ABSTRACT
Over the last 30 years, increasing attention has been paid to ‘early childhood education and care services’—by governments, by parents, by employers, by local communities and by researchers. The reasons have been varied. As women have joined men in the labour market, the demand for non-parental care has grown. The importance of early learning has been increasingly recognized, both in its own right and because many believe it may enhance subsequent academic performance. Early intervention has come to be seen as a means of preventing or ameliorating problems in families with young children and in later childhood, as well as protecting children deemed to be at risk. Early childhood education and care services are discussed as a condition for urban and rural development and as part of the social and economic infrastructure of healthy and wealthy local communities.
