Source: European Parliament
The Commission supports Member States to ensure the provision of high-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) for all children.
The European Education Area Working Group on ECEC[1] — in line with the 2019 Council Recommendation on high-quality ECEC systems[2] and the EU quality framework on ECEC — provides peer learning opportunities and evidence-based knowledge and examples to inform Member State reforms, addressing topics of governance, staff and inclusion. It plans to focus on curricula in 2026.
The Commission also encourages free and effective access to ECEC for children in need, through the European Child Guarantee, with the support of the European Social Fund Plus[3].
In addition, the Commission supports ECEC through various funding instruments:
—With the support of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, 15 Member States committed to reforms and investments in this policy area with a value of almost EUR 7.5 billion.[4]
—The Technical Support Instrument[5] has, since 2020, been supporting ECEC reforms in Bulgaria, Czechia, Austria, Cyprus, Portugal and Germany.
—Erasmus+[6] funds mobility projects for (future) ECEC staff, and projects to develop innovative pedagogies and cooperation.
- [1] https://wikis.ec.europa.eu/display/EAC/ECEC
- [2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=oj:JOC_2019_189_R_0002
- [3] https://european-social-fund-plus.ec.europa.eu/en
- [4] Figure as of 10 March 2025. Data are based on the pillar tagging methodology for the Recovery and Resilience scoreboard and correspond to the measures allocated to the policy area ‘early childhood education and care’ as primary or secondary policy area.
- [5] https://commission.europa.eu/funding-tenders/find-funding/eu-funding-programmes/technical-support-instrument/technical-support-instrument-tsi_en
- [6] https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/