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In a recent Atlantic article, "The Underestimation of America’s Preschool Teachers," author Lillian Mongeau quotes Marcy Whitebook, director of the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment: "Existing brain science backs up what educators could only theorize in the 1970s: The first five years of a child’s life are key to their overall brain development. What children learn before age five—both academic skills like critical thinking and social skills like taking turns—sets the stage for the rest of their lives."

The single most important element in capitalizing on that crucial window, Whitebook adds, is who provides education in those years. "People don’t tend to think teaching young children [is] as complex work as teaching older children, but in fact, it is. It’s hard for people to see that because of the nature of young children and because we have a historical approach that anybody can do it."

The "professionalization" of early childhood education is an ongoing challenge for both practitioners and policy makers; fortunately, awareness of the importance of quality ECE is on the rise globally.

Contributed by Sara Gilliam

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