Strong early childhood education and care systems for the future

This paper presents a conceptual framework for thematic analyses of the behaviour of early childhood education and care (ECEC) providers as organisations in hybrid, (partly) privatised and marketised ECEC systems. The starting point is the notion of ‘strong’, or ‘resilient’, ECEC systems. A definition of ‘strong ECEC systems’ is derived from integrating rights-based approaches to ECEC and findings on the long-term benefits of ECEC for children, families, and societies. Following a review of selected research on differences between national ECEC systems in architecture, welfare mix, governance, funding, and regulation, the paper proposes to regard ECEC systems as complex systems, where multiple characteristics interact to produce specific outcomes. The self-organising dynamics of complex systems is foregrounded, emphasising the role of (local) public-private collaboration between ECEC organisations, other social services, communities, and governments. The paper highlights two theoretical approaches to the study of organisational behaviour in particular: the Institutional Logics Approach and the Organisational Configurations Theory.