Early Childhood Education in the Mediterranean: Availability, Accessibility and Affordability of ¸£ÀûÔÚÏßÃâ·Ñ is the 5th volume in the series which has just been published by .
This publication, which was co-edited by and Mehmet Toran, brings together contributions from 11 Mediterranean countries, including Algeria, Croatia, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Palestine and Türkiye.
Early childhood development does not occur in a vacuum but is highly dependent on the social, economic and environmental contexts within which children grow. These contexts are in turn subject to constant and dynamic changes brought about by external influences, including but not restricted to historical, current and on-going political shifts, climate and environmental changes, as well as economic trajectories within and across regions and countries. Although early childhood services have attracted the attention of several governments, leading to substantial, if not heavy investment to expand access and enrolments through a variety of initiatives the provision of formal services has not been without its fair share of challenges.
Across several countries and despite improvements, issues related to availability, accessibility and affordability persist and still offer challenges which require solutions. 'The volume makes a compelling case that this most fundamental of education sectors remains under-resourced despite global rhetoric and local good intentions. It calls for an opening of new debates, future investigations, and new solutions’ Prof. Carmen Dalli, University of Wellington, New Zealand.
This scholarly, reflective and fascinating comparative collection of narratives capturing current progress towards establishing available, accessible and affordable early childhood services in Mediterranean countries makes a timely, provocative and important contribution to the field of comparative education.
Collectively, the contributions of each chapter provide an excellent fusion of theory, research and practice and should stimulate critical and deep reflections and actions to transform and improve current ECEC policy and practice regionally and globally as we move forward to an uncertain future- Prof. Chris Pascal & Prof. Tony Bertram, EECERA & CREC, UK.
