Council Recommendation of 22 May 2019 on High-Quality Early Childhood Education and Care Systems

HEREBY RECOMMENDS THAT MEMBER STATES:

In accordance with national and European legislation, available resources and national circumstances, and in close cooperation with all relevant stakeholders:

1. Improve access to high-quality early childhood education and care systems in line with the statements set out in the ‘Quality framework for early childhood education and care’ presented in the Annex to this Recommendation and with the 11th principle of the European Pillar of Social Rights.

2. Work towards ensuring that early childhood education and care services are accessible, affordable and inclusive. Consideration could be given to:

(a) supporting child development in a consistent way starting as early as possible by using early childhood education and care services;

(b) analysing the supply and demand from families in order to better adapt the offer of early childhood education and care services to their needs, respecting parental choice;

(c) analysing and addressing the barriers that families might encounter when accessing and using early childhood education and care services, such as costs, poverty-related barriers, geographical location, inflexible opening hours, barriers related to inadequate provisions for children with special needs, cultural and linguistic barriers, discrimination as well as a lack of information;

(d) establishing contact and cooperation with families and especially those in a vulnerable or disadvantaged situation, in order to inform them about the possibilities and benefits of early childhood education and care participation and, where relevant, about available support, and build trust in the services and encourage participation from an early age;

(e) ensuring that all families who want to make use of early childhood education and care services have access to affordable high-quality early childhood education and care, ideally by working at the appropriate governance level towards a right to an early childhood education and care place of high quality;

(f) providing inclusive early childhood education and care services for all children, including children with diverse backgrounds and special educational needs, including disabilities, avoiding segregation and incentivising their participation, regardless of the labour market status of their parents or carers;

(g) supporting all children to learn the language of education while also taking into account and respecting their first language;

(h) strengthening preventive actions, early identification of difficulties and adequate provisions for children with special needs and their families, involving all relevant actors, e.g. educational, social or health services as well as parents.

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