Literature Review on Policies to Support Early Childhood Development

The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of what we know as scientists about the developmental dimensions in early childhood that are particularly predictive of academic achievement and future well-being, the effect of formal child care on development and the barriers to access, and the interventions that can be made with parents to support their development, always with particular attention to the impacts on inequalities of outcomes. It consists of 4 chapters, each of which is the result of a systematic review of the literature. The first chapter will provide a conceptual map of the different dimensions that appear in the literature as particularly important for child development. These dimensions will then serve as a methodological grid for two of the other three chapters, which will systematically refer to them. The second chapter will focus on the effects of formal childcare arrangements on children's development. The third chapter will discuss the barriers to accessing these different forms of formal care, as well as the interventions that can be made to overcome these barriers. Finally, the last chapter will focus on the primary mode of care for children, namely their families. This will be a review of interventions that improve their child's development in each of the key dimensions identified in the first chapter.