in what, at this time, appear to be quite orderly, long-term trends, predictably continuing well into the future. This said, policy-making needs to be based on data at present available and on careful trend analysis. These are indeed long-established features of the education systems of OECD countries.

DIRECTIONS

Prosperity: Education policies will continue to be shaped by the agenda of economic growth and development: there will be a sharper focus in schooling and tertiary education on competence and skill, on attributes and qualities sought for in the changing workplace, widely diffused, on a capacity in the population to take initiatives, show independence, innovate and develop, work co-operatively, and demonstrate positive commitments to sustainable economic development and wealth creation.

Democratic involvement and sharing the benefits: The socio-political context of education policies will remain the creation, maintenance, and further development of democratic institutions and practices including a continuing quest to improve access and make educational opportunities and experience more open and equitable, more a shared experience. Hence open access policies for upper secondary education, already well established, will be further developed, providing a platform, ultimately, for universal tertiary education either end-on or in later life. It is, however, questionable whether sharing the benefits of economic growth and education for democracy will have the same force in educational policy making as economic growth per se.

Focus on the most needy and on major gaps and weaknesses: Recognition of the personal, social and economic costs of failure, dropout and low quality schooling will continue to stimulate innovatory programmes and special support schemes for the most deprived and needy, for those who are poorly motivated, who lack inner resources and incentives to continue studying. These programmes will include: widening access to education and care facilities prior to school entry with universal participation as a definite policy objective in more and more countries; further attention to reducing adult illiteracy rates; drug and sex education; and special programmes for low skilled, unemployed youth and for students with special educational needs.

The quest for quality: OECD countries will continue the drive to raise standards of student attainment, with foci on the low attainers, on raising average levels of performance and on selected groups targeted for reasons of economic and cultural competitiveness. The trend towards international comparisons of student performance in key learning areas will strengthen as a result of the OECD/PISA programme and further extensions to it. Unless very carefully managed, these may have the effect of intensifying concentration on basic skills in the school curriculum, with diminished attention to curriculum breadth and overall personal development. Quality assurance and accountability procedures will increase as a consequence of the pursuit of greater efficiencies in the use of resources and as an outcome of continuing devolution from single central ministries to multiple regional and local sites. Transparency and communication of the procedures and results of education will continue to increase - to parents, employers and the community more generally.

More, and yet more education for all: The extension of educational opportunity and the further use of incentives to continue study will lead to the universalisation of a full secondary education whether in full time schooling, vocational centres or work-place sites of organised study and practical experience. Sanctions, already operating in some countries, to increase rates of participation in training for unemployed youth, are likely to be more extensively used as a policy instrument to lower unemployment levels further and spread the scope of formal education. Groups at present under-represented or whose needs are inadequately met whatever the level of education will be the targets of special programmes and additional funding. The policies of lifelong learning, formulated in the 90s, will be progressively implemented, leading to a greater interest in shared funding, co-ordination of different kinds of agencies and settings for continuing, adult and informal education, and a more integrated, vertical, formal structure from pre-school to tertiary education.

Efficient and effective use of resources: There will be a continuing drive at all levels of education for cost containment and improved financial management, with closer links between public funding and performance targets. Unit costs will, in general, be subject to more of the pressure experienced in the nineties and there will be a greater use of technologies which show promise of cost containment or reduction. Public funds will continue to be the major source but there will be increasing engagement of the private sector whether through partnerships in the provision of facilities, contracting out, student and family direct contributions. Financial incentives to study and administer education will become more widespread, including tax credits, discounts for up front payments of fees, scholarships and financial aid for the most needy students and various instruments by central government to encourage efficiencies in regional and local bodies and others.

Devolution and partnerships: The shifting balance between central and local education bodies will continue in those countries where it is already established and develop in others. Central authorities will sustain or strengthen their strategic policy- making apparatus, and will further elaborate and refine procedures for monitoring, accountability and quality control in their relations with regions, local bodies and individual education institutions. There will be drives to improve their management capability and their control of resources by and for schools, colleges and universities and more pressure on them to raise resources on their own initiative. The attendant risks of inequity due to unequal socio-economic environments will become a major policy issue requiring the further development of central administrative and financial operations focused on special needs and equity groups.

Improvements in data sources and in comparative educational analysis: The significant improvements in the 90s in national educational statistics and in international comparative analysis will be built on, through more sophisticated and refined procedures and techniques, the development of more effective means for assessing the quality and standards of student attainment, and the involvement of an increasing number of countries, worldwide. The heavy investment entailed may lead to a curtailing of resources needed for interpretative analysis, for research both quantitative and qualitative and including longitudinal studies, and for well informed commentaries on trends. It should result in more conceptual work to refine key indicators of the performance of educational systems. In addition, there will be a need, perhaps not given due attention, to develop the concept of educational knowledge, its applications and uses, and the relations between structured inquiry, policy making and educational practice.

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STATISTICAL APPENDIX

APPENDIX 1

Table 2.1

Studies that have looked for benefits from ECEC

Author Country What the study looked at Key findings
Type of programme
Purpose of study
Programmes for disadvantaged children
 Braithewaite (1983) Australia One year of pre-school (different models) for children in low income public housing To assess impact of pre-school on performance in 1st Grade Performed better than control group on entry into 1st grade. No measurable effects by end of first grade.
 McKey et al. 1985 USA Meta-analysis of Head-Start studies. Head-Start offers comprehensive development services for low-income, 4-year-olds to meet their educational, health, nutritional and psychological needs. Community and parent participation are emphasised. To assess long-term effects of Head-Start Cognitive gains and school achievement faded by the end of the second year of school. Initial positive effects on self-esteem, motivation, and social behaviour were no longer apparent by the end of the third year in school
 Kellaghan and Greaney (1993) Ireland Two years of half-day pre-school for ninety children of three year from an impoverished area of Dublin, with home visits to parents by teachers and social workers. Study began in 1969. To measure school achievement and parental involve-ment at ages 5, 8 and 16 years Significant improvements on standardised tests at age 5, especially among the least able children. Gains were not maintained at age 8. At 16 years, the pre-school children were two to three times more likely to have taken examinations leading to further education. Few impacts on employment or crime.
 Lazar et al. (1982) USA Eleven pre-school programmes To measure school achievement Less retention in grade Fewer special placements
 Berrueta-Clement et al. (1984) Schweinhart et al. (1993) USA High quality education for low-income African-American children, aged 3-6 years (Perry Pre-shool) High quality education for low-income African-American children aged 3-6 (Perry Pre-school) Educational and social effects at age 19 Educational and social effects at age 27 Improved school performance Greater labour market entry Less trouble with police Less teenage pregnancy Greater social responsibility Higher earnings, economic status Greater commitment to marriage
Programmes for all children
 Jarousse et al. (1992) France Participation in école maternelle (French pre-school) for one, two or three years. Children aged three to five years To assess effects on primary school performance Children who attended the école maternelle were much less likely to be retained in first grade. School performance better for every extra year of pre-school.
 Osborn and Milbank (1987) UK Any early childhood programme compared to none To measure effects on educational and social outcomes at ages 5 and 10 Improved cognitive and school achievement at both ages, especially of disadvantaged children. No measured impact on socio-emotional development
Programmes for children and mothers
 Kagitcibasi et al. (1986 and 1991) Turkey Home visiting and group programme aiming at the education of mothers with young children in low income families To measure subse- quent development and school achievement of young children Mothers more verbal, less punitive, more supportive of the education of their children Children improved IQ, social and personality development