Early Childhood Education

We identify promising solutions to ensure quality education focused on the development of 4- and 5-year-old children, and help transform them into large-scale policies.

For quality early childhood education

In Brazil, every child has the right to early childhood education. This is ensured by the Federal Constitution and the Child and Adolescent Statute (ECA). For children aged 0 to 3 years, attending nursery school is the family`s choice, while for 4- and 5-year-olds, enrollment in preschool is mandatory.

Experiencing quality early childhood education makes a huge difference in ensuring lifelong development, as pointed out by longitudinal studies that carried out long-term follow-up of children, both in Brazil and in other countries. See some of these findings below.

Educação infantil de qualidade
  • Children who attended quality preschool, when compared to those who did not have this opportunity:

– had better performance in elementary school;
– were less likely to drop out of school.

  • Throughout life, having attended preschool resulted in:

– better work prospects and higher salaries;
– less likelihood of criminal involvement and early parenthood.

  • Benefits for generations: the children of these children had better results in education, health, work prospects and social life.

It is up to the public authorities to promote effective public policies that guarantee children’s free access to quality early childhood education, capable of promoting their development and learning.

However, despite the preschool enrollment of 93% of children aged 4 and 5 in the country (5.6 million), preschool quality is still far below what is necessary to ensure the fulfillment of children’s potential.

Most of these children (78%) are enrolled in the public education network, therefore, it is strategic to strengthen quality early childhood education policies to ensure universal coverage and improve teacher training and career, financial structure, school infrastructure, and other conditions for the implementation of local curricula based on national guidelines.

The projects we support aim to address these challenges and promote meaningful learning for all children starting from nursery school, but especially in preschool, which is mandatory.

Professora - Educação Infantil

Through applied research, we identify and test promising solutions to leverage the positive results of early childhood education, especially preschool. Once we identify scalable initiatives, we support their transformation into large-scale public policies.

Notes:

*The information on this page is based on studies such as: Perry Preschool Study; Abecedarian; Head Start Impact Studies; The Effective Pre-school, Primary and Secondary Education Project (EPPSE); A contribuição da educação infantil de qualidade e seus impactos no início do ensino fundamental; O impacto da creche e da pré-escola no desempenho acadêmico no ensino fundamental dos alunos da rede pública; Linha de Base Brasil: Um Estudo Longitudinal Sobre a Trajetória de Aprendizagem de Crianças.

 Early childhood education initiatives supported

Check out our projects for Early Childhood Education.

Programas promotores de aprendizagens na pré-escola

Programs that promote learning in preschool

The initiative aims to identify promising programs applied to preschool and test their potential, implementing them as pilot projects and transforming them into large-scale policies, if evaluations confirm their positive impact on learning. This initiative partners with Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab – J-Pal, a global research center working to reduce poverty.