{"id":48433,"date":"2025-07-30T08:29:25","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T06:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/en\/?post_type=news&p=48433"},"modified":"2025-08-04T11:24:32","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T09:24:32","slug":"social-cohesion-neglected-in-early-childhood-education-policies-around-the-world","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/en\/news\/social-cohesion-neglected-in-early-childhood-education-policies-around-the-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Social cohesion neglected in early childhood education policies around the world"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Do we climb the social ladder alone or with help from our communities? Early childhood education (ECE) policies are betting on the former. Individual skills \u2013 cognitive and social \u2013 are much more represented in early childhood education than matters related to societal cohesion and circumstances, favouring competition over cooperation and individualism over solidarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is revealed in a study led by the University of Luxembourg, the Autonomous University of Barcelona (AUB) and Technical University of Munich (TUM), which examined educational policy guidelines in more than 50 countries worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Results indicate that overall, the countries surveyed embrace economic meritocracy in their ECE policies, promoting individual skill and agency over solidarity and community reliance. Further, countries perceived only individual agency as integral to success, while just four countries \u2014 Ireland, New Zealand, Malaysia and the Philippines \u2014 also acknowledged that uncontrollable factors may have an impact. The importance of children’s socio-economic circumstances for educational success \u2014 such as teachers’, parents’ or peer support also plays only a subordinate role in the programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nComparing 90 policy documents from 53 countries<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Researchers Katarzyna Bobrowicz, Pablo Gracia, Ziwen Teuber and Samuel Greiff investigated for the first time whether one can draw a global picture of the fundamental attitudes on which these programmes are based. For their study \u201cThe meritocracy trap: Early childhood education policies promote individual achievement far more than social cohesion<\/a>\u201d, published in Plos One<\/em>, the research team analysed more than 90 official documents from 53 countries on all continents as well as from the European Union and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The documents, which span the period from 1999 to 2023, were primarily guidelines, education plans and similar publications that outline fundamental education policy orientations. The researchers acknowledged that the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the EU reiterated the importance of universal, equitable access to ECE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nEverything matters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\n \u201f<\/span>\n What children learn in early childhood, or in fact at any stage of formal education, is never neutral, values-free, immune to dominant discourses, and so young children may implicitly assume the beliefs promoted by education stakeholders<\/em>.\u201d\n<\/blockquote>\n
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\n \n\"Dr.\n <\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Dr. Katarzyna BOBROWICZ<\/p>\n

Postdoctoral researcher<\/p>\n

\n \n \n View profile<\/span>\n <\/span>\n <\/use><\/svg> <\/a>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/figure>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n
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Children may internalise the idea that effort is the sole factor leading to success, without understanding that their fellows, life circumstances or even luck will play a role in their life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In some countries, researchers observe that competition emerges already in daycare centres and kindergartens as to which institutions invest the most in children’s cognitive performance, with other educational goals being neglected. <\/em>\u201cIn times when we are concerned about social cohesion and the understanding of democracy, not promoting the necessary skills is counterproductive<\/em>,” says Prof. Samuel Greiff from TUM.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nRisk of competition before social competences develop<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Programmes worldwide predominantly view talent, effort and personal responsibility as central to later educational success. Factors that cannot be influenced by the individual are hardly mentioned. These primarily include socio-economic conditions, such as parents’ educational and income level, inherited social disadvantages, personality traits and traumatic life events such as forced migration, illness or family hardships. The importance of support from family, friends, teachers and society is also rarely mentioned.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt the outset, we thought that the pivotal role that teachers, parents, peers, and others would be actively highlighted and appreciated in the documents. However, to our surprise, this role was missing from most of the analysed texts\u201d, <\/em>continues Bobrowicz. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considering a gap can remain between policy and what is effectively taught in classrooms, the study team believes that further research is needed to investigate the extent to which the educational policy guidelines are reflected in early childhood education practice.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n\n

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