Early Childhood Development: Laying the Foundations of Learning.

Early childhood development is increasingly viewed as an affirmation of children's rights. This report describes the concept of early childhood development and presents several viewpoints regarding early childhood care and development, parenting, and approaches to early education. The report also presents 10 case studies of programs to enhance the development of young children and their families throughout the world. Part 1 of the report examines early childhood development as providing the foundation for later learning, and discusses several topics such as: the state of current research about the learning process; caregivers' role in supporting children's learning; linking current research to practice; identifying effective models for early childhood development in various cultures; and national attitudes toward early childhood development and improving learning conditions for young children. This section also suggests ways to enhance public policy in early childhood development. Part 2 presents the following papers regarding early childhood care and development: (1) "Parents as Care-givers, Teachers and Learners: Examples from Asia" (de los Angeles-Bautista); (2) "Early Childhood Care and Development: Where We Stand and the Challenges We Face" (Evans); (3) "Value Outcomes in Early Childhood Development" (Weikart); (4) "Approaches of Early Childhood Education" (Arango); (5) "The Whole (All) Must Grow Through Learning" (Hesse); and (6) "From Centre-Based Pre-School to Integrated Child and Family Educational Programming" (Bennett). Part 3 of the report presents case studies describing early education programs, parent education programs, and research initiatives in Trinidad and Tobago, Colombia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, South Africa, Ireland, China, India, Mali, and Arab countries. (KB)