Approaching the problem of equity, quality and access of Early Childhood Care and Education: A descriptive analysis of growth and development in the Arab States

Improving Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) is growing as an international priority, expressed through multiple research, policy initiatives, social intervention and advocacy. ECCE programs of high quality have the potential to improve the health and nutrition of young children, to prepare them for elementary education, to guarantee that their rights are respected and to reduce inequality. The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that play a role in the slow provision of early childhood care and education programs in the Arab States, compared to other regions in the world. From a political and economic standpoint, this study focused on explicating the relationships among governmental policy variables, economic conditions and the provision of quality ECCE. Socially and culturally, this study investigated the relationships between social and equity variables and levels of teacher readiness, as significant predictors of quality ECCE programs in the Arab States.;The data used in this study was obtained from the 2007 and 2008 statistical annexes from UNESCO's Education for All Global Monitoring Reports. A selected set of core health and education indicators were examined and analyzed in conjunction with the research questions that guided this study. These indicators can be categorized into six areas: (a) enrollment; (b) expenditures; (c) teaching staff; (d) efficiency and quality; (e) equity and access; and (f) child well-being.;The significant findings suggest the following: (a) lack of legislations for compulsory pre-primary education in all Arab countries resulted in overall low participation in pre-primary education; (b) great disparity is evident between Arab countries in terms of their ECCE policies and legislations, governance and funding allocations; (c) privatization of ECCE, high fees, and inadequate governmental funding to ECCE programs limited access of many vulnerable and disadvantaged children to pre-primary education; (d) the healthier the children, the better chances they are enrolled in pre-primary education; (e) with more funding on staffing and professional development, children have better chances of attending smaller classes, and thus receive quality ECCE services; (f) overall, pre-primary education enrollment still remains low in the Arab Region compared to other countries in the world.