ABSTRACT
John Bennett was one of the leading international experts on early childhood education and care (ECEC) in the period before and after the start of the new millennium. He undertook a number of significant cross-national studies, but his most important work was leading a policy review for the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) of early childhood policy in 20 countries across four continents, commonly known as Starting Strong. He seems most clearly to be speaking from the heart when he urges governments to consider aspire to ECEC systems that support broad learning, participation and democracy. He goes on, in an important development of his argument, to propose a particular democratic identity for early childhood services, as a public and inclusionary space for children and families. But perhaps the height of his achievement is the breadth and the wisdom of the conclusions he drew from the many countries that the Starting Strong review teams visited.
