What is the value of a quality early childhood education?

Abstract

The present investigation reflect on the impacts of permanent Fundeb in the evaluation of the offer of early childhood education and discuss guidelines that can subsidize quality parameters in this first stage of basic education. For this aim, we analyze data from the School Census of Basic Education of the National Institute of Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira (Inep) and the Demographic Census of the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) from which we discuss how far is the “wishfull thinking” of early childhood education. We demonstrate that children's access to day care and preschools needs to be more equitable, public investment must be oriented to public networks and evaluation of the allocation of resources is presented as a fundamental mechanism for reducing inequality. Finally, the findings point to reinforcing the concept of Student Quality Cost (CAQ) where it is necessary to dimension the necessary inputs to provide access for all children to day care centers and preschools to a quality education.