Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic: a qualitative study of government policies relating to the early childhood sector across ten countries

The relationship between early childhood education and care (ECEC, birth to 8 years), children’s lifelong learning trajectory and the economy is undisputed. This relationship was particularly apparent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using an auto-ethnographical study, this chapter discusses government responses across 10 countries: Australia, Canada, Chile, Denmark, England, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy and Portugal reveal much about the perceptions of children and their early childhood professionals from a political, social and economic stance. The chapter interrogates how government responses situate children and early childhood professionals within the educational landscape in the countries studied and asks how it shapes early childhood education in particular. It illustrates that Governments overall, in the countries studied, did not recognise ECEC as fundamental to the educational continuum. In looking to the future, we question how early childhood education should develop to prepare children for the times we live in so that children are able to flourish and shape future societies with confidence and purpose. Finally, we ask whether the pandemic could possibly see the dawn of a new era in knowledge and understanding of the centrality of Early Childhood Education and Care.