System Quality in Early Childhood Care and Education in Jamaica: Implications for Policy

Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us

Y

15

Foreign Countries; Early Childhood Education; Educational Quality; Educational Finance; Educational Legislation; Educational Policy

10.1111/ejed.12607

0141-8211
1465-3435

Despite steady investment to improve early childhood progammes in recent years, many Jamaican early childhood institutions are ill-prepared or unable to adequately meet the developmental needs of children for a number of reasons. Such schools are often labelled as failing or low quality. While teachers and schools are often blamed for this, an overlooked consideration in all this however is the preparedness of the existing systems, structures and policies to support the Early Childhood sector to carry out its function. [Corrections made on 30 April 2024, after first online publication: In the preceding sentence, 'systems and policies' has been corrected to 'systems, structures and policies' and 'their function' has been corrected to 'its function' in this version.] This article examines system quality in Early Childhood Care and Education and the implications for policy. System quality is an important yet often overlooked aspect of education. Four aspects of system quality were examined in this paper; the forms and dimensions of ECCE, the financing of ECCE and Laws and Regulations governing the system and current priorities relevant to ECCE. The gaps and strengths in the system are examined as well as implications of these on Early Childhood Care and Education policies are discussed.

As Provided

2024

EJ1425277