Chapter 1: Introduction: Social and Policy Innovation in Early Childhood Education and Care: A Comparative Perspective

In this introduction we present early childhood education and care (ECEC) as the topic of this book and how we position it in relation to the wider theoretical and conceptual debate on social innovation. We carry out an extensive review of the main concepts on which this book is based (social innovation, policy learning and institutionalisation), and we present the conceptual model that lies behind the instrumental case of Barcelona that connects these three concepts. This chapter will also introduce the content of this book, presenting Part I and Part II, and their role in this book's argument.