ISSA Hosts Successful 2009 Conference Focusing on Effective Investments in Early Childhood Development
To explore integrated approaches to early childhood development (ECD) as the strongest foundation for well-being and success throughout life, more than 260 early childhood practitioners, researchers, policy makers, and NGO activists from 50 countries from Europe and around the world convened in Bucharest, Romania 14-17 October 2009, at ISSA’s anniversary conference Seeds of Change: Effective Investments in Early Childhood for Enduring Social Progress.
The event was co-hosted by the Step by Step Center for Education and Professional Development, Romania, under the patronage of the President of Romania, H. E. Traian Basescu. The conference was organized in partnership with and with support from the Open Society Institute, and also with the technical support and participation of UNICEF CEE/CIS and the Romanian Ministry of Education, Research, and Innovation.
Research shows that the quality of care in the first years in a child's life is crucial in ensuring the child's later success, quality of life, and ability to contribute to society as a responsible citizen. Therefore, effective investments in early years programs are essential in building future human and social capital of every country. Building on the increasing prominence of early childhood education and care in European policy agendas as well as growing attention around the world to the early years as a crucial period in the life of a child that impacts on the development and well-being of nations, the ISSA Conference focused on learning from recent findings in neuroscience, developmental psychology, economics, and education and looked for ways to build policies on these results and to integrate research findings into practice. Sessions emphasized the links between ECD and economics in the short- and long-term perspective, analyzing current investments and their impact on young children and their families. It was emphasized by several presenters that early childhood has to be approached from the interest of a child; economic arguments are good arguments for policy, but economic efficiency is far from being the only reason for investing in quality early childhood education and care.
One of the highlights of the conference was a message from the President of Romania, in which he emphasized the crucial nature of investing in education from birth, stating that the key principle of Romania’s new National Education Law is “education never starts too early.” President Basescu reflected on the crisis in Romanian schools in recent years, talked about solutions the country has been pursuing, and recognized the ISSA event as “an opportunity to articulate a public debate on identifying and formulating flexible and dynamic solutions to enhance the quality of education at European and international level.”
In addition to the President’s message, ISSA welcomed a diverse roster of distinguished keynote speakers and presenters whose inspirational speeches, presentations, and workshops addressed the issue of early years education from many different angles.
Via video address, James J. Heckman, Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences, University of Chicago (USA) spoke about why significantly diverse and competitive early childhood education programs do not suffer from the equity efficiency tradeoff, as they all enhance the early lives of disadvantaged children, which leads to economic efficiency. The early lives of children are the time when the foundations for cognitive and social emotional skills are laid. The development of these skills have a very high return in the labor market and promote adult well-being. He debunked several misconceptions which are often used as arguments against investing in early childhood, such as genetic disposition of disadvantaged children, etc. To view the video of Dr. Heckman’s speech, visit http://www.issa.nl/videos/videos.html.
Peter Moss (UK) spoke about education as a community project and public responsibility in his keynote presentation Creating Places of Encounter and Collaborative Workshops. Nathan A. Fox (USA) discussed the importance of early experience for brain and behavioral development and their implications for childhood policy and practice. In his keynote presentation, John Bennett (France) spoke on equitable and efficient financing of early childhood education. Stuart Shanker (USA) presented the science of early brain development and its implications on public policy. Ene Tomberg (Estonia) stressed the crucial link between health and safety policies and practices and early childhood development, providing examples of intersectoral cooperation from Estonia. Emily Vargas-Baron (USA) presented the results of the Policy Roundtable which preceded the conference (more information below.)
ISSA also expresses its sincere gratitude to the following Plenary Speakers: Tunde Kovac Cerovic, State Secretary, Ministry of Education (Serbia), Aleksandra Jovic, UNICEF (Serbia), Mihaela Ionescu, Ministry of Education, Research and Innovation (Romania) and Aurora Ailincai, Council of Europe (France), who showcased initiatives supporting early education and development in Serbia, Romania, and beyond.
The conference also marked the celebration of ISSA’s 10th Anniversary. Special attention was devoted to ISSA's growing network of members and partners from the region and from around the globe, especially noting their successes over the past ten years in creating and implementing child-centered pedagogy, respect for diversity, and access to quality education for every child.
All keynote and plenary presentations, as well as presentations from parallel sessions are available at the conference website www.issa2009.ro. A full program of the event and more information about the organizers can also be found on the conference website.
The Conference was preceded on 14 October by a high level policy roundtable: Investing in Early Childhood: the most effective use of a nation's resources. For more information about the roundtable, visit http://www.issa.nl/news_ecdpol.html.
