ABSTRACT
From an evolutionary perspective, the basis for human decision making around the care and education of young children – as well as children’s own role in eliciting care and learning from others – is rooted in our long, shared history of survival and adaptation in the face of environmental challenges. Evolutionary research can benefit Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) practice and policy by elucidating the ways in which our evolved psychology and biology inform how we should best provide care options in different socio-ecological or cultural contexts. Indeed, human childrearing is of significant interest to evolutionary researchers. Compared to other species, the degree to which humans cooperate in the care and education of their young is unique in the natural world. Outside of human societies, it is rare to find animals helping to raise young who are not genetic kin. Many of the traits that characterize us as a species – long lives, slow growth and maturation, extensive cooperation, adept social learning, and complex culture – have been in one way or another hypothesized to have a deep evolutionary relationship with the tendency of human groups to bring up children together.
