ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with an outline of existing theoretical approaches to Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) quality and the added value that the EdQual framework provides. It explains the Education Quality (EdQual) definition of quality to the analysis of ECCE policies in case studies from Maharashtra in India and from Ghana in Africa. Ghana has seen the development of centre-based provision in the peri-urban and urban areas as a result of the increasing mobility of families, women’s increased participation in the formal economy and policy changes in education. The quality of education depends on the some environments of policy, school and home/community. Early childhood educational research that draws upon a human capital theoretical approach in such studies views quality as universally defined; that is, as inherent, absolute and objectively measurable. Human capital approaches have given policy makers a powerful economic rationale for focusing on ECCE.
