儿童早期照顾与教育:当前状况与我国的政策选择

Early Childhood Care and Education: Current Situations and Policy Options

20世纪90年代以来,儿童早期照顾与教育在世界各国得到普遍关注。数据分析发现,在我国,学龄前儿童主要由家庭成员(尤其是母亲以及同住的祖父母,或者虽未住在一起但仍可帮忙的祖父母)提供照顾。学龄前儿童接受托幼机构照顾的比例仍较低。相对而言,农村儿童、经济状况较差家庭的儿童、年龄较小的儿童接受托幼照护服务的可能性更低。这一现象背后隐含了儿童在早期照顾与教育服务的质量和获得方面的不平等,不利于儿童人力资本的积累和社会公平的实现。我国2010年以来关于学前教育的新政策为改变这一状况提供了契机。然而,要全面解决儿童发展的不平等问题,需要在政策内容与配套措施方面做出更多努力。

Early childhood care and education gained much attention around the world since 1990s. In China, it is found that most of preschool children are cared for by family members mainly including mothers and grandparents, and only a small percentage of them participate in child care centers or preschools. Comparatively, those from rural areas, poor families and those younger are less likely to be enrolled in early child care institutions. This implies a problem of inequality in terms of children＇s access to early services and the quality of early services. The policy change in China since 2010 provides a good opportunity to combat the inequality among young children. However, more efforts are needed to improve the policymaking and implementation in the future.