Abstract
The growing importance of an “early childhood education” is clear to see, no matter whether you open the daily newspapers; read scientific publications, practical guides, and handbooks; or follow political debates on issues of childhood. Wittmann et al. (2011) even speak of an “early childhood educational offensive.” This is coupled with a focus on “the educational potential of the first decade of life,” and it “demands an appreciable ‘schoolification’ of childhood in the form of decreasing enrollment ages and a school-like orientation to day care facilities” (Wittmann et al. 2011, p. 14, translated). In this quotation, “early childhood education” is equated with a “publicly subsidized provision for children under compulsory school age.” It demonstrates the fact that childhood has become more of a “public affair” than in the past (Honig 2011, p. 182), and it is considered both pro-development and socially necessary for children to participate in early childhood education and care (ECEC) (see EACEA 2009; OECD 2011). Often, reform is urged; addressed are the necessary political developments for publicly provided childcare for preschool children and other changes to elementary schooling. Over the past few years, there have been great changes in this area. In German preschool education, for example, the educational mandate, regulated by law since the 1970s for the kindergarten age group (3- to 6-year-olds), has been amended by the Day Care Reconstruction Act (TAG) to include children under the age of 3, an area dominated so far by caregivers (BMFSFJ 2010a, p. 144). Elementary school education is seeing the introduction of full-day schools—a novelty in Germany. The latter measure was initiated particularly in order to narrow the educational gap for children from low-income, immigrant, or ethnic minority families and also to pursue educational, employment, and family–political motives (BMFSFJ 2010a). These goals also play an increasingly important role in the preschool years from a political point of view (Betz 2010a; EACEA 2009; OECD 2011). The developments have decisively changed the childhood phase of life.