Introduction

Global interest in early care and education has been growing. The Association for Childhood Education International has declared 2012–2022 the Decade for Childhood. They call for an increased focus on childhood from many disciplines and agents. Large research studies are also being conducted that are focused on early childhood education in many different contexts. In 2010, Education International published Early Childhood Education: A Global Scenario. This study examined early childhood policies from 17 countries. In looking at early childhood globally they found that in many countries early care is fragmented, that ECE teaching staff are overwhelmingly female, less trained, and have poorer working conditions than educators working with older children. Access to early education is more limited in developing countries especially in rural areas.