Policies framing infant transitions across six countries

Conceptions of, and practices in, early childhood education and care (ECEC) are undergoing intense revision worldwide. Particularly meaningful is the increasing number of infants attending these services. However, how countries recognize, legitimize, and organize themselves to guarantee infants’ participation in ECEC services is animated by each country’s policies. These reflect contextual, cultural, and social values and issues, which are in turn interlinked with how countries determine the social place of women, their role in the labor market and children’s right. In this chapter, we present data from the six countries that participated in ISSEET concerning maternity leave, family financial support in the first months/years of infants’ lives, the constitution of networks of ECEC institutions (both public and private), and access for families and their infants according to the latter’s age and the family’s economic status. Our analysis indicates that although infants’ attendance in ECEC is widely present in the six analyzed countries, its implementation varies considerably in accordance with different possibilities and specificities. This variety raises implications for how the transition of infants into ECEC settings from home can be woven, achieved, and administered—points that we take up and discuss in subsequent chapters.