the european council for steiner waldorf education … · the european council for steiner waldorf...

The European Council For Steiner Waldorf Education(ECSWE) is a European organisation with 27 national WaldorfAssociations, representing over 670 Steiner Waldorf schools inEurope. It is registered in Brussels as an AISBL (898707869)www.ecswe.net

The Alliance for Childhood European Network Group (AFC-ENG) was created in 2006 with the aim of improving the“Quality of Childhood” in the European Union and is part of theAlliance for Childhood global network.www.allianceforchildhood.eu

The Fundación Botín has its head office in Santander (Spain). Itsaims are educational, scientific, cultural and social. TheFoundation contributes to the well-being and progress of societyby investing its resources in education, developing an appliedexperience called Responsible Education to facilitate and fosteremotional, cognitive and social development in childhood.www.fundacionbotin.org

With the financial support of the Jean Monnet Programme. of the European Union.

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IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF CHILDHOOD IN EUROPE 2011

VOLUME 2

Editors: Christopher Clouder

Belinda HeysMichiel MatthesPatrice Sullivan




ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Our thanks go to the Jean Monnet Programme of the European Union and the FundaciónBotín for their financial support for this publication.

ECSWE and AFC-ENG would like to record appreciation to the European Parliament forhosting the Working Group on the Quality of Childhood and particularly to MEP RovanaPlumb, MEP Evelyn Regner, MEP Karin Kadenbach, MEP Lívia Járóka and MEP Gerald Häfnerwho are hosting the group at the moment. We would also like to thank all the MEPs whosupport the QoC Working Group.

We also appreciate the contribution made by Susanne Muller-Hubsch, who assisted theAFC-ENG Secretariat in many ways over the past year.

We are grateful to all those who contributed to this publication and the time taken insupplying content to assist in its completion.

This book is the second in a series of publications about improving the quality of childhoodin the European Union. The first book ““IImmpprroovviinngg tthhee QQuuaalliittyy ooff CChhiillddhhoooodd iinn tthheeEEuurrooppeeaann UUnniioonn –– CCuurrrreenntt PPeerrssppeeccttiivveess”” (ISBN 1 900169 20 7) was published at the endof 2009. It contains perspectives on childhood from the following authors:Richard Bowlby, John Bennett, Christopher Clouder, Boris Cyrulnik, René F.W Diekstra,Steen Hildebrandt, Jesper Juul, Ferre Laevers, Martina Leibovici-Mühlberger, GesekeLundgren, Michiel Matthes, Peter Moss, Luc Stevens, Hans van Crombrugge and MichelVandenbroeck.

To order a copy please contact:Patrice Sullivan [email protected] Chiara Carones [email protected]

.. ..




IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF CHILDHOOD IN EUROPE 2011VOLUME 2

This publication consists of talks given by a range of experts to the Working Group on theQuality of Childhood (QoC) at the European Parliament during 2009/2010.

QoC was created in 2006 by the European Council for Steiner Waldorf Education (ECSWE),the Austrian Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Mrs Karin Resetarits and theAlliance for Childhood European Network Group (AFC-ENG). Its aim is “to improve theQuality of Childhood in the European Union and in the European Educational Space.”

It has been meeting every two months since 2006 in the Parliament building in Brussels andit has involved prominent organisations in Europe and high profile keynote speakers onimportant themes at European level that were related to its remit.

During the European Parliament legislature of 2004 to 2009 the following Members of the European Parliament were members of QoC:

Alde Party MEP Karin Resetarits (Austria)

Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European ParliamentMEP Rovana Plumb (Romania) MEP Adrian Severin (Romania)MEP Corina Cretu (Romania)

Group of the GreensMEP Hiltrud Breyer (Germany)

Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats)MEP Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou, (Greece)MEP Lívia Járóka (Hungary)

Independence / Democracy GroupKathy Sinnott (Ireland)




As of December 2010, the following Members of the European Parliament are participating in QoC:

Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament MEP Rovana Plumb (Romania) MEP Adrian Severin (Romania)MEP Corina Cretu (Romania)MEP Evelyn Regner (Austria)MEP Karin Kadenbach (Austria)

Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats)MEP Lívia Járóka (Hungary)

Group of the GreensMEP Gerald Häfner (Germany)

Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for EuropeMEP Edward McMillan-Scott (United Kingdom)

QoC coordination is carried out by Michiel Matthes, Christopher Clouder, Chiara Caronesand Patrice Sullivan.

The Working Group aims to be a think-tank for a 'peer learning' reflective activity onimportant childhood themes, in order to offer policy recommendations to EU Institutionsand Member States on how to improve the quality of childhood and how to increase thequality and effectiveness of education and training systems in the EU.

The purpose of this second volume is to inform policy makers and other interested partiesabout current issues concerning childhood and adolescence. The speakers all includesuggestions and approaches about how to go about improving the quality of childhood.




CREDITS

Christopher Clouder, ECSWE CEO, Director Botín Platform for Innovation in Education andAFC International Director

Michiel Matthes, Secretary-General of the Alliance for Childhood European Network Group

Belinda Heys and Patrice Sullivan – EditorsChiara Carones - Co-ordinator

Design and Print Production by: Kim Murrin, Orchard Creative Solutions 01825 713145Printed by: Four Corners Print, 01273 501700

European Council for Steiner Waldorf Education (ECSWE) AISBL 898.707.869194, Rue du Trône, 1050, Brussels, Belgium

Head office: Kidbrooke Park, Forest Row, East Sussex RH18 5JA, EnglandTel: +44 1342 822115E-mail: [email protected]: www.ecswe.net

Alliance for Childhood European Network Group - Michiel MatthesKonkelstraat 214 Box 7,1200 Brussels, BelgiumTel: +32.2.7622557E-mail: [email protected]: www.allianceforchildhood.eu www.allianceforchildhood.org.uk

ISBN number – 1 900 169 25 8

DisclaimerThis publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may bemade of the information contained therein. The content and opinions expressed in this publication are entirely the responsibility of the individual speakers / authors. Allinformation in this publication was correct at the time of going to print (November 2010). No organisation, their representatives norindividuals involved in the development of this resource can be held responsible for nor accepts any liability for any loss, damageor inconvenience arising as a consequence of any use of or the inability to use any information in this publication.

Copyright and ReproductionThe overall copyright of this publication is held by ECSWE and the Alliance for Childhood European Network Foundation private stichting.The copyright and reproduction rights of the single articles are held by the individual authors and speakers.




TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction: Towards a Living EducationBy Christopher Clouder, CEO, European Council for Steiner Waldorf Educationand Director, Botín Platform for Innovation in EducationImproving the Quality of Childhood: The Progress made over the last few yearsBy Michiel Matthes, Secretary General of the Alliance for Childhood EuropeanNetwork Group and Secretary of the Working Group on the Quality of Childhoodat the European Parliament1. The Quality of Childhood, Evidence from the Programme for

International Student Assessment (PISA)By Andreas Schleicher, Head of the Indicators and Analysis Division, theOECD Directorate for Education.

2. Inequality and the wellbeing of adults and childhood in rich countriesBy Professor Emeritus Richard Wilkinson, co-author of “The Spirit Level,Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better.”

3. Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby’s BrainBy Sue Gerhardt, author of the ground breaking book “Why Love Matters:How Affection Shapes a Baby's Brain”.

4. The Case of the Roma ChildrenBy Ivan Ivanov, Executive Director of the European Roma InformationOffice (ERIO), Bernard Rorke, Director of the Roma Initiative Programmesof the Open Society Institute, and Lorne Walters, Independent Consultanton Child Health and Child Rights issues

5. Parental Leave PoliciesBy Professor Peter Moss, the Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute ofEducation, University of London & co-author of the book 'The Politics ofParental Leave Policies, Children, Gender and the Labour Market'.

6. Lessons from Italy: Child Friendly CitiesBy Vanessa Pallucchi, Director of Education, Legambiente, Rome, Italy.

7. Social and Emotional Education in Spain: Botin FoundationResponsible Education ProgrammeBy Fátima Sánchez Santiago, Director of Education, Botin Foundation,Spain

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This is an edited and amalgamated version of keynote lectures given at Alliance forChildhood conferences: Sao Paulo, July 2010 and Budapest, October 2010.

© Legambiente

Towards A Living Education12

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Those of us who work in the field of education and childcare should take Vaclav Havel’swise words into consideration in all our practices and theories:

“The salvation of this human world lies nowhere else than in the human heart, inthe human power to reflect, in human meekness and human responsibility.” 1

We are living in an age of great opportunity as well as deep insecurity and although wecan see future problems hovering over the horizon we cannot claim to be prescient inknowing exactly what they will be and what challenges they will present to our children.

It is significant that a threshold of civilisation and human evolution was crossed in 2009when, for the first time, half of the world's population were living in cities. Already thisdramatic increase in the pace of urbanisation has made an impact on childhood and willdeeply affect future generations in as yet unspecified and challenging ways. In the vastmega-cities, now expanding at an unprecedented rate, the experience of daily life of itscitizens is changing. Their lives will change even more so as these cities merge into mega-regions that will be home to more than 100 million people – an endless city perhapsstretching over hundreds of kilometres. The mega-city’s inhabitants are having to learn tolive in confined spaces far from the world of nature, surrounded by constant movement anddealing with the pressures of consumerism, poverty, pollution, economic disparities,inequality, marginalisation and limited resources. As more and more of us live in mega-cities and mega-regions this will inevitably create new challenges and people will be forcedto find new solutions to the art of living together. The transition to such high-density livingwill inevitably have an effect on the experience of being a child in such an environment.Hence the childhoods of the past are not those of the present, nor will these, in turn, bethe childhoods of the future. Just as there are many different kinds of childhoods, so wehave to respect the diversity of views of what childhood is, how children develop, and thesocial consequences of such ideas and ideals. As Janusz Korczak emphasised,

[Children] “should be allowed to grow into whoever they were meant to be: the“unknown person” inside each of them is the hope for the future.” 2

INTRODUCTIONTowards A Living Education by Christopher ClouderCEO, European Council for Steiner Waldorf Education and Director, Botin Platform for Innovation in Education.

Towards A Living Education 13




We are increasingly conscious that as adults we are unfinished and that the concept of lifelong learning applies to all aspects of our lives. As educators we are also unfinished andconstantly learning, just as our children are also unfinished. However, we must recognisethat this does not give us the ability and prescience to determine their future nor toprophesy what they will face and how they will live.

“Being a new generation, the children also symbolise and embody the future. Andbecause their development occurs in a much faster-moving world, which holdsfewer certainties than it probably did for previous generations, my observation isthat the future becomes a present more quickly, even for small children.” 3

This awareness serves to exacerbate our doubts and creates endless questions about whatthe future may have in store for our children, but nevertheless we have to provide thefoundations in terms of both education and upbringing and act according to our beliefsabout what it means to be a human being.

Governments across the world react to these changes in childhood and educationalthought by imposing regimes of increasing surveillance of the outcomes of educationalpractice. This, in itself, is welcome, in that questions of childhood become questions ofpolicy that can stand central in the deliberations of educational policy makers. We can seean increased interest in curriculum development, accountability, testing andstandardisation based on the supposition that by raising the expected measurablestandards of learning, better educational practices, and therefore more successfuloutcomes, can be generated. However justified this assumption might be (because there isan obvious need for statistical evidence and analysis) at the same time we have to becognisant of the fact that children cannot be standardised, that they have a right to theirown individuality, their own way in life and growth.

“If young people are to succeed as thinkers, as learners, and as humans who makevaluable contributions to society, more must be known about them than theirscores on standardised measures of achievement.” 4

Our views on education and childhood actually tell us a lot about ourselves and ourtendency to look for certainties in our troubled and fast-changing world. The fact that somany countries see the need to reform their educational systems shows that they arewilling to question the practices and traditions of the past and that some form ofrenaissance is necessary if we are to meet the needs of the contemporary child.

“The traditional organisation of schooling is intellectually and morally inadequatefor contemporary society. We live in an age troubled by social problems that forcesus to reconsider what we do in schools.” 5





In his autobiography “Report to Greco” Nikos Katzantzakis gives a beautiful picture of whatit meant to be a young child living in a rich world of imagination at the end of the 19thCentury. He describes being told stories by his grandmother and this gave him what hecalled a ‘yeasty childhood’. He describes how this disposition towards fascination andcuriosity led him on voyages of imaginative exploration “I lived, spoke and moved in a fairy-tale which I myself created every moment, carving out parts in it to allow me to pass. I neversaw the same thing twice, because I gave it a new face each time and made itunrecognisable. Thus the world’s virginity renewed itself at every moment.” His grandmotheronce told him about a mermaid who was a sister of Alexander the Great and, who out ofconcern for his well-being, constantly asked passing mariners if he was well, to which thestandard reply was “He’s alive, my lady, alive and flourishing”. Thus the sailors avoided athrashing of her tail, which would have sunk the ship. One day his mother took him downto the sea and looking out he saw some women swimming. In his mind he assumed themto be mermaids and that below the waist, invisible beneath the waves, they were fish. Thewomen beckoned and shouted at him but because of the sounds of the waves he could nothear what they were saying, so he replied “He’s alive, alive and flourishing”. Whereupon thewomen started laughing at him. He felt ashamed and humiliated and he turned his back onthe sea with the sudden realisation that these were just women. This painful episode isetched on his memory and serves as a reminder that we learn through our mistakes as wellas our successes, and that coming to terms with reality is not necessarily a straightforwardor pain-free process. Yet looking back on this memory he continues, “I thank God that thisrefreshing childhood vision still lives inside me in all its fullness of colour and sound. This iswhat keeps my mind untouched by wastage, keeps it from withering and running dry. It is asacred drop of immortal water which prevents me from dying. When I wish to speak of thesea, woman, or God in my writing, I gaze down into my breast and listen carefully to whatthe child in me says ... I become a child again to enable myself to view the world always forthe first time, with virgin eyes.” 6

This is an example of what Loris Malaguzzi calls ‘the rich child’ who possesses extraordinarystrengths and capacities. It is this creative capacity that is potentially in all of us and thatis framed in our childhoods. Over the centuries in the western world we have had prevalentviews on childhood that have had deep impact on how we have raised our children. Ourconceptions of childhood and youth are fluid and exist in particular political, social andeconomic contexts. Over the last four centuries we have travelled from Locke’s ‘tabularasa’, through Rousseau’s golden age of innocence to Piaget’s scientific biological child. Wehave come finally to the 20th Century image of the child as being educated to become alabour market supply factor. All these conceptions still play a part in how we approacheducation and upbringing in the 21st Century. Now neurobiological research is throwingup a new picture of how we learn. Accordingly, Dahlberg argues that today’s child can beseen as being the co-constructor of knowledge, identity and culture, “We have choices tomake about who we think the child is, and these choices have enormous significance sinceour construction of the child and early childhood are productive, by which we mean that





they determine the institutions we provide for the children and the pedagogical work thatadults and children undertake in these institutions.” 7

Mary Jane Drummond takes this argument further in her paper Assessment in the EarlyYears 8 where she compares the prevalent attitude as exemplified in Zigler’s influential andtellingly titled book A Vision for Universal Preschool Education (2006) where we can comeacross such statements as “We all agree that the primary goal of preschool education isschool readiness” 9 and “The purpose of preschool, after all, is school readiness” 10. In thisbook it is noted that when children exhibit behavioural difficulties, that are severe enoughfor them to be excluded from programmes, that they are basically to blame for beingunable to negotiate the social and behavioural demands made on them and not havinglearnt the appropriate skills of self-control, paying attention, working independently andignoring distractions. Drummond terms this as the deficit approach, in contrast toMalaguzzi’s concept: “If a school for young children has to be preparatory and providecontinuity with the elementary school, then we as educators are already prisoners of a modelthat ends up as a funnel. I think, moreover that the funnel is a detestable object ... Itspurpose is to narrow down what is big into what is small. This choking device is againstnature.” 11

A telling example of this funnel, often inadvertent and well-meaning, is given by thecontemporary Brazilian poet Manoel Barros. “The river that ran behind our house was theimage of a melting glass that curved behind the house. Later, a man passed by and said: Thiscurve that the river makes behind your house is called an inlet. It was no longer the image ofa glass snake that curved behind the house. It was an inlet. I think the name impoverishes theimage.” 12 As we proceed into a world where creativity is more highly prized and becomesa key to our economic and social success, the whole question of childhood education hasto be reviewed in order that the natural creativity of the child grows into the creativeimagination and capacities of the adult. By stultifying children with “funnel” education,especially in the early years, with an overly academic, highly pressurised and economicallyorientated and utilitarian curriculum, we run the risk of not achieving what we know willbe increasingly important.

But creativity alone is not enough, we will also need an ethical dimension in order to createsustainable societies in ecological balance with the globe that we have inherited. In hisGood Work project Howard Gardner and his team studied good working practices over 12years and in this time interviewed 1200 people from journalism, business and law. Theyasked them what they considered good work to be and what inspired them to do goodwork. The authors came to the conclusion that neither genes nor culture are solelyresponsible for our future. What is crucial is our code of consciousness and the way wechoose to interpret the instructions handed down to us by both biology and culture. “Thedeterministic forces of the past are modified, rejected, or improved upon by ideas and ideals





invented by individuals, and then shared by communities. Hence, our vision of the futureshapes what happens.” 13 What we think about the future influences how it is created andour vision of ourselves as individuals with a future is founded in our childhood. RudolfSteiner, another early 20th Century pedagogical innovator, phrased it as follows: ‘In lookingupon our cultural surroundings we have… the effects of bygone times. If we acquire a feelingfor this, not only the past affects us but the future as well. It is our task (as teachers) to letthe future work into us. 14

Another ethical stance is stated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) wherethe child has a right to preparation ‘for a responsible life in a free society, in the spirit ofunderstanding, peace, tolerance and equality of sexes, and friendship among all peoples,ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origins.” 15 The hoped forgoal is an empathetic knowledge that can lead to mutual respect and understanding. Aswe face times of economic globalisation and tendencies to increased competitiveness, withmore readily available and fast international communications, we are creating a newawareness of our diversity and our intercultural interdependence. Young children naturallyaccept diversity and their response to differences is curiosity followed by exploration. Theyare eager to understand and it is up to our schools and settings to encourage this positiveexposure to diversity. It is therefore incumbent upon policymakers to encourage pluralismin order for this to take place in schools. Only by exploring our human variations can weapprehend our common humanity.

As educators we should be at the forefront of the struggle to ensure that whatever ourchildren receive is, as far as possible, in harmony with their needs and future development.Karen Wells, in her book Childhood in a Global Perspective, concludes, “The heart of thedisagreements between different cultures about what constitutes a childhood probably restsmore on the ontological question of what it means to be human - and therefore how childrenshould be raised.” 16 Her book explores this change in attitude from one of saving children,as exemplified in 19th Century literature and discourse about childhood, to a growingawareness and respect for children’s rights. The tension between these two approaches, aswell as cultural differentiations, then rise up. “Rights do not adhere to humans by virtue ofour common humanity but are won in political struggle and defended by persons withcapacity. In other words rights imply both the capacity to defend them and the possession ofa legal personhood.” 17 The full implications of the charter are yet to be understood and, asrecent studies have shown, most countries fall woefully short in their implementation.Childhood has become a key theme in policy making and the media reflects this heightenedawareness back to us. If, however, children are becoming competent social actors and areparticipating in shaping the social environments then the role of parents must also begoing through fundamental changes and challenges.

“ To act morally we have to be moved; we have to feel something.” 18





As times change and we evolve, we can be moved by different things according to our priorexperience, expectations and cultural background. In his book The Age of Empathy Frans DeWaal gives the example of a letter written by Abraham Lincoln to a slave-owning friend in1841. “You may remember, as I well do, that from Louiseville to the mouth of the Ohio, therewere, on board, ten or a dozen slaves, shackled together with irons. That sight was acontinued torment me; and I see something like it every time I touch the Ohio, or any otherslave border. (It is) a thing which continually exercises, the power of it made me miserable.” 19

De Waal then points out that compassion is not just a matter of giving time or donatingmoney to help others but also of pushing a political agenda that has within it therecognition of everybody's dignity. His book explores this as an inborn capacity. Wheneducating children it is this capacity to be compassionate and to be empathetic that shouldbe strongly supported in an age-appropriate fashion as the child grows. Martin Luther Kingbelieved “The moral arc of the universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” 20 In the 19thCentury the plight of children was highlighted by Charles Dickens in his novels. He struckthe conscience of his time by describing the exploitation, abuse, disregard and crueltyvisited on many children as a result of the industrial revolution. The result of his efforts, aswith Lincoln, goes towards validating King’s optimism. We know that by reducing toxicstress in childhood we can help prevent illness in adulthood. If we can reduce the severityand number of early adverse experiences we can also then reduce the prevalence of healthproblems “(Health) disparities are rooted in where and how we live, work, and play. Scienceis now telling us that they are also about how we as a society treat our youngest members”. 21

In our post-industrial age we have the possibility to improve the experience and the qualityof childhood across the world. “Because we are trying to grow the new society within theold, our values and the way we work must be part of how we bring a new society into being.”22

Our task is to raise awareness, find the child in ourselves and thereby nurture the capacityto be curious, open and to appreciate diversity. Then we can more readily explore our ownhuman nature. Listening to the child within is not a utopian fantasy but a psychologicalreality. By reliving that childhood capacity we can see the world with fresh eyes. TheAlliance for Childhood is one example of a network of experience and shared responsibilitythat is there to raise these issues and to disseminate them. This is in keeping with theknowledge that we are not striving to reach a utopia or luxuriating in an unrealisablefantasy, we are just trying to make the world better for children. When considering how wework with and reciprocally develop our relationship with our children we need to rememberHavel’s evocation of the importance of “meekness’. If children are the co-creators of ourworld they have to be ‘listened to’ through whatever form of communication they choose,and we need the sensitivity to decipher that language. Then we can be open to thequestions and challenges that they present to us. These are relevant to our growth, as wellas theirs. During our lives we will be confronted with a multiplicity of challenges throughwhich our prejudices, beliefs, perspectives, traditions and habits will be open to questioning





and doubt. In these situations can we become open to learn from others? There will notbe one right answer or one approach we can all follow. By believing in the wisdom ofchildhood there is a deeper message that should stand as the foundation of everyeducational enterprise.

In the past I travelled on a road(some time has passed since)Made of certainties, hard as stones.

Now I tread a track of mud(carved by time):Wet, damp with doubts.

As I cross it (carefully)I am certain that only loveIs worth the trip.

from “Doubt is the Teacher” by Thiago De Mello 23





1 Vaclav Havel. Speech to Congress 1990.

2 Lifton, B. J (1989)The King of Children. London. Pan Books. Cited in Drummond MJ. Assessing Children’s’

Learning (1995) p.116. London. David Fulton Publishers.

3 Craft, A. (2002) Creativity and Early Years Education. (2002) p.184. London. Continuum Studies in Life Long

Learning.

4 Hébert, Y & Hartley W.J. Personalised learning and Changing Conceptions of Childhood and Youth in

Personalised Education (2006) p. 63. Paris. OECD.

5 Noddings, N. The Challenge to Care in Schools. (1992) p.173. New York. Teachers College Press.

6 Kazantzakis, Nikos. Report to Greco. (1965) p.48-49. London. Faber.

7 Dahlberg, G, Moss, P & Pence, A. Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care. (1999) p.43 London .

Falmer Press.

8 Drummond, M J. Assessment in the Early Years. (2010) in Peterson, P. Baker, E. McGaw, B. (Editors),

International Encyclopedia of Education, vol. 3, pp 316-22. Oxford: Elsevier.

9 Zigler,E, Gilliam, W.S. & Jones S.M. A Vision for Universal Preschool Education. (2006) p. xviii New York. CUP.

10 ibed. p.245

11 Mallaguzzi, L. in The Hundred Languages of Children – The Regio Emilia Approach (1998) Edwards, C.

Gandini, L. & Forman, G.E. p.88 USA. Praage Publisers

12 Manoel de Barros. Livro Das Ignorãças in Poesia Completa. (2010) p.203. São Paulo. Leya

13 Gardner,H, Czikszenymihaly,M. & Damon, W. Good Work. (2001) p.51 New York. Basic Books.

14 SteIner, R. Education as a Social Problem (1969) p.106. New York. Anthroposophic Press.

15 De Cuéllar, Javier Pérez. Our Creative Diversity . (1996) p.168. Paris. UNESCO.

16 Wells, K. Childhood in a Global Perspective. (2009) p.183 Cambridge. Polity.

17 ibed p.181

18 Noddings, N. Educating Moral People (2002) p.153. New York. Teachers College Press.

19 de Waal, Frans. The Age of Empathy. (2009) p. 114-5. New York. Harmony Books.

20 Cited in Wilkinson, R 7 Pickett, K. The Spirit Level. (2009) p.263. London. Penguin Books.

21 Schonkoff, J in ScienceDaily. June 5th 2009.

22 The Spirit Level - Why more equal Societies almost always do better by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. p.263.

23 Thiago de Mello. Doubt is the Teacher in Man: A View from the Forest. (2006) Manaus. Valer Editions.





Christopher Clouder - FRSAis currently CEO of the European Council for Steiner Waldorf Education, which is registeredin Brussels, and speaks for some 670 Steiner schools in 27 European countries. He is amember of the executive group of the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship for the U.K andIreland and a co-founder and International Director of the Alliance for Childhood, which isa global network of advocates for the quality of childhood. Previous to this he taughtadolescents for 5 years in the state system in the Netherlands, where he was instrumentalin founding a Waldorf school, and then taught for 25 years in Steiner Waldorf schools inEngland. He writes and gives public lectures widely throughout Europe and internationallyon educational matters, such as play and imagination, contemporary issues and culturalevolution. He gives many key-note presentations and lectures at conferences, universitiesand teacher education courses, as well as representing and discussing educational issueswith policy makers. He has published numerous books and articles on education andchildhood. He has recently been appointed the founding Director of the Botin Platform forInnovation in Education, which is working across the world to enhance educationalpractice in schools and early years settings.





© Nicole Wickenden

Improving the quality of childhood: the progress made over the last few years22




Some reflections on the quality of childhood

The Alliance for Childhood European Network Group was founded in Brussels on 4 October2006. The objective of the Group is to form a community of people that works in concertto improve the quality of childhood in the European Union.

'The participants believe that a poor quality of childhood is harmful for children.When society as a whole improves this quality, it will be beneficial for the childrenand adolescents in question and for the societies in which they grow up. Furthermore, the participants believe that a good quality childhood is based on thefollowing principles and attitudes:

• The child is respected as a fellow human being with his/ her own aspirations to develop his/her inner potential.

• The quality of the relationships of the child with important adults and others is a key element of the quality of his/her childhood and for his/hergrowth as a human being.

The Network Group has deliberately not defined what it means by the quality of childhood,because in each area of childhood - family, the development of the brain, school, play, thequality of relationships - we constantly consider what is at stake and what could beunderstood to be a better quality of childhood. We want to encourage everyone to dialoguecontinuously on this topic.

This approach is in line with the book entitled 'Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Educationand Care, Languages of Evaluation' by Gunilla Dahlberg, Peter Moss and Alan Pence. Theyhighlight the danger of describing quality standards in detail, which may then dictate whatshould happen with children in various settings. In the preface Carlina Rinaldi makes thefollowing remark:

Improving the quality of childhood: the progress made over the last few yearsby Michiel MatthesSecretary-General of the Alliance for Childhood European Network Group and Secretary of the Working Group on the Quality of Childhood at the European Parliament

Improving the quality of childhood: the progress made over the last few years 23




'The underlying concept, at the heart of the book, is that we must change ourlanguage of evaluation and take on the idea of ‘meaning making' as a permanentprocess for change. If we can make this perspective our own, schools will becomecentres not only for making meaning, but also for change. Change, then, becomesthe essential feature of schools. The transformational change, which comes fromdeep learning processes and knowledge building. A 'school which changes' doesnot mean a school changing because of a School Reform (although this cancertainly constitute a strong influence). Rather it means that the transformationalessence, the ability, the pleasure, the fatigue and the joy of change are intrinsic tothe identity of the school as a place of 'dialogue'.

In addition, Carlina Rinaldi draws attention to the ethical values outlined in the book:

This discourse (of meaning making) is also situated within the ethical position wehave outlined previously, the ethics of an encounter, foregrounding the importanceof meaning making in dialogue with others'.

The Alliance for Childhood European Network Group follows this same approach.

The strategy pursued by the Alliance for Childhood European Network GroupThe strategy taken by the Alliance for Childhood European Network Group has thefollowing components:

1. Change in society is based on communicationThe German sociologist Niklas Luhmann, stated that the change that takes place in theworld is the result of communication between human beings. These changes normally takeplace within the silos that make up our society, such as the educational system, the legalsystem, the business sector, the government, the scientific community etc. and often ittakes a long time before the changes that occur in one silo are disseminated to other partsof society. It is therefore our aim to invite people from the different silos and from thedifferent EU countries to participate in our work.

2. Social change processes in western societies are nearly always initiated and led bycitizens' organisations We have looked at the history of social change processes in western societies over the pastthree hundred years and a common pattern has emerged. The changes that occur areinitiated by citizens who are convinced that a particular practice in society is wrong andshould be changed. The citizens start to speak out, to organise themselves, to raise fundsfor their causes, to organise themselves politically, and so on. For example:• the movement to abolish slavery• the socialist movement• the cooperative movement





• the human rights movement• the environmental movement• the formation of the European UnionIn all these cases citizens set the ball rolling and they often forced the governments toadopt their cause and to draft laws, to set up institutions, etc. For this reason the Alliancefor Childhood European Network Group invites citizens’ organisations working in the areaof childhood and the well-being of children to become members. Our group is itself inspiredby the above mentioned social movements.

3. “If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences”.

Urie Bronfenbrenner said:

'If men define situations as real, they are real in their consequences'. 1

I understand this statement as follows: if people are really convinced about something thiswill have consequences for them, the groups of which they are a part, and the society inwhich they live. The Alliance for Childhood European Network Group is therefore eager toattract members (organisations and individuals) who are deeply concerned about thequality of childhood in their society and have decided to work on this topic.

4. Putting it all togetherThe Alliance for Childhood European Network Group applies these principles to the work itundertakes and to the meetings that it convenes. For example, members brief each otherabout how they perceive the situation with regards to the quality of childhood in theirareas of activity. The members inform one another about their activities, strategies, and thenetworks in which they function. In short: the Alliance for Childhood European NetworkGroup maintains a knowledge system with respect to the Quality of Childhood in theEuropean Union. This dialogue enables members of the group to work on a certain themewithin the broader subject of childhood in coalitions of innovation and policy development.

The Alliance for Childhood European Network Group and the Working Group on the Qualityof Childhood have created a space: • between advocacy groups from different European countries.• between various scientific disciplines such as pedagogy, educational science, psychology,

family sciences and so on, working on the theme of children and childhood.• between practitioners, scientists and administrators.• and links are maintained with other international bodies such as the Alliance for

Childhood organisations in the U.S.A and Brazil and the European Early ChildhoodEducation Research Association.





One of the focal points of our advocacy work: to dialogue with key players in societyabout the image of the child that they hold

The Alliance for Childhood European Network Group discovered that each organisation,even each person, that works for and with children, holds, consciously or unconsciously, animage of the child and the adolescent on which its philosophy and work is based, and allthe activities undertaken by that organisation tend to be in accordance with that image. It is not easy to discover the characteristics of the image held by a particular organisation,because in most cases it is not written down, but it can be derived from various policystatements by that organisation. To illustrate:

How does a Ministry of Education look at children? Does the department perceive them asobjects to whom knowledge must be transferred? As needing to get a good PISA scorewhen they are 15? As people who should, when they are grown up, be capable combatantsin the global competition to ensure the continuous prosperity and dominant position oftheir country? If this is the image of the child that is held, consciously or unconsciously,then all policies and actions will be based on it.

The same is true for other ministries who work for and with children and adolescents, suchas the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Ministry of Justice or the Ministry of Finance. InSweden the type of language that is used with regards to children stands out in thisrespect. In 1998 the Ministry of Education and Science published a curriculum for earlychildhood services. In this document only broad goals and guidelines are specified, leavingopen the means by which these goals should be achieved. Philosophically, the curriculumis built on the idea of the child as competent learner, an active thinker and an involveddoer. A strong orientation towards democratic values, continuous learning anddevelopment, connecting to the child's experiences; development in groups; and thepedagogical importance of both care and play underpin curriculum development and thedelivery of early childhood programmes .

The following conclusions can be drawn from this:Each ministry holds its own image of the child. Because the images of the child aredifferent in the different ministries their programmes will go in different directions and inmany cases one ministry will oppose the activities of another, simply because of the factthat they look at the child in different ways. Because central government does not hold aperception of the child which is shared by all the government ministries billions of eurosare wasted.

The image of the child held by the Alliance for Childhood European Network Group is thatdescribed by Loris Malaguzzi, who spoke of the ‘rich child’, by which he meant:





‘… not materially rich, but a child born with great potential that can be expressedin a hundred languages; an active learner, seeking the meaning of the world frombirth, a co-creator of knowledge, identity, culture and values; a child that can live,learn, listen and communicate, but always in relation with others; the whole child,the child with body, mind, emotions, creativity, history and social identity; anindividual whose individuality and autonomy depend on interdependence, andwho needs and wants connections with other children and adults; a citizen with aplace in society, a subject of rights whom the society must respect and support’.

Working Group on the Quality of Childhood at the European ParliamentChristopher Clouder, who is one of the pioneers of the Alliance for Childhood initiative andwho was co-organiser of the Alliance for Childhood conference in 2000 in Brussels and in2005 in Salzburg, set up this Working Group together with MEP Karin Resetarits (AldeParty in the European Parliament 2004-2009, Austria). In the current European Parliamentthe following Members take part in the Working Group:

Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the EuropeanParliamentMEP Rovana Plumb (Romania) MEP Adrian Severin (Romania)MEP Corina Cretu (Romania)MEP Evelyn Regner (Austria)MEP Karin Kadenbach (Austria)

Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats)MEP Lívia Járóka (Hungary)

Group of the GreensMEP Gerald Häfner (Germany)

Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for EuropeMEP Edward McMillan-Scott (United Kingdom)

The purpose of this working group is: • To gain a better understanding of the Quality of Childhood in the EU member states. • To think about the role that the European Parliament could play for the improvement of

the situation.• To get to grips with the principles and approaches that could lead to a better quality of

life for children.• To form an effective working group and to get a sense of how to move on.





At the time of writing this chapter (September 2010) 24 sessions have been held sinceDecember 2006. The reports of the first 16 sessions were published in 2009 in the book'Improving the Quality of Childhood in the European Union, Current Perspectives'.

The success of the Working Group depends on:• the willingness of the Members of the European Parliament to host and to chair the

meetings. • the willingness of outstanding scientists and practitioners to come to Brussels and to

speak, in most cases free of charge, to the group and to dialogue with the participantsabout how policies regarding children could be better developed.

• the secretariat of the Alliance for Childhood European Network Group organising theevents and drafting the reports.

The Working Group on the Quality of Childhood at the European Parliament fits in very wellwith the strategy of the Alliance for Childhood group. The dialogue on the quality ofchildhood and the well-being of children is now also being conducted with Europeanpoliticians and policy makers.

The Policy Landscape for Children and Adolescents in the European Union is improvingWhen a group of people becomes active in a certain area, even if this group is not big, richor powerful, it can nevertheless be observed, in most cases, that changes in the widersociety take place, in accordance with the objectives of the group. This is a magical process,but it happens, and it is difficult to explain. As far as the quality of childhood is concernedwe have observed that literally hundreds of other groups are active in this field and thatchange is taking place in the wider society: • Nearly all governmental organisations on a European, national or local level have taken

great steps forward with regards to their policy agenda for and with children. • Until recently, the dominant civil society organisations that focus on children were the

ones working on the issue of children’s rights. In 2009 and 2010 we observed that moreand more elements concerning the quality of childhood and the well-being of childrenwere incorporated into the public discourse.

• In the media the reporting on the theme of children has changed. The implicit image ofthe child is shifting away from the old paradigms such as ‘this is a problem child’ or'children are the future combatants in the global competition' towards more holisticperceptions of children as advocated by the Alliance for Childhood European NetworkGroup and many others.

Taking our work to a higher level: assessing the quality of childhoodThe Alliance for Childhood European Network Group and the Working Group on the Qualityof Childhood are continually looking for more effective ways in which to pursue our goals.In this context we have looked at the environmental movement and the approaches it hastaken. The process that took place in the climate change policy area is a great inspiration





to us. In the 1980s the topic was not taken very seriously by the public at large, and it wasnot a prime concern for most governments. Nevertheless, the environmental organisations,whether in or outside government, pushed the subject and, as we know, succeeded inmobilising the world.

One of the tools that was employed by the environmental organisations was assessment.The following assessments that took place can be mentioned as examples:• the International Assessment of Agricultural Science & Technology for Development, • the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment • the International Scientific Assessment of Stratospheric Ozone • the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the assessment reports that

were written under its auspices. • UNEP’s Global Biodiversity Assessment.

It is the aim of the Working Group to devote one session in 2011 to assessment in the areaof the quality of childhood and to provide a concrete proposal to follow up on this topic.

Michiel Matthes was born in 1950 in Bussum, the Netherlands. He grew up in a nourishing family madeup of both parents and four children. In 1967 he received his secondary school diploma.He studied Economics for Developing Countries at Wageningen University. From 1976until 1980 he worked for the FAO in Ethiopia and Kenya. From 1981 until 2005 heworked for the the Rabobank and the Unico Banking Group, for most of that period inthe Netherlands. He married in 1976 and has a family of three sons. He became active in the advocacyfield regarding the quality of childhood because of his experience as a father of thesethree boys. He discovered that measures taken by governmental organisations, includingschools, were often not in the best interest of the child. In 1998 he founded a PlatformGroup in the Netherlands, and in 2006 he co-founded the Alliance for ChildhoodEuropean Network Group in Brussels to advocate for the improve the quality of childhoodin the European Union (www.allianceforchildhood.eu). Michiel Matthes is co-editor of thebook 'Improving the Quality of Childhood in the European Union, Current Perspectives'.





This article is based on a verbal presentation given to the Quality of Childhood Group in theEuropean Parliament in January 2010 and hosted by MEP Evelyn Regner. Notes were takenduring the presentation and formulated into the article below. Professor Andreas Schleicherdid not have the opportunity to comment on the edited text.

Evidence from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)30

QOC10 Schlicher.qxd 21/12/10 12:24 Page 1



SUMMARY

The OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (commonly known as the PISAstudy) provides a rich source of data, not only about the PISA test outcomes, but also aboutmany other aspects of children’s lives. For example, a child’s socio-economic background,upward mobility, the contexts within which the schools operate, the objectives set for them,how students feel about school, and so on. The objective of the PISA Study is that the PISAteam wishes to gain an insight into to what extent young people are being prepared to besuccessful in adult life.

Andreas Schleicher drew our attention to the fact that a good PISA score of a country in manyways goes hand in hand with a good quality of childhood, and a lower PISA score with a poorquality of childhood.

Andreas Schleicher did not speak about how students could achieve higher PISA scores.Instead he spoke about the contexts in which schools operate, and the characteristics of thebest educational systems.

The main points of his presentation are as follows:

The contexts in which schools operate are complex and characterised by tensions andparadoxes:1. The autonomy of schools versus centralized control.2. Do schools address the individual needs of students or the needs of the student body as awhole?3. The general public wants the school to play a pedagogical role with regards to the children,but at the end of the day the school is judged on the basis of cognitive knowledge scores. 4. Strong opinions in society go hand in hand with widespread ignorance regarding childrenand education.

The first challenge for an educational system is to create a context for schools in which theycan function in an optimal way.

The Quality of Childhood, Evidence from the Programme forInternational Student Assessment (PISA)by Professor Andreas SchleicherHead, Indicators and Analysis Division, OECD Directorate for Education

Evidence from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 31





TThhee ppeerrcceeppttiioonn oorr uunnddeerrssttaannddiinngg ooff wwhhaatt ccoonnssttiittuutteess aa ggoooodd sscchhooooll iiss ooff ddeecciissiivvee iimmppoorrttaanncceettoo hhooww aa sscchhooooll ssyysstteemm iiss sseett uupp aanndd mmaannaaggeeddThe perception of what constitutes a good school is changing all the time. • The objective of the school in the Middle Ages: to transmit knowledge to those people who

could afford education. • At the time of the Industrial Revolution the objective shifted to making people compatible

with the machines they had to operate.• Today the challenge has shifted again: the challenge now is to produce motivated citizens

who have the capacity and motivation to continue learning throughout their lives.Computers have entered schools, but other than this the model of education has notchanged very much.

Each Ministry of Education should ask itself to what extent it still has an educationalapproach that came into being during the Industrial Revolution, and has it developed a“Weltanschauung” that matches the current situation?

TThhee OOEECCDD TTeeaamm ssttuuddiieedd wwhhaatt sskkiillllss aarree rreeqquuiirreedd ttooddaayy aanndd ccoommppaarreedd tthhiiss wwiitthh wwhhaatt iiss ttaauugghhttbbyy sscchhoooollss.. The following skill categories are identified for the U.S.A situation:• Routine manual is work that is done by hand, every day in the same way. These jobs can now

be done by machines.• Non-routine manual is work done by hand, but takes knowledge, skill and experience to do.

There is always a need for people able to do this kind of work. For example: a plumber, anelectrician, etc.

• Routine cognitive, the typical white collar middle class administrative jobs. These are insteep decline.

• Non-routine analytic, the demand for this type of work is rising fast. • Non-routine interactive, the demand for this type of work is growing even faster.

The conclusions of the PISA team:• The schools are thus faced with a dilemma: the skills that are easiest to teach and to test,

i.e. the 'routine cognitive skills' are easiest to digitise, automate and outsource. The skills forwhich there is a growing demand such as the 'non-routine analytic skills' and the 'non-routine interactive skills' are more difficult to teach and cost more money to do so.

• We have a clear picture of what will make young people successful in modern society. Weknow about the great importance of interpersonal skills such as the ability to cooperatewith others and to orchestrate projects in complex situations. In addition, in order to besuccessful, young people must be able to position themselves in this complex world and, atthe same time, to change this position continuously. Some young people find this verydifficult.

• Conventionally we taught our children to break a problem down into smaller and smallerpieces and to solve each of these pieces. But knowledge creation today is based onsynthesizing different fields of knowledge. It is about applying knowledge in a field that





nobody else has dealt with before and relating that knowledge to what other people know.This involves relating knowledge from one area across different areas of knowledge. Forschools the term is 'cross curricular competences'.

• PISA is strong on testing the 'non-routine analytic' skills, but is less strong regarding thetesting of 'non-routine interactive skills'.

TThhee eeqquuiittyy ooff tthhee ooffffeerriinngg ooff lleeaarrnniinngg ooppppoorrttuunniittiieess hhaass aann iimmppoorrttaanntt iimmppaacctt oonn PPIISSAA ssccoorreessThe OECD team has created a grid of the PISA scores for science on the one hand (y-axis) andthe measure of socially equitable distribution of learning opportunities on the other hand (seediagram below)

In the countries on the left hand side of the diagram the educational system replicates thesocial differences in society. In the countries on the right hand side the educational systemhelps students with a weaker socio-economic background to succeed. This is brought aboutby the following:• a high degree of individualization of the education offered to the students with a tailor-

made approach for each child.• there is a good support system for weaker students. They receive extra help to enable them

to catch up. • Andreas Schleicher closed his talk with the following remark: 'Quality and equity are

therefore not only the most critical issues for the quality of childhood, but also for allchances in life'.





WWhhaatt aarree tthhee cchhaarraacctteerriissttiiccss ooff tthhee bbeesstt sscchhooooll ssyysstteemmss??• High expectations and a strong culture of support provide the best results.

What we have learned about successful school systems in terms of quality and equity isthat the level of expectation in terms of the perception of the students and of the teachersis a very important determinant for success, if it is combined with a culture of support.

• A high autonomy of the individual schools, while they are at the same time stronglyconnected with each other in a network structure

• Public schools can be as good or better than private schools• Educational systems that have a low degree of stratification, have well integrated

pathways and which are highly personalized are the most successful.• They are knowledge rich and the teachers and the teams in which they function are

characterised by a high degree of professional judgment.

INTRODUCTION

What is the PISA Study?

The OECD’s PISA Study is a comprehensive and rigorous international performanceassessment programme, which assesses the performance of students of fifteen years of agein 55 countries in three subject areas: the native language of the student, mathematics andscience. The PISA Study not only offers deep insights into the academic performance ofstudents in each participating country, but also provides data about the characteristics ofthe students themselves, their families and the country’s educational system. In this way, awealth of knowledge about what works and what does not is currently available toeducational policy makers, civil society organisations and the public at large. The OECDlaunched the PISA Programme in 1997 and the first survey, which focussed on literacy, wascarried out in 2000. The second survey focussed on mathematics and was conducted in2003, and the third survey in 2006 centred on science. The PISA Study is a joint exercisecarried out by all the countries that are part of the study. The unit at the OECD that isresponsible for the survey consists of a team of only five people. Most of the work takesplace in the participating countries.

The following slide illustrates the spread of countries participating in the PISA Study. Thelist of countries has grown over the time. The last two countries to join the programmewere China and India.





The context in which schools operate is complex and is characterised by tensions andparadoxes

Let me describe the environment in which the PISA survey is being carried out. The PISAstudy is conducted in schools and these schools are an integral part of the educationalsystem of the country in question. In many countries the schools are pushed in twoopposing directions, and this happens on various different levels.

11.. TTeennssiioonnss aanndd PPaarraaddooxxeess:: TThhee AAuuttoonnoommyy ooff sscchhoooollss vveerrssuuss CCoonnttrroollOn the one hand there is a drive to give schools more autonomy with:• a greater discretion for schools to establish the learning environment and to manage

their own resources• to strengthen the schools as dynamic organisations with powerful identities and their

own ethos• the schools are expected to be innovative and flexible learning organisations.

On the other hand there is a drive to increase control:• because Ministries of Education are afraid of criticism, are concerned about schools that

do not attain the standards set for them, or the Ministries are held to account withregard to what happens in the schools.

• the Ministries put pressure on schools to conform to precise, standardised outcomes, andto manage and contain risk.

Slide 1





How can a school be innovative and flexible when, at the same time, the Ministry ofEducation wishes to control all the procedures and to contain all the risks?

TTeennssiioonnss aanndd PPaarraaddooxxeess:: IInnddiivviidduuaall AApppprrooaacchh ooff SSttuuddeennttss vveerrssuuss CCoolllleeccttiivvee AAssppiirraattiioonnssAnother tension and paradox of the school environment is the approach that a school takesto what they offer to students. Do they• follow an individual approach? Or, alternatively,• do they follow the collective aspirations?

When a country chooses to follow an individual approach then the following elementscome to the fore:• individual learning takes place, which increases the complexity of the pathways;• a logical consequence of this is individual assessment and certification;• another consequence is a diversification of the education providers and provision.

The school system can have collective aspirations for the following reasons:• learning takes place through interaction;• success in the world of work depends more and more on interpersonal competencies, but

teaching these competencies is not a part of the official curriculum, and they are alsonot part of the testing system.

• for Ministries of Education it is important to secure equality of opportunity for students.

TTeennssiioonnss aanndd PPaarraaddooxxeess:: tthhee ggeenneerraall ppuubblliicc wwaannttss tthhee sscchhooooll ttoo ppllaayy aa ppeeddaaggooggiiccaallrroollee wwiitthh rreeggaarrddss ttoo cchhiillddrreenn,, bbuutt aatt tthhee eenndd ooff tthhee ddaayy tthhee sscchhooooll iiss jjuuddggeedd oonn tthhee bbaassiissooff ccooggnniittiivvee kknnoowwlleeddggee ssccoorreess..

There are growing expectations on schools that extend far beyond cognitive learning, butthe terms on which schools are judged are increasingly focused on their success in theteaching and transmission of cognitive knowledge.

TTeennssiioonnss aanndd PPaarraaddooxxeess:: SSttrroonngg OOppiinniioonnss iinn ssoocciieettyy ggoo hhaanndd iinn hhaanndd wwiitthh wwiiddeesspprreeaaddiiggnnoorraanncceeMany people in society have strong opinions about the school system. This is combinedwith widespread ignorance about schools and education.

With regard to the strong opinions held by the public:• people can have positive views of educational experiences on the personal or local level, • and they can have many views about what takes place in the classroom based on their

own idiosyncratic experiences.

There is widespread ignorance about schools and education:• there are negative opinions about the state of education in general on the basis of

limited knowledge;





• there is limited transparency with regard to educational goals and processes. Conclusion:The first challenge for an educational system is to bring into being a context for schools inwhich schools can function in an optimal way.

What is the Goal of the PISA Study?One of the principle questions that has to be answered when starting an evaluation suchas the PISA Study is the question of the goal of the study. We asked: “What shouldeducation be about?” The answer to this question does not only depend on what can bemeasured, but also on what is intended to be measured. When starting the PISA process inthe OECD it was not intended to measure what students can reproduce from what theyhave learned in school. This had already been done. We wanted to get an idea of to whatextent young people are prepared to be successful in their future lives.

The picture that is held of what constitutes a good school is of decisive importance tohow a school system is set up and managedThe picture or “Weltanschauung” that people hold of what constitutes a good school ischanging all the time.

The objective of the school in the Middle Ages:When schooling was invented it was rather easy. There was one truth and that wastransmitted to the people who could afford education.

Slide 2





At the time of the Industrial Revolution the objectives shifted to making people compatiblewith the machines they had to operate:When the industrial revolution occurred schooling was also rather straightforward. Thegoal of school was essentially to make people compatible with industrial norms and to trainthem to operate the machines in an efficient way. People had to be able to function, tounderstand basic literacy and to be disciplined in a world that was determined by outsideprocesses. Discipline was, and still is, the organising idea. When schooling was inventedthere was a clear reason for this: the need to divide people into different groups. There wasthe need for a few people to be highly educated and a lot of people to be in the middle.Tolerance towards people with very few competences was not a problem. Everybody wouldfind a place to work.

The challenge today has shifted again: When times changed, things became more complicated and production processes moreadvanced. Industrialized societies tried to imitate these processes in schools: computersentered schools, but other than this the model of education has not changed very much.

Slide 3





But the challenge today is to produce motivated citizens who have the capacity andmotivation to continue learning throughout their lives. Children do not learn much inschool about what has happened over the last fifty years. That becomes a serious problemwhen we take, for example, the subject of science. Half of the knowledge about sciencethat people need in their lives is not learned at school. So the question arises, what shouldbe taught in science lessons, when the content of this subject is changing so quickly? Thereare, for example, many new professions emerging. There is very good data about this in theU.S.A: The ten professions most in demand in 2009 did not even exist in 2003.

The OECD Team studied what skills are required today and compared this with what isoffered by schools I would like to present the results of the work done by Levy and Murnane regarding thedevelopment of the demand for skills in the U.S.A. Levy and Murnane have classified allwork in the U.S.A into five main categories:• Routine manual, (the orange line in the graph on the next page) which they describe as

work that is done by hand, every day in the same way. Those jobs can now be done bymachines, as you can see by the declining numbers of people doing this kind of work.

• Non-routine manual, is work done by hand, but which takes knowledge, skill andexperience, such as the work of a plumber or an electrician. There is always a need forpeople able to do this kind of work.

Slide 4





• Routine cognitive, the typical white collar middle class administrative jobs, but they arein steep decline (see the yellow line in the graph below).

• Non-routine analytic, the demand for this type of work is rising fast. • Non-routine interactive, the demand for this type of work is growing even faster (see

the green line in the graph below).

The category of 'routine cognitive work' is in strong declineThe most important line in this chart is the yellow line. These are the typical white collarmiddle class jobs. The work follows the same scheme every day: people do what they havelearned to do at school. This category of skills shows the steepest decline. This means thatin our societies we need fewer and fewer people who just reproduce what they have learned.The reason for this development is that these skills can be easily digitised. Computers areeven better than people for these tasks. In addition, these skills can easily be outsourced. This poses a dilemma for schools in that the skills that are the easiest to teach and to testare the easiest to digitise, automate and outsource.

Demand is growing fastest for people with skills in two categories: 'non-routine analyticskills' and 'non-routine interactive skills'. 'Non-routine analytic skills' comprise the application of knowledge in new settings. It is theextension and creative use of knowledge. That is what we try to assess in the PISA test.Some people criticize us and say: It is unfair to test things the students have never seenbefore, because they were not taught to solve this exact problem. But that is exactly thesetting students will find themselves in when they leave school. The OECD has really

Slide 5





developed these kinds of assessments and has achieved good results. Extended tests takeplace every three years.

The 'non-routine interactive skills' is the category for which demand is rising the fastestand it is therefore the most important category for the PISA team. It concerns the capacityto communicate, collaborate, manage and resolve conflicts. More and more people withthese kinds of skills are needed, but these capacities are the most difficult to measure. ThePISA team is working hard to develop the right type of tests to measure these skills.

The equity of the offering of learning opportunities has an important impact on the PISA score

The OECD Team has made a grid of the PISA score for science on the one hand (y-axis) andthe measure of the socially equitable distribution of learning opportunities on the other(see slide below).

The impact of social background on the PISA score in scienceThere are some countries where the gap between 'winners' and 'losers' in the educationsystem is very large. There the parental background from which the children come has ahuge impact on learning outcomes. We could argue that this is normal: if parents are noteducated, do not value education and do not invest in their children, then the children willnot do well either. But this argument is not equally true across countries. There are somecountries where the impact of social background on school performance is very large andthere are others where it is much less so. The left side of the graph shows countries wherethe students’ success depends very much on the success of the parents.

Slide 6





This is the case in the following countries:

It could be argued that being part of the upper side of the graph is also desirable. Theresults are good, but they are very inequitably distributed on the left hand side of thegraph. It is actually not very different from the traditional model of education: 'only somepeople can succeed'. This opinion includes the acceptance of large disparities. But that isactually not the way the world works today. The great thing about measurement is thatthrough the data we have gathered we can see how the world works. The power ofinternational comparisons lies in the fact that they can show what it is possible to achieve.

The countries that have a good PISA score for science and combine this with a sociallyequitable distribution of learning opportunities are as follows: (These countries do notreplicate the socio-economic background of the parent via their educational systems.Instead, the system compensates for these inequalities.)

This means that the group of countries on the left hand side of the graph can learn fromthe group of countries on the right hand side as far as this issue is concerned.

When we look at the graph we can see Finland on the top right hand side (see Slide 6). Itscores very highly in its efforts to ensure that every child succeeds in education. Theinteresting thing about Finland is that there is not one educational system, as people tendto think, but there is a very high degree of individualization. There is a single approach foreach child. Other than Finland, Canada and most of the East Asian countries are successful.In Hong Kong, for example, about 40 % of the school population are immigrants. Many ofthese children have parents who cannot read and write and the children tend to do reallybadly in first grade. But by the age of 15 the system has succeeded: from this pointonwards, it is no longer visible (through testing) whether the children come from animmigration background or not. As we can see, there are some great successes in the fieldof equity that other countries can learn from.

On the left side of the chart we see the educational systems that really struggle with equity.In France, for example, where every student is taught in the same way, we find a highly

• Finland• Hong Kong, China• Canada• Japan

• Australia• Estonia• Macao, China• Sweden

• The Netherlands• Belgium• The Czech Republic• The United Kingdom• Germany

• France• Hungary• The United States of America• Portugal





standardized system. But, equality in terms of input does not guarantee equality in termsof outcomes. The most successful educational systems are highly individualized andpersonalized.

The school system in the U.S.A is more equitable than in many European countriesThe United States is often criticized for being a very unequal society, but, even so, thechances of a child from a disadvantaged background being able to succeed are much higherthan they are in most European countries.

We have to bear in mind that slogans that sound very equitable, such as 'Every child isguaranteed a place at school' or, 'every child is taught a similar curriculum', do not at allguarantee equitable outcomes.

For example, in Belgium and France when a child needs to repeat a grade, the child istaught by a new teacher and the same teaching procedure (in terms of content andapproach) is repeated. We know from the data that this solution stigmatizes and does nothelp the students. And we also know that it is actually very expensive. One child repeatinga grade costs that society between 15 000 and 18 000 euros. In Finland children cannotrepeat a grade; instead, a lot of time is spent in helping every child to succeed.

This also means that successful systems are not necessarily more expensive.

Germany is also inequitableGermany, for example, does well on average but is also quite inequitable. At ten years ofage the students are divided into two groups, one group is told that they did really well intheir first four years at school and they are placed into the stream which will educate themto become knowledge-workers. The other two thirds of the students are told that they didnot do very well during their first four years at school. These students are sent to vocationalschools. In the end they will end up working for the knowledge-workers.

Inequitable school systems label children. They are fully aware of this. This is harmful tothem.Here we start talking about the quality of childhood: students of 15 years of ageunderstand very well what the system expects from them, and their attitudes areinfluenced by the school-system. In Japan, for example, every child will say that he or shewants to attend the best university in Japan. In contrast, in Germany only 23% of 15 yearolds will say that they want to go to university. Most of the children have understood thatthey are never going to get there.





ConclusionWhen the PISA tests were conducted data on the socio-economic background of theparents was collected at the same time. This allowed the statisticians to draw somepowerful conclusions about the educational systems in the various countries and toformulate some compelling lessons for the less equal countries:• There are countries where the educational system perpetuates the social inequalities of

these countries. On the other hand there are also many countries where the opposite istaking place. In these countries socially equitable learning opportunities are provided forall students. This is brought about by the following:- a high degree of individualization of the education offered to the students with atailor-made approach for each child.- there is a good support system for weaker students. They receive extra help to enablethem to catch up. This extra help does not cost more, since they do not end up havingto repeat a class. (As I mentioned before, repeating a class costs between ¤15000 and18000 per child per year). - Quality and equity are therefore not only crucial for the quality of childhood, but alsofor all chances in life.

PISA has also measured how students feel about school

There are some other factors that have been measured by the PISA tests:

Slide 7





There have been additional surveys, the outcomes of which are shown in the followingdiagrams. In all these graphs we can see that the outcomes have nothing to do with thePISA scores.

For example, there are some countries where students do quite well on a science test, but if theyare asked if they recognize the life chances that science provides for them, they will not beaware that subjects such as mathematics or chemistry have a relationship to their future life.

In one field a great step forward has been made: the gender gap has disappearedAn interesting fact is that we do not find gender gaps in our tests anymore. Schools havebridged these problems. There are some small differences in reading between the sexes, butboys and girls both do well in mathematics and science. However, if they are asked what thedifferent subjects mean to their lives, we find huge gender differences. These genderdifferences predict the children’s future career pathways. It is the children’s perceptions andbeliefs that are important here, rather than the subject knowledge that they have acquired.

There is no correlation between the PISA score and the reply to the question 'School is a placewhere other students seem to like me'The countries are sorted by their PISA scores. We find a lot of variability among the countrieswith regard to student responses to the statement “School is a place where other studentsseem to like me”, but there is no correlation with the PISA score (see Slide 7).

Slide 8





Slide 9

Slide 10





School Principals overestimate the level of happiness of the students in their schoolSchool principals were asked what they thought about their students’ morale. We can seethat the ‘system’ thinks everything is working fine. France decided not to collect data aboutthis question and the data from the U.K was not robust enough to be shown here. Otherthan these exceptions the picture is consistent and does not match what students actuallythink about school.

Students are sceptical about school being capable of teaching them things that could beuseful in a job (Slide 13). In Japan, for example, only half of the students believe that they learn things at school thatwill be useful in the world of work. Brazil is the country with the lowest performance interms of OECD Standards, but here students believe that they have learned something atschool that will help them when they are working. It is interesting to note the variabilityin the outcomes of the survey.

Slide 11





Slide 12

Slide 13





Slide 14

We noticed a lack of confidence in students, even in countries that did quite well on thePISA tests (see Slide 14). However, in the U.S.A, for example, it is the other way around. TheU.S.A does not do particularly well on any of the PISA tests, but the students are veryconfident about their own abilities.

Anxiety about achieving poor marks is high in all countries, but we can still see significantdifferences (Slide 15). Having high expectations is a very high predictor of success. Most ofthe successful systems have high expectations with regard to their students. But, at thesame time, they have a culture of support to back up these expectations. This back upsupport becomes visible in the lower levels of pressure felt by the students. Highexpectations should go hand in hand with high levels of support, if this is what the studentneeds. The Netherlands do really well in mathematics and Dutch students have the feelingthat they can manage well in mathematics. This does not mean in countries where studentsare less fearful about achieving poor marks in mathematics that the country as a whole isless ambitious. This relationship does not exist.

In Norway, for example, schooling is not very difficult for children, as the demands that areput on them are not that high. But we can still see that the level of concern of students isas high as anywhere else. So we find that it does not depend on the objective standardsthat are set, but it depends on the discrepancy between expectations of the students andthe support with which they are provided.





Slide 15

Slide 16





Slide 17

Many students feel helpless when doing a maths problem. However, principals think thatteachers continue teaching until all students have understood (Slides 16 -18). I havechosen the subject of mathematics to illustrate this point, but the responses for othersubjects are similar.





Slide 18

Slide 19





Slide 20

The characteristics of the best school systems

High expectations and a strong culture of support provide the best results• What we have learned about successful school systems in terms of quality and equity is

that the level of expectation from the point of view of the students and of the teachersis a very important determinant for success, if it is combined with a culture of support.

• The system is furthermore characterised by rigour, focus and coherence. • Most of the successful educational systems attract the best people into the teaching

profession and provide access to best practice and quality professional development.

A closer look at the Challenge and Support GridIf we look at the two dimensions together: support and degree of expectation (Slide 20), systemsthat do not expect very much and do not have a culture of support can usually be found in thebottom left hand corner. There we do not find much in terms of high performance or improvement. The Nordic countries, for example, are always portrayed as being very successful. This is trueof some of them, such as Sweden and Finland, but it is not true of Norway or Iceland, forexample. The degree of challenge and support is very different in each of these countries’educational systems. In the U.K, for example, the level of expectation has been raised, butwithout the provision of a culture of support. There we do not find much improvement inthe results. In Denmark the educational system has a wonderful support system and yet thissystem is not among the best, as the expectations of the students are not high.




Evidence from the Programme for International Student Assessment(PISA)

54

Let’s take a closer look at the Challenge and Support Grid, in terms of the countries thatwe have just mentioned:

The best school systems are characterised by the high autonomy of individual schools,while they are at the same time strongly connected to each other in a network structureAnother aspect that could be observed during the test is that successful educationalsystems give schools a lot of responsibility (Slide 21). Successful school systems also havethe capacity to intervene when things go wrong. That is part of the problem that countrieswith weaker school systems have: they just do not know how many schools struggle.Belgium is an example of this. On average the country does quite well, but there are schoolswith really discouraging results and the system has no way of figuring out which theseschools are. Parents know about the problems and do not send their children to theseschools, other than the parents who do not have a choice in the matter. The level of delegation of responsibility to the schools is always in flux, but we have noticedthat the school systems that perform better have delegated more responsibility to theirschools.

ChallengesLow High

Strong Denmark FinlandCulture of support Norway Sweden

IcelandWeak UK





Finland has the highest PISA score and the lowest variability between schoolsThe most impressive statistic about Finland, for example, is not its high average of pointsin terms of performance on the PISA score. The most impressive statistical figure is thatthere is only a five percent variability between schools. This figure tells us that every schoolin Finland succeeds. In other words, every teacher knows what is going on in theneighbouring classroom, and every school knows what is going on in other schoolssurrounding it, the system knows about the problems in the schools. It is actually very easyto run a system like the one in Belgium, where some schools are doing well and othersterribly badly. It is not a question of testing. Finland, for example, does not have a strongnational system of testing.

Slide 21





Public schools can be as good or better than private schoolsIt is also not a question of sending children to public or private schools (Slide 22). On theleft hand side of the chart we can see:• in red, the proportion of students who go to public schools,• in light green, the proportion of students who go to private schools that are publicly

financed, • in dark green, the proportion of students who go to privately run and privately financed

schools. We can see that private schools actually do better in most countries, but that this is largelythe effect of social background, as the most privileged children attend these schools. Thelevel of responsibility given to schools is not related to who pays the school or who runsthe school. We could argue that every public school in Finland carries more responsibilityfor its own affairs than any private school in France.

Replicating or compensating for social differences

On the right hand side of the diagram you can see the differences in performance of theprivate schools vis-à-vis the public schools: the white bars pointing to the left indicate howmuch better the private schools do compared to the public schools. This is most stronglythe case in Germany and in the U.K.

Slide 22





If the public schools do better than the private schools, then the white bars point to the right.The three top countries in this category are: Luxembourg, Japan and Italy.

The PISA statisticians have corrected these outcomes, taking into account the socio-economicbackground of the students and the schools. These are the red beams pointing both to the leftand the right. What the data shows is that Luxembourg, Japan, Italy, Switzerland and the U.S.Acompensate for the disadvantaged background of the students: thus the students achieve betterscores than their socio-economic backgrounds would suggest. In the U.K the school system just replicates the socio-economic differences of the students'parents. In Canada we can see that the school system reinforces the socio-economicdifferences of the parents, in other words, that the educational system strengthens theposition of the children who are better off, while ‘pushing down’ those whose position isweaker to begin with. Fortunately, this red bar which goes to the left is very short.

The diagram below demonstrates that the Green Educational Systems do better than theRed ones. The Green Systems have a low degree of stratification, have well integratedpathways and are highly personalized. The Red ones are the opposite.

Slide 23





This diagram is built up as follows: the y-axis is the PISA score, the x-axis is the degree of'socially equitable distribution of learning opportunities'. In the diagram the educationalsystems have been divided into two categories:• the Green Educational Systems• the Red Educational Systems.

The Green Educational SystemsThe Green Educational Systems indicate systems that have a low degree of stratificationand which have well integrated educational pathways. They do very little in terms oftracking and streaming and simultaneously emphasize individualization andpersonalization. The division of students into different streams takes place at a fairly latepoint. Furthermore, teachers are directly responsible for the child. 'Problem children' cannotbe asked to leave the school. Japan is a good example in this respect. Teachers have toestablish a relationship with their students. This is actually quite serious: as a Japaneseteacher you lose face if one of your students fails. I do not want to deny that there are also,of course, negative sides to this picture, but the strength of the system is the level ofresponsibility that Japanese teachers face. When entering a Japanese school one may wellbe confronted with up to 2000 students, but if you ask the school principal he or she willknow the name of every single one of the students. On the chart we can see that the 'green systems' are on the right hand side, where theimpact of social background is not particularly strong.

Red Educational Systems The Red Educational Systems have a high degree of stratification and an early selectionprocess. (This is the point at which students are sent to the various levels of the schoolsystem.) Here the educational pathways are less well integrated, there is more emphasis ontracking and streaming, and, at the same time, less attention is given to each student. As a teacher you can send 'problem children' somewhere else. The red educational systems are mainly situated to the left hand side of the diagram. Theleft hand side is characterised by the strong impact of socio-economic background on theperformance of children. These systems are not very effective in helping children fromdisadvantaged backgrounds to succeed in life.





The future of education systems: knowledge rich and a high level of professionaljudgment by teachers and the teams in which they function

What the above slide portrays is self-evident: the better educational systems at presentand/or in the future are characterised by:• a gradual delegation of power, knowledge and interaction from the Ministries of

Education to the schools and to the teachers, • a move towards the exercising of a higher level of professional judgment by the teachers

and the teams in which they function.

Discussion

Question: One of the main aspects of successful educational systems seems to beindividualisation. What about measuring, on an international level, the impact ofdisabled and non-disabled children learning together?Answer: One of the main lessons that we have learned, and this includes all forms ofdiversity, is that students benefit from diverse learning situations, whether the diversity hasto do with disability, or social-economic status or other types of difference. Most successfulsystems embrace diversity. We have not yet broken the data down specifically to considerdisability, probably that could be done statistically. But essentially what we can see is thatintegration is a very powerful tool: it gives the students perspectives on diversity and it also

Slide 24





forces teachers towards diversity. What often happens is that when teachers have thepossibility to select students they say 'I teach great lessons but I have the wrong students.'This temptation does not exist in systems that include diversity.Initially, the objective of the PISA Study was to discover the most efficient educationsystem in existence (among the countries surveyed). But, to our surprise, we discovered thatthe old system of confronting children with knowledge, teaching and testing them is notthe most efficient system. Instead, diversity and heterogeneity, when matched with apersonalized structure, leads to the best results.

Question: The PISA test cannot capture school absences, which means that the mostdisadvantaged children, for example, the Roma children, are not shown in any way inthe results. Answer: That is true - the test only compares students who are enrolled at school. We knowthat there are a significant proportion of children not enrolled at school, especially in theEastern European countries. And we do not know anything about them.

Question: Are there ideas to address the problem?Answer: We are currently piloting an extension of PISA that goes to households and otherplaces to assess children who are outside the educational settings. In Europe it is not amajor problem as about 95% of children are enrolled at school. But for countries wherehigh numbers of children do not attend school we are developing a survey for householdsand families. It will be in place in 2012.

Question: Did you also compare the age of entry into formal learning across thedifferent countries? In Finland, for example, children do not begin formal educationuntil they are 7 years old.Answer: We have discovered that the age of entry into formal schooling bears no relationto the PISA scores. However, we can say that children who have been in early childhoodeducation for a sustained period and care do much better on the PISA test than others.Basically, we can say that two years of early childhood education and care are worth morethan two years of mathematics at the age of 15. But this does not say anything aboutformal schooling. In a country like Finland, for example, we find early childhood care, butnot formal schooling. It is really interesting: there are countries where children go to schoolat an older age and do well and countries with the reverse scheme.

Education is still a very “knowledge poor” environment. We have strong beliefs: we tellpeople what to do, but we know very little about the efficiency of our practice. The oldsystem of one education minister knowing what is good for hundreds of thousands ofstudents does not work anymore, what we need is a system that combines the knowledgeof the students and the teachers. We need to find out more about how learning really works.





Andreas Schleicher, based at the OECD in Paris, is the leading architect and manager ofthe PISA Survey. When Andreas Schleicher attended elementary school his teacher said thathe 'would not qualify to go on to higher education'. However, his father sent him to aSteiner-Waldorf-School in Hamburg, where he obtained his Abitur (University Entrancequalification) and achieved excellent grades. In 1988 he obtained a BSc degree in Physics(Vordiplom) at the University of Hamburg and in 1992 he was awarded a MSc Degree inMathematics at Deakin University in Australia. After graduation he worked in the area ofstudent assessment and quality improvement in various functions until he joined the OECDin 1994, where he quickly became the driving force behind the PISA Programme. For hisexcellent work on the PISA Study he was awarded the Theodor Heuss Prize in 2003.




This article is based on a verbal presentation given to the Quality of Childhood Group in theEuropean Parliament in September 2009 and hosted by MEP Rovana Plumb. Notes takenduring the presentation were formulated into the article below, which has been checked andapproved by Professor Emeritus Richard Wilkinson.

Inequality and the Wellbeing of Adults and Childhood in Rich Countries62

© Steve Turner / AlamyChildren with father in Refugee village

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SUMMARYResearch has shown that in the rich countries measures of the quality of life among bothadults and children are no longer correlated with national income per head (Gross NationalIncome per head). They are, instead, closely related to the level of equality in each country.These findings have recently been published by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett in theirbook ‘‘TThhee SSppiirriitt LLeevveell,, WWhhyy MMoorree EEqquuaall SSoocciieettiieess AAllmmoosstt AAllwwaayyss DDoo BBeetttteerr’’..

This book is the product of decades of research which started out from attempts tounderstand the major health differences between different social classes, income oreducational groups. It has led, amongst other things, to the insight that rich countries can nolonger rely on economic growth for further improvements in the quality of life. Rather,increased societal well-being must be built on greater economic equality.

The authors highlight that economic inequality is the source of almost all of our socialproblems – or at least of all those which tend to become more common lower down the socialladder. Solving these problems depends upon our ability to reduce economic inequality. The social conditions that Wilkinson and Pickett link to economic inequality include problemssuch as violence, child wellbeing, mental illness, drug abuse, incarceration rates, teenagebirths, life expectancy, health expenditure and educational failure. As well as being morecommon among the poor than the rich in each country, measures of all these problems aremuch worse in more unequal countries.

Many argue that higher income and living standards will ”raise the level of the lake for all theboats”. However, Wilkinson and Pickett demonstrate that these social problems have littlerelation to levels of average incomes. Their efforts reveal not only a direct relationshipbetween economic inequality and the level of social problems, but that wider incomedifferences are harmful to the health and wellbeing of almost everyone in the society, not onlythe poor.

“The truth is that the vast majority of the population is harmed by greaterinequality. Inequality is the common denominator and a hugely damaging force.”

Inequality and the Wellbeing of Adults and Childhood in Rich Countriesby Professor Emeritus Richard WilkinsonUniversity of Nottingham Medical School, United Kingdom

Inequality and the Wellbeing of Adults and Childhood in Rich Countries 63





Recommendations for Policy Makers and Members of the European Parliament

Material wealth has not solved the problems of our societies“It is a remarkable paradox that, at the pinnacle of human material and technicalachievement, we find ourselves anxiety-ridden, prone to depression, worried about howothers see us, unsure of our friendships, driven to consume and with little or no communitylife. Lacking the relaxed social contact and emotional satisfaction we all need, we seekcomfort in over-eating, obsessive shopping and spending, or become prey to excessivealcohol, psychoactive medicines and illegal drugs. How is it that we have created so muchmental and emotional suffering despite levels of wealth and comfort unprecedented inhuman history?” (The Spirit Level)

There is a strong correlation between a country's level of economic inequality and itssocial outcomesWe, in the rich countries, are the first generation to have got to the end of the real socialand human benefits of economic growth. For thousands of years the best way of improvingthe quality of human life has been to raise material living standards but in the richcountries economic growth has now finished its work. Economic growth no longer improveshappiness, health or wellbeing.

In contrast, inequality causes shorter, unhealthier and unhappier lives; it increases the rateof teenage pregnancy, violence, obesity, imprisonment and addiction; it corrodes the socialfabric and the quality of social relationships throughout society but, by increasing statuscompetition it functions as a driver of the consumerism which stands between us andsustainability.

On almost every indicator of the quality of life or deprivation there is a strong correlationbetween a country's level of economic inequality and its social outcomes. Japan and theScandinavian countries almost always score the best. Better, for example, than the UnitedKingdom, the United States of America and Portugal, which come near the bottom of thelist of rich countries. The continental European countries and Canada, with middling levelsof inequality, are usually in the middle of the statistical outcomes.

To improve the quality of childhood we need to make our societies more equal.

There are two different approaches to making societies more equal. Greater equalitycan be gained either by using taxes and benefits to redistribute very unequal incomes,or the scale of differences in earnings before taxes and benefits can be reduced sothere is less need for redistribution. We need to take both approaches. We must alsotake measures to establish equality more deeply in our societies. On our websitewww.equalitytrust.org.uk we outline different ways of increasing equality.





The following graphs demonstrate the points I have made so far:

Only in its early stages does economic development boost life expectancyThere is no longer any relationship between the levels of national income per person andlife expectancy, although life expectancy continues to improve, see the graph below:

In his book “Happiness, Lessons from a New Science”, Richard Layard shows that the same istrue for measures of happiness. It is clear, in addition, that within the rich countries levelsof wellbeing no longer rise with economic growth. Levels of well-being have remainedunchanged even over long periods when average real incomes double – see the graph below:

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Increasingly, people are worried by a wide range of social problems. Although our societiesseem materially very successful, they have many social failings. Problems such as drugabuse, violence, teenage pregnancy and mental illness remain common or are increasing.Something is going wrong with the development of our societies. We tend to blameteachers, parents, churches or ask for more services to deal with the symptoms. When thecrime rates increase we ask for more police, when health problems increase we ask for moredoctors. All these services are not only expensive but they are only very partially effective.For example, life expectancy in rich developed countries is unrelated to expenditure onmedical care. Medical care may be important to people’s quality of life, but it is notimportant to the length of life. This is partly because the vast majority of medicalexpenditure is consumed during the last few years of a person’s life.

The importance of income within our societies and the lack of importance of incomebetween our societiesThere is an extraordinary paradox, a paradox of the relationship between the importance ofincome within our societies and the lack of importance of income between our societies.

Figure 1.4 Death rates are closely related to differences in income within societies.

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To illustrate this let us compare Greece and the U.S.A. People in the U.S.A (on the right handside of the graph) can buy twice as much as people in Greece (on the left hand side of thegraph), but yet this has no effect on life expectancy. In contrast, within each of our societiesthere is a gradient of social well-being related to social status which runs right acrosssociety – from top to bottom. Rather than being a problem of the poor, relative to the restof society, health and wellbeing improve at every step up the social scale. The implication ofthis paradox is that what matters within societies is not absolute material living standardsregardless of others, but relative income, social status and social position, in other words“where we are in relation to each other”.

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Figure 1.3 Life expectancy is unrelated to differences in average income between richcountries.





In the more equal countries like Japan, Finland, Norway, and Sweden the top 20% are threeand half or four times as rich as the bottom 20%. But in the more unequal countries likeAustralia, the U.K, Portugal and U.S.A, they are eight to nine times as rich. This means thaton this measure some of the rich countries are twice as unequal as others.

Figure 2.1 How much richer are the richest 20% than the poorest 20% in each country?

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Overview of inequality among rich countriesWhat happens if these differences in income become wider, or narrower? The figures usedin the following graphs show the differences in income inequality among the rich developedcountries. The measure we used was: How much richer are the top 20% in each country thanthe bottom 20%?





A basket of health and social indicators related to inequality and income per headWe collected internationally comparable measures of the major health and social problemswith social gradients. All the data came from the most reputable sources – from the WorldBank, the World Health Organization, the United Nations, the Organization for EconomicCooperation and Development (OECD) and others. We found data on the following items:

Figure 2.2 Health and social problems are closely related to inequality among richcountries

• Level of trust• Mental illness• Life expectancy• Infant mortality• Obesity

• Children’s educational performance• Teenage births• Homicides• Imprisonment rates• Social mobility

We put all these together to make up one Index of Health and Social Problems – all weightedequally, to give each country a combined score of its health and social problems. The firstgraph below shows that there is a very strong tendency for more unequal countries to doworse on these outcomes. In contrast, the second graph shows that how common theseproblems are in each country is unrelated to differences in national average income.Repeating the analysis among the 50 American states showed a very similar tendency formore unequal states to do less well.

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The UNICEF Index of Child Well-being provides the same pictureTo make sure that no one would think our findings were merely a chance reflection of theproblems included in our index we also looked at the UNICEF Index of Child Well-being inRich Countries. This index has forty different components – it covers almost every aspect ofchild wellbeing. The figure below shows a very strong tendency for child wellbeing to beless good in more unequal countries.

Figure 2.3 Health and Social problems are only weakly related to national average incomeamong rich countries.

Figure 2.6 The UNICEF index of child wellbeing in rich countries is related to inequality

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To emphasize that the prevalence of poor health and social problems in whole societies isrelated to inequality rather than to average living standards, it can be seen that the indexof child wellbeing, like our index of health and social problems among adults, is unrelatedto average national income.

To increase income per head does not lead to an improvement in the well-being of childrenFor the rich countries to get richer makes no difference to the wellbeing of children. Theproblem of child poverty is a matter of inequality, not of living standards. If the incomes ofthe rich increase faster than the incomes of the poor, economic growth will not improvechild wellbeing.

Let us look at some of the individual measures that we considered:

Trust The percentage of people agreeing that “most people can be trusted” is higher in more equalsocieties: more than 60% of the population in some more equal countries agree that peoplecan be trusted compared to less than 20% in some of the more unequal countries. (See p.52, fig. 4.1*).

Mental Illnesses More people suffer from mental illness in more unequal countries. (See p. 67, fig 5.1*). Thedata for these countries was compiled by WHO to allow people to compare levels of mentalillness between countries. In some of the more equal countries only about 8% of thepopulation suffered any mental illness in the year before the surveys. In the more unequalcountries the rate was three times as high.

Figure 2.7 The UNICEF index of child wellbeing is not related to Gross National Incomeper head in rich countries

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Infant Mortality This is related to inequality in rich countries (See p. 82, fig. 6.4 and p. 83, fig. 6.6*),

Drug abuse Figures from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime show that the use of illegal drugs is morecommon in more unequal countries (See p. 71, fig. 5.3*),

Teenage birth ratesThis figure is higher in more unequal societies (See p. 122, fig. 9.2*), from 5 births perthousand teenage women in Japan to over 50 births per thousand in the U.S.A. Withincountries teenage birth rates are of course very closely related to relative deprivation.

Homicides This phenomenon is more common in more unequal countries (See p. 135, fig 10.2*). Thereare about 15 homicides per million in Japan and over 60 homicides per million in the U.S.A.A large number of research reports in the academic journals show that violence is morecommon in more unequal societies. The graph below shows murder rates in Chicagocompared with England and Wales. In both places murder rates peak in the late teens andearly twenties for men while rates for women remain much lower at all ages. The age andsex distribution in Chicago is astonishingly similar to that in England and Wales. However,what is less obvious is that the scales on the left- and right-hand sides of the graph are verydifferent. Despite the similar age and sex profile, murder rates are fundamentally differentin these places: the city of Chicago had a murder rate 30 times higher than the rate inEngland and Wales.

Figure 10.1 Homicides by age and sex of perpetrator. England and Wales compared withChicago.

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Could there be other explanations for the correlation between inequality and the basketof health and social outcomes?• An explanation for the graph that shows that the number of health and social problems

in unequal societies is higher than in equal societies could be due to the fact that moreunequal countries have more poor people and therefore this leads to that society havingmore problems. However, this cannot be seen as the main reason. Almost everyonebenefits from a greater equality. The differences in the scale of health and social problemsis too big to be explained by differences in the incidence of these problems among a poorminority alone. For example, death rates among working-age men are lower in alloccupational classes in Sweden compared to England and Wales. The same was foundwhen comparing the rates of illness between the U.S.A and the U.K. A study whichcompared various health measures, including death rates, just among the whitepopulation in the U.S.A and England and Wales found that health was worse in eacheducational group in the U.S.A than in the same educational group in England and Wales.In addition, there are a number of studies using multilevel models which find effects ofinequality even after controlling not only for the incomes of the poor, but for the numberof people at each level of individual income right across society.

Imprisonment Many more people are imprisoned in more unequal societies. Some of the rich marketdemocracies lock up 10 times the proportion of their population than others do. Most of thedifference is a result of more punitive sentencing in more unequal countries. For example,in California there are 300 people in prison for life for shoplifting. The death penalty alsotends to be more common in more unequal societies. Even the prison regimes tend to beharsher in more unequal societies.

Figure 11.1 More people are imprisoned in more unequal countries

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• It has been suggested that one explanation of the differences between equal and unequalsocieties might be that it is a special problem found only in English speaking countries.(See p. 176*) But that does not explain the question as a whole, because there are othercountries with the same problems, that are not English speaking, such as Portugal. If theEnglish-speaking countries are taken out of the equation the graph and the conclusionsremain the same. Lastly, some of these relationships – such as those between health orviolence and inequality – have been found in many other settings.

• On the other hand both Sweden and Japan do well despite being so different from eachother in so many different respects: in social structure, the status of women, the size ofthe welfare state in Sweden.

• Another suggested explanation is that what matters is not so much the inequality itselfas the historical factors which led societies to become more or less equal in the first place– as if inequality stood merely as a statistical monument to a history of division. (See p.179*). There are of course always historical explanations of why some countries, states orregions are now more or less equal than others. But the prevalence of ill-health and ofsocial problems in those societies is not simply a reflection of so many unique stories. Itis instead patterned according to the amount of inequality which has resulted from thoseunique histories. What seems to matter therefore is not how societies got to where theyare now, but where – in terms of their level of inequality – it is that they are now.

• The relationships we have shown are too strong to be attributable to chance and most ofthem have previously been demonstrated by others in different contexts. The relationshipsbetween inequality and both violence and health have been particularly thoroughlyresearched and have been found in quite different settings, using data from differentsources.

• Instead of inequality causing everything else, could it be that it all works the other wayround so that health and social problems cause bigger income differences? The firstdifficulty with that approach is that it does not explain why societies that do badly on anyparticular health or social problem tend to do badly in most of them. The fact that quitedifferent health and social problems move together – tending to be consistently better orworse in each country – implies that they have a common cause. If they are not all causedat least partly by the same thing, then there would be no reason why countries which, forinstance have high obesity rates, should also have a high prison population. Anotherobstacle to the hypothesis that causality runs in the opposite direction is that not all theproblems related to inequality could plausibly contribute to greater income inequality.Some are unlikely to lead to a serious loss of income. Using the UNICEF index it wasshown that many childhood outcomes were worse in more unequal societies. Things likelow child well-being, more juvenile obesity or violence, are unlikely to contribute toinequality among adults.

• Another approach is to suggest that the real cause is not income distribution butsomething more like changes in ideology, a shift perhaps to a more individualisticeconomic philosophy or view of society, such as the so-called “neo-liberal” economic andpolitical thinking. When neoliberalism became influential, Thatcher and Reagan not only





tolerated widening income differences but also contributed to them by reducing top taxrates and changing trade union legislation. However, although they thought thatwidening income differences did not matter, they never intended to contribute to a risein all the social problems related to wider income differences. That was an unintendedconsequence of increasing inequality. Perhaps if they had known about its likely effectson trust, social cohesion, teenage births and violence they would have thought again.

Concluding Remarks: three intensely social risk factors• Over the last quarter of a century there has been a major change in our understanding of

the determinants of standards of public health in rich countries. Health is related to oursocial and material circumstances not primarily because of how our physicalcircumstances affect us directly, but through what we feel about our situation and theway conditions such as depression, anxiety and hopelessness lead to chronic stress.Chronic stress increases our vulnerability to so many forms of ill health that its effectshave been likened to more rapid ageing. Low social status seems crucial here.

• Another major psychosocial influence on health is friendship. Almost any measure ofsocial connectedness, including participation in community life, is highly protective ofhealth. A recent meta-analysis of studies suggests that poor social integration has atleast as powerful an influence on health as smoking. These conclusions are supported byexperimental work as well as by large scale epidemiological studies.

• The third major group of psychosocial risk factors for health centre on childhoodexperience and early life. What psychologists have always said about the importance ofearly experience for cognitive and emotional development seems to be underpinned bybiological effects of early stress. Domestic conflict, poor attachment and lack of attentionseem to tune stress responses and a number of related processes affecting health andbehaviour.

But there is perhaps one element – we might call it a kind of social anxiety – lying behindall three of these groups of psychosocial risk factors. The effect of a difficult early childhoodmay not be so unlike the effects of low social status – both may increase insecurity, anxietyand feelings of not being valued. Friendship fits into the picture because friends providepositive feedback and reassurance. If people enjoy your company, it makes you feel betterabout yourself. But if you feel people avoid you, do not include you in things and choosenot to sit next to you, we all become filled with self-doubt, fear that we are unattractive,boring or stupid. Perhaps the most common source of chronic stress in modern masssocieties centres on our worries about negotiating social relationships, on how we are seenby others.

As human beings we depend on a learned culture and behavior and we learn how to behavein acceptable ways within our culture by being very sensitive to the eyes of others. Indeedwe experience ourselves through each others eyes. Shame and embarrassment have beencalled the social emotions because it is our sensitivity to them which makes us conform,





behave in acceptable ways and avoid making fools of ourselves. It seems likely thatinequality increases social status competition, making us judge each other more by socialposition and becoming more prey to social evaluation anxieties. This explanation of our sensitivity to inequality fits well with the reason why violence ismore common in more unequal societies. Describing the most common triggers to violence,James Gilligan, an American prison psychiatrist, said: “I have yet to see a serious act ofviolence that was not provoked by the experience of feeling ashamed or humiliated,disrespected and ridiculed and did not represent the attempt to undo this loss of face.”

To really understand the effects of inequality we need a two level model. We need tounderstand how adults pick up on the nature of the social environment – how importantstatus is, their social status or class position, how competitive or cooperative people are. Butwe also need to understand how the quality of the social environment is passed on to thechildren. Parenting has to be regarded almost as an evolved system to pass on the experienceof how cooperative or competitive social relations are in a given society, passing on theparental experience of adversity. The early sensitivity of children to the quality of care andnurturing is not an evolutionary mistake, leading some children to end up damaged. Aperiod of special sensitivity to the early environment exists in a great many species, and itsfunction is to provide a process of adaptation to the kind of world adults will have to dealwith. In humans it is about adapting to the nature of the social environment. Whether achild is growing up in a world where it needs to fight for what it can get and learn not totrust others because people are rivals, or whether it is growing up in a world in which it willdepend on reciprocity, cooperation, trust and empathy, will require quite different patternsof emotional and cognitive development. What seems to make the difference is whetherchildren become highly socialised through close, loving, social interaction, or whether theyexperience a depressed mother, poor attachment and domestic conflict.

Questions:

Taking into consideration the findings of your research, in the long term what are the beststrategies for a country to take to improve the quality of life and the quality ofchildhood?Increase equality! There are different ways of doing this. You could either do it through taxesand benefits or you could reduce differences in earnings before tax. I think we need to tackleinequality in both ways. Although the quickest way is probably to increase taxes andbenefits I think that is a short term measure which can all too easily be reversed. We needto establish equality more deeply in our societies. It is at work where income inequality isfirst created and it is at work where we are most subject to hierarchy. We must find waysof democratizing the institutions we work in. If we want to rein in the bonus culture andthe obscenely high incomes at the very top, we need to expand the sector of our economiesmade up of friendly societies, mutuals, employee owned companies, producer and consumercooperatives. We need to move our custom to these kinds of organizations and to





companies which operate with smaller income differences. The bonus culture has only beenpossible because people at the top felt they did not have to answer to anyone. We have tochange that by shifting the balance of accountability of our economic institutions awayfrom rich share holders towards employees and local representatives. For further details,take a look at our web page (www.equalitytrust.org.uk). There we outline different ways ofincreasing equality. You could start directly by changing small things, such as choosingtelephone and electricity companies which are either producer or consumer cooperatives orhave smaller income differentials within them. It has been said that an employee buy-outcan change a company from a piece of property into a community and studies show thatthese kinds of companies often enjoy higher productivity. The changes we need are notgoing to be won overnight, to produce a society capable of improving the quality of life forall of us will take a sustained social movement lasting for ten or twenty years.

When looking at the developments in EU-countries we can see that the countries that we sawin your graphs which are doing best with regard to equality are not taken as role models byother countries when deciding about future ways to organize their societies. Unfortunately itis the more unequal countries that tend to serve as role models. That is why it is important to increase public understanding of the damage which inequalitydoes to the lives of the vast majority of the population. Reducing carbon emissions requiresa fundamental change of direction in how our societies are developing. Rather than ever-increasing consumerism driven by status competition, the best way of improving the realquality of life now is by improving the quality of social relations. The exciting thing is thatwe now know that we can improve the psychosocial wellbeing of whole populations byreducing income differentials.

Do you think income is the best measure of social status in a society?I think it is very fundamental; it is about access to scarce resources at a very fundamentallevel. That is what ranking systems among animals are about. We could try looking atdifferences in wealth rather than income, but internationally comparable figures on thedistribution of wealth in different countries are still in their infancy. But income is powerfulbecause people use income to express status differences or position in the social hierarchy.Bigger material differences lead to bigger social distances. If you think back to times whensocial status was defined by “blue blood”, inheritance and so on; if somebody drank hismoney away he and his family would be seen as “genteel poor” for perhaps a generation,but the next generation would be just poor. And similarly, if somebody made money or“married up”, he would be seen as “nouveau riche” and not be immediately accepted intothe higher bracket of society, but his children would be. Consider the current situation inRussia, with the oligarchs and the huge differences in income between the rich and poor.Once the children of the oligarchs have been brought up in huge mansions, sent to specialschools and travelled the world, they will see themselves – and be seen as – superior toother. Material differences perhaps provide the framework to which all the different





markers of social status attach themselves. We express our status by the clothes we wear,the books we read, by the education we have and so on.

Could there be other explanations of the differences between all these countries than justinequality?Yes, if it was the only thing, then the data would line up perfectly. But as I have shown you,on some graphs there is a wide scatter of points only loosely related to inequality. Thissuggests that there are also other powerful influences on those outcomes. What we argueis not, of course, that inequality is the only cause of the health and social problems welooked at, but that it is a common cause of all of them.

Why the relationships are so close when we put them together in the health and socialproblem index is because that emphasizes what they have in common. Inequality becomesthe main element in the index because that is what all the parts have in common. It is so important to emphasize inequality because it affects so much in our societies. Until now we have been looking at all these social problem one at a time. Typically,researchers and policy makers have treated each of these problems as if they were quiteseparate and unrelated to each other.

A final quote: (We should not) “…allow ourselves to be cowed by the idea that higher taxes on the rich willlead to their mass emigration and an economic catastrophe… Economic growth is not theyardstick by which everything else must be judged. Indeed we know that it no longercontributes to the real quality of our lives and that consumerism is a danger to the planet. Norshould we allow ourselves to believe that the rich are scarce and precious members of asuperior race of more intelligent beings on whom the rest of us are dependent. That is merelythe illusion that wealth and power create.

Rather than adopting an attitude of gratitude towards the rich, we need to recognize what adamaging effect they have on the social fabric. The financial meltdown of late 2008 and theresulting recession show us how dangerous huge salaries and bonuses at the top can be. Aswell as leading those in charge of our financial institutions to adopt policies which put thewell-being of whole populations in jeopardy, the very existence of the super-rich increases thepressure to consume as everyone else tries to keep up. Increased inequality led people toreduce their savings, increase their bank overdrafts and credit card debt, and arrange secondmortgages to fund consumption. Reducing inequality…would … make a major contribution tosocial and environmental sustainability’ (The Spirit Level, page 262*).





Professor Emeritus Richard Wilkinson Richard Wilkinson has played a formative role in international research on the socialdeterminants of health and on the societal effects of income inequality. His work has beenpublished in many languages. He studied economic history at the London School ofEconomics before training in epidemiology. He is Professor Emeritus of Social Epidemiologyat the University of Nottingham Medical School, Honorary Professor at University CollegeLondon and a Visiting Professor at the University of York. Richard Wilkinson wrote The SpiritLevel with Kate Pickett and he is a co-founder of The Equality Trust.

* The Spirit Level - Why more equal societies almost always do better by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett




This article is based on a verbal presentation given to the Quality of Childhood Group in theEuropean Parliament in December 2009 and hosted by MEP Evelyn Regner. Notes takenduring the presentation were formulated into the article below, which has been checked andapproved by Sue Gerhardt.

Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby’s Brain80

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SUMMARY

WWhhyy bbaabbyyhhoooodd rraatthheerr tthhaann cchhiillddhhoooodd??The case that I want to make is that babyhood is much more important to our lives than manypeople realise. A lot of the behaviour that worries us in later childhood, such as aggression,hyperactivity, obesity, depression and poor school performance, has already been shaped bychildren’s experiences in babyhood. For those of you who have not studied the scientificliterature, this might seem a bit far-fetched. I was rather amazed at just how significantbabyhood is, when I first undertook the research for my book 'Why Love Matters'.

Just to take one recent example, the World Health Organisation recently published a reportfrom their Commission on the social determinants of health - which stated that

“Research now shows that many challenges in adult society – mental healthproblems, obesity/stunting, heart disease, criminality, competence in literacy andnumeracy - have their roots in early childhood.” They went on to say that“Economists now assert on the basis of the available evidence that investment inearly childhood is the most powerful investment a country can make, with returnsover the life course many times the amount of the original investment.”

RReeccoommmmeennddaattiioonnss ffoorr PPoolliiccyy MMaakkeerrss aanndd tthhee MMeemmbbeerrss ooff tthhee EEuurrooppeeaann PPaarrlliiaammeenntt..I would love to see all policy makers routinely bringing babies into the picture and takingfor granted that what happens to children under 3 is at least as important as anything thathappens later.

Recently the World Health Organisation echoed this view. They made the recommendationthat: ‘‘LLooccaall,, rreeggiioonnaall aanndd nnaattiioonnaall ggoovveerrnnmmeennttss sshhoouulldd iinnccoorrppoorraattee tthhee ‘‘sscciieennccee ooff eeaarrllyycchhiilldd ddeevveellooppmmeenntt’’ iinnttoo ppoolliiccyy..’’

Investment in early intervention and prevention is key to reducing problems further downthe line such as teenage pregnancy, crime, mental illness, obesity and drug abuse.

Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby’s Brainby Sue Gerhardt Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist and Author of ‘Why Love Matters’ and ‘The Selfish Society’

Why Love Matters: How Affection Shapes a Baby’s Brain 81





TTwwoo ssppeecciiffiicc aarreeaass rreeqquuiirriinngg iinnvveessttmmeenntt aarree::

There is a real need for more widespread and easily accessible psychological services forfamilies. The really good approaches and programmes offer a two-pronged approach –giving empathy and support to the parent, whilst teaching them how to notice and be moresensitive to their baby.

Secondly, paid maternity and paternity leave is the key. Jane Waldfogel has found that it isonly paid leave which is associated with better maternal and child health, lower maternaldepression, lower infant mortality, more breastfeeding and so on.

Perhaps it is time for the EU to set up a project to look at the most effective ways ofpromoting social and emotional health through early prevention - along the same lines asis currently done with the Nutrition Project.

The case that I want to make is that babyhood is much more important to our lives thanmany people realise. A lot of the behaviour that worries us in later childhood, such asaggression, hyperactivity, obesity, depression and poor school performance, has already beenshaped by children’s experiences in babyhood. For those of you who have not studied thescientific literature, this might seem a bit far-fetched. I was rather amazed at just howsignificant babyhood is, when I first undertook the research for my book 'Why Love Matters'.

But over and over again, as people look into it, they discover that this really is the case. Justto take one recent example, the World Health Organisation recently published a report fromtheir Commission on the social determinants of health – which stated that “Research nowshows that many challenges in adult society – mental health problems, obesity/stunting,heart disease, criminality, competence in literacy and numeracy - have their roots in earlychildhood.” They went on to say that “Economists now assert on the basis of the availableevidence that investment in early childhood is the most powerful investment a country canmake, with returns over the life course many times the amount of the original investment.”I will come back to that later. But first let me make the case for the importance of infancy.

“Research now shows that many challenges in adult society – mental healthproblems,obesity/stunting, heart disease, criminality, competence in literacy andnumeracy - have their roots in early childhood.” (World Health Organisation)

The over-riding importance of early conditionsThe strange fact is that very often the early conditions of our lives have a profound impacton the whole of our development. Let me start by describing how this works with regard tothe body and physical health, which might seem more obvious, because we can see thatnutrition affects the body. The body grows or it does not. It develops healthy organs or it





does not. And actually, the early development of the body’s organs and other systems areaffected by the nutrition available at that time. There is a lot of evidence to suggest thatbirth weight and early nutrition have a big influence on later health such as susceptibilityto heart disease, obesity and Type 2 diabetes. Much of the early research was done by DavidBarker from Southampton University. He explains the process in terms of the foetus or babyadapting to the conditions in which it finds itself. If those conditions are of under-nourishment, the growing body has to adapt the way it handles sugar and fat, or the waythe heart manages blood pressure. These adaptations, as he put it, ‘tend to have permanenteffects on the body’s structure and functioning – a phenomenon referred to asprogramming.’ The poorly nourished baby has also been found by other researchers to havehigher cortisol levels throughout adult life, suggesting that their stress response has beenprogrammed in the womb or in infancy (Seckl & Meaney 2004). As Barker explains, theseearly adaptations allow the foetus and the baby to survive the immediate dangers of theirsituation, but have long term consequences – often at the price of a shortened lifespan.

There is a lot of evidence to suggest that birth weight and early nutrition have a biginfluence on later health such as susceptibility to heart disease, obesity and Type 2diabetes.

The links between infancy and later health and longevity are already being taken seriouslyby the European Union (EU). For some years the European Union has been funding an EarlyNutrition Programming Project based in Munichi, which has been looking at these links.Other major organisations recognise the links too. The World Health Organisationrecommends at least 6 months of breastfeeding to protect the development of a child’simmune system.

But my focus is on emotional health, and in particular how the brain systems that manageour emotional responses are just as much shaped by early events. They too are‘programmed’ in a very similar way. Not by food input – although that plays its part innurturing our biochemical systems - but by the way that a baby adapts to the relationshipenvironment and structures his brain accordingly, in order to survive in the situation inwhich he finds himself. Just as the baby’s body adapts to a shortage of nutrition, so thebrain adapts to inadequate emotional input.

The Human BrainSo what I would like to do now is to give you a brief tour of the brain to explain how thisworks.

The human brain is unique. It shares many of the same features as animals’ brains, but itis a kind of extended version. It starts off with a basic reptilian brain based around thebrain stem – this is what supports the basic life functions, and this is the first part of ourbrains to develop too. Then, like other mammals, it adds various new capacities (based in





the centre of the brain) including nurturing abilities. But what really makes humans humanis basically the massive post-natal development of the outer layers of the brain, thecerebral cortex. One of the first parts of this layer to develop is the pre-frontal section,which grows extremely rapidly in the first year or two of life. It is an area which is not fullyformed at birth but which connects up in response to social stimulation in infancy. Brain development, or learning, is actually the process of creating, strengthening, anddiscarding connections among the neurons. These connections are called synapses. As you

can see there are not many at birth but they sprout rapidly in the first year of life andeventually form neural pathways that connect the different parts of the brain and organiseits functions.

The pre-frontal cortex is the area of the brain I am most concerned with. It is what I callthe social brain, which is a shorthand way of referring to a range of areas in and aroundthe pre-frontal cortex. We know from scientific research that this social brain area isactivated when we are involved in controlling our emotions, paying close attention to otherpeople and their social signals, thinking about feelings, and having empathy for others.It is the area of the brain that extends out of the more basic instinctive ways of behaving– such as fight or flight reactions -which are based in the amygdala and hypothalamus.The social brain’s job is basically to organise and supervise those more basic responses.

But this human emotional control centre does not develop automatically. The social braindevelops in response to the social experiences that a baby actually has. Neural pathwaysget laid down as a result of actual experiences, so, for example, the baby needs someoneto give her an experience of emotions being managed helpfully, before she can learn to dothese things for herself and manage her own feelings well. Basically, babies learn how todo things through their experiences with other people, not through words or instructions.

‘Rethinking the brain”, families and work institute Rima Shore 1997





They learn how to cope with stress by having an experience of someone being with themand helping them to cope. But they need to have these experiences consistently, over andover again, to lay down the pathways, during the first and second years of life.As I mentioned earlier, the first year of life is about making connections in the brain. Butin the second and third years of childhood that huge tangled mass of connections starts toget “pruned” - on a “use it or lose it” basis. Basically, we keep the pathways that are mostused and most useful in our particular social environment – and lose those pathways thathave not been used that much. That means that if as babies and young children we livewith angry, aggressive people, we will keep pathways that help us to be alert to anger andaggression, and if we live with people who are attentive to other people, we will keep thepathways that help us to be attentive.

Basically, babies learn how to do things through their experiences with otherpeople, not through words or instructions. They learn how to cope with stress byhaving an experience of someone being with them and helping them to cope.

Biochemical Systems - the stress response and the soothing systemSome of the first pathways to be established in babyhood are the biochemical ones. Thesebiochemical pathways, which I think of as a sort of liquid “grease”, helping information totravel around the brain, help the baby to react to his environment quickly andappropriately. In particular, I want to mention two biochemical systems that are reallyimportant for emotional well-being – I refer to them as the stress response and thesoothing system.

The stress response is a very important biochemical system which develops in infancy. Itis basically a useful system which releases the hormone cortisol to generate extra short-term energy to cope with stresses and dangers of all kinds. Once the objective has beenachieved, and safety and social equilibrium is restored, the cortisol is dispersed. But in earlybabyhood, the stress response is not yet fully functional; babies are very vulnerable andeasily stressed – particularly by situations that feel unsafe, such as being separated fromtheir mother or a familiar person, or being physically hurt. Babies cannot protectthemselves from stress or danger nor can they calm themselves down. They are dependenton an adult to protect and calm them, to quickly disperse their cortisol for them and to helpthem get back to a stable state. If the adults taking care of them do not manage theirstates for them, they can become flooded with cortisol without having any way of gettingrid of it. Even in toddlerhood, they are still vulnerable, and need to feel that their world issafe and predictable, and that they can rely on others for help when they need it.

If babies or toddlers end up being flooded with cortisol on a chronic basis, because the adultslooking after them do not respond quickly, do not resolve problems for them, or are, in fact,perhaps emotionally frightening themselves, the stress system will adapt to that particularhuman environment, and the baby may develop an unusual cortisol response – high or low





baseline levels of cortisol - which can have some very negative effects on him/her.

Let me give you a glimpse of how this might be passed on from parent to child in practice.I had a client who was a violent offender. He had just come out of prison and was buildinga relationship with his son, wanting desperately to be a good father. However, the way inwhich he interacted with his baby son –unpredictably shouting at the baby, or laughing atthe baby’s distress - was frightening to the baby. If this had continued, the father wouldhave passed on to his son a feeling of not being safe, having to be vigilant and alert toothers’ aggression.

When experiences like this go on day after day, they can have lasting effects on the child’sbiochemical systems. A child who experiences rough treatment, humiliation, aggression,shouting, and so on, has to adapt psychologically. But this is also happening at a biologicallevel. It is thought that high levels of the stress hormone cortisol are eventually down-regulated and children like this end up with a low baseline cortisol level which has beenfound to be associated with later aggressive behaviour. (For a summary of this research, seeMegan Gunnar et al, 2006, Development and Psychopathology 18, p 651-677)

Most people probably develop a healthy stress response if they have a normal childhood.This gives them a good chance of being able to bounce back after difficulties. It meansthat they have a resilience to stress. Even though they might be temporarily overwhelmed,and start to forget things or lose the ability to pay attention, if they have established ahealthy stress response in infancy, they are likely to be able to get back to normal quickly.It takes quite a lot of stress over a very long period to create any permanent damage in abasically resilient adult (although it can happen).

However, when babies are chronically stressed, this can create permanent damage to theirsystems and they grow into adults who are not able to recover quickly from stressfulevents. They become more vulnerable and sensitive to stress as adults and may seek helpin regulating themselves through drugs and alcohol. When adults like my client ignore theirchild’s feelings, laugh at them or punish them, the child basically is not going to be learninghow to manage feelings or to regulate his/her feelings. I’m reluctant to say any more aboutthe effects of early insecurity and stress because it does just go on and on. But it reallydoes have quite far-reaching effects. Another aspect of too much cortisol early on is thatit can have a knock on effect on other biochemical systems - such as the soothing systemwhich is based on the neurotransmitter serotonin. When this system is not in good shape,the baby can grow up with problems in staying calm under stress, and become prone toimpulsive outbursts and aggression. Low serotonin levels are part of the picture of moodand anxiety disorders, sleep disturbance and aggression on into adulthood.

I think of these biochemical imbalances as a bit like a physical handicap, a vulnerabilitywhich is not necessarily immediately visible, but can play out in later life, even after





decades. High levels of cortisol are connected to physical health problems too; in particularresearch is now demonstrating links with later obesity and heart disease. (Shonkoff et al2009, JAMA)

However, when babies are chronically stressed, this can create permanent damageto their systems and they grow into adults who are not able to recover quickly fromstressful events.

Prefrontal developmentWhat I have not yet come to is that too much cortisol early on – in the first three years inparticular, when the daily pattern of cortisol is established can even affect brain structure.In particular, it can damage those areas of the brain that are developing rapidly in the earlyyears, because it can be toxic to the development of neural connections just at the timewhen the connections are being made and the pathways established. Children who aretraumatised early on often have reduced brain volumes in a number of areas, especially thepre-frontal cortex – literally they have smaller brains.

The brain volume of a child can be shaped by experience and evidence has shown that achild who is severely neglected physically as well as emotionally can have a dramaticallyreduced brain size.





‘These images illustrate the negative impact of neglect on the developing brain. TheCT scans on the left are from healthy three year old children with an average headsize (50th percentile). The image on the right is from a series of three, three year oldchildren following severe sensory-deprivation neglect in early childhood. Eachchild’s brain is significantly smaller than average and has abnormal development ofcortex (cortical atrophy) and other abnormalities suggesting abnormaldevelopment of the brain.’ (from the studies conducted by researchers from theChildTrauma Academy www.ChildTrauma.org led by Bruce D Perry, M.D., Ph.D.)





So it can seriously affect the social brain, and other areas such as the amygdala, thecingulate, and the hippocampus, which are all important for emotional life. The crucialtiming for pre-frontal emotional development is the period from the second part of the firstyear through toddlerhood, when the medial prefrontal cortex is developing most rapidlyand is most susceptible to influence. It becomes functional at around 18 months to 2 years,by which time the child has become a self – she can recognise herself in the mirror, andhas acquired the basic programmes for self-awareness and self-control.

The importance of positive experiencesOn the other hand, it is just as important to make sure that babies receive positiveexperiences as it is that they avoid negative ones. The whole process of developing a socialbrain and developing a strong sense of self is based on the quality of social attention thebaby gets. The more pleasurable social experiences the baby has, the more this part of thebrain connects up. The less attention a baby receives, the less this part of the brainconnects up. In the worst cases, like some of the most damaged Romanian orphans, thisarea of the brain was virtually a black hole according to one researcher, Harry Chugani.Basically, humans have to pass on a social brain. It does not develop automatically, but asthe result of investing attention in the baby. Babies learn to notice their own feelings whenthey get lots of feedback about their feelings from the adults looking after them. Then, inturn, once they have that self-awareness, they can use it to become aware of other people’sfeelings and to have empathy for others.

It is the same with self-control. The social brain has the potential to influence and controlour impulsive reactions based in the amygdala, reactions like wanting to hit someone whenwe are angry with them. However, these inhibitory brain pathways are only laid downthrough the toddler having the experience of adults making firm but kind demands on himto restrain his inappropriate behaviours, and doing it consistently, over and over again.These capacities are also established very early on indeed. A researcher in the U.S.A,Grazyna Kochanska, has shown that self-control measured at 22 months predicts it at agesthree and four, and another researcher showed that early self-control is linked to laterempathy aged 8 (Guthrie 1997). It is a central aspect of social behaviour.In fact, it is not only important for managing behaviour, but interesting recent research byClancy Blair (at Pennsylvania State University) is suggesting that it is this same self-controland self-regulation which underpins academic ability, over and above the child’sintelligence. These learnt social and emotional abilities are what make it possible forchildren to pay attention to teachers and to learn in other ways.

Basically, the brain is built up through actual experiences. What you put in is more or lesswhat you get out. If we want to produce children who are calm, well-regulated, capable ofempathy and foresight, we need to help parents to pass on these qualities by providing alot of support for early parenting, and helping parents who are not confident in theirparenting, like my client. We also need to make it possible for parents to spend a lot of time





with their babies and small children, paying lots of attention to their feelings and helpingthem to manage their behaviour.

If we want to produce children who are calm, well-regulated, capable of empathyand foresight, we need to help parents to pass on these qualities by providing a lotof support for early parenting, and helping parents who are not confident in theirparenting, like my client.

Poor early care leads to problemsI have not really got time today to go into all the things that I talk about more fully in “WhyLove Matters”. But perhaps I should just make it clear that I am not just talking aboutproviding the optimum conditions for children’s brain development, but I also see earlydevelopment as the key to preventing future social problems.

Often, I feel that there is a lack of awareness about the early roots of problems. Forexample, I recently read a piece that suggested that bullying at school led to later mentalhealth problems – low self-esteem, depression, and anti-social behaviour. Yet the writerassumed that it had all started in school with the bullying. He did not seem to be askingwhy particular children are bullied or how this might be the effect of patterns of behaviourestablished much earlier in life. Actually, bullies rarely target children who have high self-esteem and confidence. They are more likely to target those who already show anxiety andvulnerability.

I would like to briefly outline a few of the ways in which poor early development can playout in later life:

For example, babies who live with a depressed mother are at risk of growing up to bedepressed themselves; they may develop a hypersensitive stress response and a less activeleft brain. This is not true of those whose mothers are depressed in later childhood.

Mental health problems such as personality disorders are, in many ways, a manifestationof inadequate early emotional care: people who have not been taught how to managefeelings well or to think about them, who have extreme emotional reactions and who oftendisplay a lack of empathy for others.

A similar story lies behind anti-social behaviour. Children who experience hostility fromtheir parents, in particular, and whose parents who, during their babyhood, do not modelhow to resolve conflicts or how to maintain self-control often become the offenders oftomorrow. A lack of a warm bond at the age of 2 tends to predict later anti-social problems(Belsky 1998), whilst, as I have said, a lack of self-control at age 2 tends to predict it atsubsequent ages (Kochanska). Without a warm attentive early relationship, the pre-frontalbrain is less likely to develop well.





What are the implications for policy?Psychological InterventionsThe first thing I would like to establish is that in order to address the emotional needs ofthese youngest children, we are inevitably looking at providing families with psychologicalsupport as well as material support. This means that we will need to find ways to get thissupport to the families that need it.

But it is not easy to find the right way to make policies that will do this. Babies are stillregarded as no-one’s business but their mother’s – and maybe their father’s, these days. Infact, in the past, the lives of babies were quite hidden from view in the private sphere ofthe family and there is still an element of that today. Until the child abuse scandals of the1980s – relatively recently - it was very difficult to intervene in early family relationshipsat all. It still is very easily regarded as intrusive.

However, I would also argue that in the modern age of greater psychologicalunderstanding, we should now be able to recognise that a great many parents and babiesare in need of psychological support. I argue for this on the basis that it is not at all easyfor parents to offer their children more emotionally literate parenting than they receivedthemselves. We do what comes naturally… and that is generally the way it was done forus. The problem is that what comes naturally does not necessarily meet the emotionalneeds of children. So emotional deprivation just gets passed on down the generations -with huge impacts on and costs for society.

If we ignore this, we are just going to go on wasting our money and letting social problemscontinue. Instead, I would like to see a big social project that ensures that inadequateemotional and social learning is not passed on to the next generation, so that society as awhole can benefit and move forward. There are various things already starting to happen:the growth of parenting programmes and so on which are all helpful. But I would like toadd a warning that many of the parents who have the most difficulty will not learn howto do it better through advice about parenting on its own.

I would like to see a big social project that ensures that inadequate emotional andsocial learning is not passed on to the next generation, so that society as a wholecan benefit and move forward.

The client I gave as an example, for example, did not know he was making his child feelunsafe or that he was passing on his own dismissive attitude to feelings. In his life, he hadnot had much experience of being empathised with. He did not know how to be sensitiveto his son’s feelings. He had to learn this, not by being told to be sensitive, but by havingan experience of it - through a therapeutic relationship where he received some empathyfor himself. This helped him to start to feel that the world might be a safer place than he





had thought, and to notice that other people had feelings. He did not change overnight,but he did stop frightening his baby, and he began to treat his son like a person withfeelings. That was enough to improve the situation. But it was intensive and skilled workover a number of months, and this costs money.

The problem is that social and emotional learning is basically experiential - for adults aswell as children. It is learnt through relationship experiences. This makes it rather harder tofix than other forms of learning. For example, we know that an impoverished educationalenvironment in childhood - not much conversation, no trips to museums, fewer books andgames - hinders cognitive learning and puts many children at a disadvantage. But you canmake sure children get that sort of stimulation relatively easily. It is a bit more tricky withan impoverished emotional environment.

The main ingredients of the really good programmes, including parent/infantpsychotherapy which I practice, are that they offer a two-pronged approach: givingempathy and support to the parent, whilst teaching them how to notice and be moresensitive to their baby. You help parents to give more attention to their young children,especially quality attention, by giving emotional attention to the parents. You help parentsto notice how they are responding to their baby by noticing how the baby is with them, orby using video techniques to hold up a mirror. These are very effective means of helpingwhich enable people to learn much faster. Of course, you also have to establish someconsistency and make sure this learning is sustained, and registered in the brain, and thismeans it does take time and support over a period of time. This is why the David Oldsnurse/family partnership achieves such good results – they provide input from pregnancythrough to two years of age. (Antoine Guedeney’s French study of a long term programmefor enhancing attachment over the first two years of life (a randomised controlled trial),will publish results in 2011.)

Fortunately, babies themselves are incredibly rapid learners and adapt very quickly toimproved environments. But you need to get in quickly while the systems are beingcreated. If you want resilient children (and adults) you need to make sure the stressresponse is not overloaded in infancy and not wait until later in childhood when thechildren are already having difficulties in managing stress. If you want thoughtful,empathic people, the easiest and most cost effective way to “create” them is to make surethat babies and toddlers receive lots of sensitive attention.

Financial SupportSo there is a real need for more widespread and easily accessible psychological services.But I also want to stress the importance of practical, financial support. In my own view,this is just as crucial. If parents do not feel able to stay at home and look after their ownbabies, they are not going to be able to give this kind of quality attention to their babies.For me, paid maternity and paternity leave is the key. I stress the word paid.





In fact, according to Jane Waldfogel’s researchii (she is a Professor of Social Work atColumbia University), paid parental leave has a very different impact to unpaid leave. Shefound that it was only paid leave which was associated with better maternal and childhealth, lower maternal depression, lower infant mortality, more breastfeeding, and so on.

Jane Waldfogel, Professor of Social Work at Columbia University, found that it wasonly paid leave which was associated with better maternal and child health, lowermaternal depression, lower infant mortality, more breastfeeding, and so on.

We might speculate that it feels very different to be financially supported: it is a way thatsociety acknowledges the importance of the work of parenting, and it also cushions thefinancial stress for the parent. And, of course, if leave is not paid, very often parents feelobliged to leave their babies with other less motivated people who are less in love with thebaby.

I was intrigued to notice that Waldfogel’s research really fits in with the statisticspresented by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett in their book The Spirit Level. When Ilooked at their graphs, what struck me was that the countries which had the most generouspaid maternity leave or parental leave, had the fewest health and social problems. (And,of course, conversely, those countries which offer the least financial support for earlyparenting (particularly the USA, Britain, Australia and New Zealand) have the highest levelsof mental illness, use of illegal drugs, teenage pregnancies and so on.)

To me, this made perfect sense, since this financial backing really helps parents to look aftertheir own babies and give them quality attention without feeling pressured back into work,particularly full-time work. We know that when mothers are not financially supported inthe early years, they tend to return to paid employment more quickly – often returning towork when paid maternity leave expires. (Waldfogel’s most recent research has confirmedthat mothers’ full-time employment – though not part-time employment- in the first yearis associated with more behaviour problems in the child. (2010, Monographs of the Societyfor Research in Child Development).

Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, in their book The Spirit Level, have a rather differentthesis, although they recognise the importance of early care. They argue that inequalityand living in a hierarchical society is the most important cause of social problems andmistrust of others. They hold up Japan and Sweden, in particular, as prime examples of thebenefits of having more equal societies. Both have high levels of social trust as well asdoing extremely well on various other measures.

But actually Japan also offers 58 weeks maternity leave on 60% of pay whilst Swedenoffers 55 weeks on 80% of pay – and then more on top of that. I wonder if it is equally





likely that it is their support for early parenting which consolidates social harmony:perhaps well-supported parents are more likely to give the kind of attention and sensitivecare that will help their babies to establish a stable stress response and good pre-frontalbrain development, which will enable them to co-operate with others? It is a chicken andegg situation.

In reality, we all start with our experiences in the family: and we learn incredibly early howto relate to other people, to have confidence and trust in them – or not. Our bodies areprogrammed in infancy to cope well with stress and to be resilient - or not.

Conclusion To sum up, I think that we are slowly getting greater and greater recognition of theimportance of infant mental health, but it is patchy. There is a great deal of good willaround with regard to improving the quality of childhood, and thinking about children’spoverty, their exposure to television and video games, their behaviour at school and theiracademic achievements. But it is still not sufficiently clear to everyone, I believe, that allof this is underpinned by the first three years of life.

I would love to see all policy makers routinely bringing babies into the picture and takingfor granted that what happens to children under three is at least as important as anythingthat happens later. Recently, the World Health Organisation echoed this view. They madethe recommendation that: ‘Local, regional, and national governments should incorporatethe ‘science of early child development’ into policy.’ They then went on to make thewonderful suggestion of a ‘social marketing campaign’ that would reach finance andplanning departments of government, the economic sector, the corporate world, and themedia. They said that they wanted to see early childhood development policy integratedinto the agendas of each sector, so that it is routinely considered in decision making.This is pretty ambitious and far-reaching, but absolutely what we need.

So if we really want to make a difference to children - which of course we do - then I wouldargue that policies must recognise the part that infancy and the very earliest years play. Atthe moment this is the Cinderella group in terms of public spending. In the United Kingdom(U.K), we currently spend very very little (0.3% of GDP in this area, compared to 2% inSweden) on the under threes. But to me, this is crazy. This is when investment mostmatters and could be most effective.

A recent report from the New Economics Foundation has calculated that the UnitedKingdom (U.K) spends £161.31 billion annually on social problems such as teenagepregnancy, crime, mental illness, obesity, and drug abuse – this covers the cost of specialschools, social workers, foster parents, and prison sentences. This report (called Backingthe Future, September 2009) has calculated that we need to spend at least the sameamount again on early intervention and prevention. But they calculate that if we did so,





within ten years we would be breaking even in terms of social expenditure. If we chose toinvest in the future, over a twenty year period we would even bring net returns to the U.Keconomy totalling £486 billion (roughly five times the annual budget of the NationalHealth Service).

Unfortunately, even the New Economics Foundation fails to emphasise the importance ofintervention in infancy. The only provision for 0 to 2 year olds in their proposals is anurse/parent partnership scheme for single parents. Most of its proposals are schemesspread throughout childhood. This is typical of current policy thinking. What tends tohappen is that we wait until problems appear, usually during school or pre-school. Thenhelp starts to become more available and people start to get concerned. I find this over andover again, babies are just ignored as if they do not quite exist until they can walk and talk,and do not have psychological needs of their own.

But in my view we need to switch to a preventative approach, not wait until problemsappear. We need to make sure that all babies are not only well nourished and protectedfrom physical harm, but to ensure that they are given the basic conditions to flourish intheir lives. And, as I hope I have made clear, the first year or two are the most crucial years,which underpin later abilities – to self-regulate, to pay attention at school, and to haveempathy for others.

the first year or two are the most crucial years, which underpin later abilities – toself-regulate, to pay attention at school, and to have empathy for others

Perhaps it is time for the EU to set up a project to look at the most effective ways ofpromoting social and emotional health through early prevention - along the same lines asthe Nutrition Project. 13.4 million euros are being spent on that project – how about thesame amount again to establish the importance of babyhood in our policies?





i Co-ordinated by Professor Koletzko of the Children’s Hospital, University of Munich, Germany.ii “Social Mobility, Life Chances, and the Early Years”, Jane Waldfogel.





Sue Gerhardt is a practising psychoanalytic psychotherapist in the U.K. In 1997, she co-founded a charity,the Oxford Parent Infant Project (OXPIP) which continues to provide parent/infantpsychotherapy for around 50 families a week. Her work with parents and babies contributed to the success of her best-selling book, WhyLove Matters: how affection shapes a baby's brain (Brunner Routledge, 2004), described byMP Oona King as "a founding text for the future health of modern society". Her most recentbook is The Selfish Society (Simon and Schuster, 2010). Described in the Observernewspaper as "inspiring" and by author Oliver James as "a brilliant critique", it argues thatearly life is highly relevant to our political and economic culture.




This article is based on a verbal presentation given to the Quality of Childhood Group in theEuropean Parliament in March 2010 and hosted by MEP Gerald Häfner. Notes taken duringthe presentation were formulated into the article below, which has been checked andapproved by Ivan Ivanov, Bernard Rorke, Lorne Walters and Lívia Járóka .

The Case of the Roma Children 98

© Simon Rawles / AlamyChildren from a Roma family in Serbia

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SUMMARYThe Roma population in Europe is estimated to be between 10 and 15 million people.Numerous assessments of the situation of the Roma clearly illustrate that the members of theRoma communities continue to experience marked discrimination and social exclusion, andencounter difficulties in gaining unhindered and equal access to:• education • employment • social security • healthcare • housing • other public services • justice. The assessments also show that many Roma communities are uniquely exposed to the forcesof social exclusion.

Ivan Ivanov and Bernard Rorke gave an overview of the situation of the Roma People in Europeand the severe discrimination and deprivation that they face. The speakers then gave anoverview of the extensive policy and legal frameworks that have been built up over the past15 years, at the European level. Conclusion: the tools are in place, but far too little is happening on the ground. Bernard Rorke,paraphrasing UNICEF, stated that what is needed for the next five years of the Decade ofRoma Inclusion (2005 – 2015) is nothing less than:

“a revolution that places children at the heart of human development – not onlybecause this offers a strong return on our investment (although it does) nor becausethe vulnerability of childhood calls upon our compassion (although it should), butrather for a more fundamental reason: because it is their right.”

Improving the Quality of Childhood in the European Union: the Case of the Roma Children by Ivan IvanovExecutive Director of the European Roma Information Office (ERIO)

Bernard RorkeDirector of International Advocacy and Research, Roma Initiatives, Open SocietyFoundations, Budapest, Hungary

Lorne WaltersIndependent Researcher and Consultant on Child Health and Child Rights issues

introduction by Lívia Járóka, MEP


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Introduction by Lívia Járóka, MEP

The two main things I wish to discuss are: • The quality of education experienced by Roma children, and • The threats faced by Roma children and young people, such as extreme socio-economic

deprivation and lack of education. In addition, they often face threats from within theirown communities.

The Quality of Education for Roma ChildrenMost Roma children are subject to low-quality education in the form of segregatededucation and gipsy-only classrooms. Roma children encounter major difficulties inaccessing high quality education. The result of this is low performance at school. Forexample:

- Only 20 percent of Romany children receive preschool education, - 20 percent of Roma children are not enrolled in school. - 30 percent of Roma children in Europe drop out of school before completing

compulsory education. - Some 50 percent of the Roma in Europe are illiterate or semi-illiterate.

• Often Roma children live in segregated areas (or in communities on the periphery ofurban areas) and this tends to lead to them attending segregated schools.

• Frequently Roma children are educated in separate classrooms, or are in schoolsspecifically for gipsy children. This is not only an issue in the new member states of theEuropean Union, but the same holds true in many older member states.

• Excluding Roma children from school, as well as segregating them from mainstreameducation deprives them of their fundamental right to education and makes it difficultfor young people to move into higher education and into higher paying jobs.

• Children’s parents often remove their children from school when there are Roma childrenat that school. This leads to segregated classrooms, especially in rural areas.

• The authorities in Slovakia, Hungary and other Eastern European countries very oftenplace Roma children in special schools (i.e. for mentally disabled children). Very oftenlearning difficulties or even disadvantaged social background are falsely portrayed byschool officials as mental disability.

All forms of school segregation weaken the quality of national education systems as awhole. The continued marginalisation of Roma youth will cause society to lose a significantsource of creativity and social contribution. On the other hand, investment in Romaeducation is a worthwhile investment: better educated Roma have better paid jobs andwhile they earn money and contribute to the national budget through taxes on bothincome and consumption they also contribute to diminishing prejudice. As the Romabecome more productive and their poverty level decreases, they also become contributing

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members of society instead of beneficiaries of public aid. The combination of increased taxcontribution and decreased spending on welfare benefits adds up to a net gain for thenational budget.

• The education of Roma women has a major impact on the educational performance ofcommunities. The incomplete or poor standard of education of girls is likely not only toaffect them individually, but may well transmit disadvantage to their children. Pre-schooleducation is particularly important for children from socially disadvantaged families, interms of it having a positive impact on the whole of the person’s life. The benefits of pre-school education include: the promotion of social equality, increased individualproductivity, reduced levels of poverty, and the elimination of discriminatory attitudesand social exclusion.

• Making progress depends on the children and young people having well-qualifiedteachers from Roma and non-Roma backgrounds. If we are to expect good results,teachers must be provided with exemplary training and expertise in progressive teachingmethods for multicultural and diverse class groups. However, teachers who are going toteach Roma children are not at all prepared for the task. At the Teacher Training Collegeslittle or no attention is paid to this issue. Teacher trainees are taught about psychology,history, pedagogy and so on, but they are not informed that 60% of their students maybe Roma children from extremely deprived families, where even getting enough to eat isa problem.

The Roma must be integrated into the workforce Given the trend that many Eastern European countries will need more people in theworkforce, due to demographic changes, by 2050 many of the working population will beRoma. The Roma population is growing rapidly. In Hungary the Roma constitute 6% to 8%of the population at present. Some researchers are saying that 40 to 50 percent of theactive working population in Hungary will be of Roma origin by 2050. It is therefore vitalto take into account that, on the one hand, the proportion of Roma within the activepopulation is growing steadily, and on the other that there is huge potential to reintegrateunemployed Roma adults into the labour market. Today’s children will be responsible forpaying the pensions of an ageing Europe in the future. Therefore the member states cannotignore this aspect of the Roma context.

Early MarriageEquality between men and women is not a reality within most Roma families. Girls areoften forced to leave school at an extremely young age to help care for younger siblings orto carry out other household responsibilities, and are often pressurized to marry young.Many Roma girls marry at a very young age and are thus denied the ordinary experiencesthat other young people are granted: schooling, good health and broad economicopportunities. Instead of being viewed as children with potential and with a range ofopportunities at their disposal, girls are often viewed by their communities only as wives

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and mothers. This exposes girls to responsibilities and risks that they are often notphysically or mentally prepared to undertake, while at the same time disrupting theirprospects for education and employment. In addition to having a negative impact on thegirls themselves, the practice of early marriage also has negative consequences for children,families and for society as a whole. Research shows that providing economic opportunitiesand enhancing the education of women will result in fewer early marriages. When jobs areavailable to girls, and they can thus contribute to the household, both daughters and theirparents become interested in delaying marriage. Financial incentives alone will, however,not eliminate the practice of child marriage. The views and attitudes of the communityitself must be changed, with the help of educated Roma and committed communityleaders.

Violation of Human Rights in Roma Communities: It is widespread and should beaddressedHuman Rights are often violated in Roma communities. This is well-known and welldocumented. When people are forced to live in extreme poverty this is a violation of theirHuman Rights. I have, at first hand, seen the devastating impact that poverty has on families,on people whom I have known for decades. There is often miscommunication between thepeople providing services to Roma people and the Roma, because they do not know thelanguage, the culture and so on. In most cases they are not of Roma origin. This is the casewith medical doctors, police officers, social workers and other government officials.

In addition, mentoring should be provided to help people to get out of the situations ofdeprivation in which they live. Partners from both inside and outside the community areneeded to help the Roma.

Basic facts about the Roma people in the European Union, with a particular focus onRoma children.by Ivan Ivanov, Executive Director of the European Roma Information Office (ERIO)

What is the European Roma Information Office (ERIO)?ERIO aims to combat racial discrimination against the Roma and to raise the level of publicawareness of the problems faced by Roma communities. It lobbies for the rights of Romapeople by designing and promoting policies which are oriented towards the improvementof the socio-economic situation and social inclusion of the Roma in Europe. ERIO is currently focused on anti-discrimination policies in the fields of education,employment, healthcare and housing.

Demographic information and the levels of discriminationIn the European Union there are more than 10 million Roma. This is the largest minoritygroup in Europe and it is widely accepted that the Roma are subjected to exclusion andsegregation, and suffer from high levels of racism from the majority populations. Although

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considerably more attention has been paid to the human rights violations experienced bythe Roma in Central and Eastern Europe, it should not be forgotten that the Roma who livein Western Europe endure similar violations of their basic civil, political, economic andsocial rights. Across Europe Roma communities have experienced a long history ofdiscrimination and persecution, including forced resettlement, female sterilization, and theremoval of children from their families.

Despite the commitments made and the resources invested by governments, improvementsin the lives of the Roma have been meagre. Recent research indicated that anti-Romasentiments have risen in many countries. Recent reports provide further evidence ofdiscrimination across Europe. For example, housing conditions for the Roma are oftenatrocious, with communities facing a perpetual risk of being evicted and/or experiencingpolice raids. The Roma have poor (or no) access to services such as water and electricity.The unemployment rate among the Roma is frequently very high, especially in Slovakia,Romania and Spain. The Roma also face limited eligibility for social assistance or they arenot eligible for social assistance at all. Removal of their eligibility for social assistance hasbeen known to happen in countries such as Slovakia, Romania and France. One of the mainobstacles in accessing basic services is the lack of residence permits, birth certificates, andidentity documents among individuals in the community.

Roma communities face exorbitantly high poverty ratesAll of these factors contribute to the exorbitantly high poverty rates among Romacommunities which impact directly on their children. But that is not the extent of thedifficulties faced by these children - they are often excluded from school, have limitedaccess to healthcare and low vaccination rates. But the most obvious violation of the Romachildren’s basic rights is segregation, both residential and educational.

Well-funded initiatives often fail to take into account the underlying systemicdiscrimination which is at the root of much of the economic, social and cultural povertyand exclusion experienced by the Roma. Focusing on improving housing, education oraccess to healthcare without addressing issues of segregation will, at best, bring about onlyshort-term benefits.

The 2007 Euro barometer shows that on average 77% of Europeans think that it is adisadvantage to be a Roma in their society. The 2008 Euro barometer shows that between28% and 45% of Europeans do not want to live next door to a Roma household, to work withindividuals of Roma extraction or for their children to attend school with Roma children.

A recent survey by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights shows that theRoma are in the top three groups which are most discriminated against, based on theindicators used in the survey.

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Three pillars of the legal framework: the Race Equality Directive, the Framework Directiveand the Charter of Fundamental RightsRespect and protection of minority rights was highlighted as a key value of the EuropeanUnion when it became one of the political criteria for accession. When the Amsterdamtreaty came into effect in 1999, the EU Council acquired the right to introduce legislationto fight discrimination on a range of different grounds, including discrimination on thebasis of racial or ethnic origin. Shortly thereafter, the Commission developed a proposalwhich led to the adoption of the Directive 2000/43 – the Race Equality Directive andDirective 2000/78 – the Framework Directive. The EU commitment to equality was furtherreaffirmed in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union which wasproclaimed in the year 2000.

Current EU Policy ActionsEuropean institutions have produced the following documents and have founded thefollowing working groups. This illustrates the commitment that exists to address the topicsin question:• The European Commission Communication 'Towards an EU Strategy on the Rights of the

Child”• Commissioners' Group on Fundamental Rights, Equality and Non–Discrimination, a high

level group which backed the development of a European pact for children, helpingMember States protect children through legislative and financial support or by theexchange of existing good practice.

• Inter-institutional and inter-service working group• The European Parliament Children's Rights Alliance

The latest developments concerning the Roma:• The European Commission Framework strategy for non-discrimination and equal

opportunities for all (September 2005). • The establishment of the Fundamental Rights Agency• The three resolutions (mentioned above) concerning the Roma, which call on the

European Commission to prepare a communication on ways of coordinating EU efforts toimprove the situation for Roma communities (April 2005)

• The resolution concerning Roma women (May 2006)• The resolution for the adoption of a Roma Policy (January 2007)• The European Council decision of December 2008.• The 10 Common Basic principles based on the decision of the Council• The European Platform for Roma integration

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The Roma context in the European Union: A story of extreme discrimination and deprivation.By Bernard RorkeDirector of International Advocacy and Research, Roma Initiatives, Open SocietyFoundations, Budapest, Hungary

When it comes to the rights and well-being of children we could do well to pause andremember the fates of three Romany children last year. In February 2009 five-year-oldRobika Czorba and his father were shot dead as they fled from their fire-bombed house inTatarszentgyorgy, Hungary. In April 2009, in the Czech town of Vitkov, two-year-old NatlkaSivkov sustained 80% burns when her home was attacked with Molotov cocktails. In theHungarian town of Kisleta in August 2009, 13-year-old Ketrin Balogh suffered multiplegunshot wounds in an attack on her home that killed her mother Maria.

Beyond the tragic fates of these three children, lies a wider story of discrimination andneglect. When it comes to the rights and well-being of Romany children, the gap betweenrhetoric and reality is an affront that should, but somehow does not, inspire outrage andindignation among all right-minded citizens. Within and beyond the European Union,masses of Romany children subsist in conditions of marginalization, poverty and exclusionmore akin to the developing world.

UNICEF’s research into the plight of Roma children confirms what many of us havesurmised from witnessing the conditions in many settlements over the last 10 years: • The environment of the child is one of marginalization, poverty and exclusion. Poor

housing and poor infrastructure are exacerbated by residential segregation. Residents ofslums suffer legal insecurity, often lack property rights and cannot register their home asa permanent address. Because of this, many are unable to access basic services: they arein fact “invisible”, living on the margins of societies that do not care about them.

• Low levels of education, early marriage, and the economic and social dependence ofRoma women reinforce the discrimination of women, and limit women’s abilities to makeimportant decisions related to their own life and to that of their children.

• Extreme poverty causes malnutrition, ill health, inadequate parental care and psycho-social stimulation which can result in damage that cannot be repaired later in life, evenif the individual’s standard of living improves. Poverty has the most dire consequences inchildhood, more than in any other phase of the life cycle.

• Poverty and social exclusion are passed on from generation to generation.

The children stranded on the lead-contaminated camps in Mitrovice, Kosovo bear terribletestament to the failure of national and international agencies. Thousands of others,displaced by conflict in Kosovo, lack basic registration documents and, as a consequence,

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are denied the very basic right to have rights. One of the earliest forms of exclusionsuffered by many Roma children is the lack of official registration of their birth. The‘invisibility’ of non-registered children is of particular concern as the lack of an officialidentity can hinder them from receiving their rights to care and support from publicauthorities and services. In addition to the complications arising from the displacement byconflict in Kosovo of many thousands of people, obstacles such as costly and complicatedprocedures, a lack of trust in the authorities, the lack of a permanent address compoundedby discriminatory treatment by relevant authorities leads to a truly unacceptable situation.The mere fact that children are not registered at birth is evidence of a severe deficiency inthe system. It is the governments’ responsibility to ensure that all children are registered.As Thomas Hammarberg, the Commissioner for Human Rights for the Council of Europe put it:

'It is not acceptable that European citizens are deprived of their right to anationality – a basic human right. It is necessary to address this problem withmuch more energy than has been done so far'.

European host states should do their utmost to provide Roma children and their parentswith a secure legal statusEuropean host states where children of Roma migrants have been born and have lived forseveral years should do their utmost to provide a secure legal status for these children andfor their parents. Both the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the InternationalCovenant of Civil and Political Rights stipulate that children shall have the right to acquirea nationality. In other words, the host country has an obligation to ensure that childrenhave a nationality; the fact that their parents are stateless is no excuse. Recently, ThomasHammarberg, criticizing EU states such as Germany for the forced returns of Roma toKosovo, said:

To push Roma families between countries, as now happens, is inhumane. Itvictimizes children – many of whom were born and grew up in the host countriesbefore they were deported.

Many Romany children have experienced the trauma of deportation and forced eviction,and, from a tender age, have acquired an intimate knowledge of what it is like to go hungry.Many Romany children across the continent have experienced the trauma of deportationand forced eviction, and from a tender age, too many Romany children have acquired anintimate knowledge of what it is like to go hungry. Research conducted by UNICEF andother agencies in the countries of the former Yugoslavia indicated that when it comes toRoma children, 47% were considered as ‘food insecure with hunger’, and many had neverconsumed milk or dairy products, nor had ever tasted fresh fruit and vegetables. Theexperience of hunger is debilitating and humiliating. A hungry child cannot concentrate at


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school and a hungry child feels ashamed when seated alongside his/her well-nourishedpeers. For many Roma children acute material disadvantage is compounded by ethnicsegregation at school. Research conducted by the Roma Education Fund (REF) hasconfirmed that “separate” remains profoundly unequal when it comes to schooling andsucceeds only in amplifying disadvantage and reinforcing prejudice.

All talk of integration is futile as long as children across Central and Eastern Europe aredenied equal access to quality education on the basis of their ethnicity. Integration willremain an elusive goal as long as Romany children continue to be disproportionately andinappropriately classified as mentally disabled and sent to special schools; as long asRomany children continue to be dispatched to so-called gipsy schools situated in Romaghettos; or placed in ‘gipsy classes’. The decision of the European Court of Human Rights inthe case of D.H. and Others vs. the Czech Republic dramatically highlighted the persistenceof such discriminatory practices. The court ruled that segregating Romany students intospecial schools is a form of unlawful discrimination. Evidence and research conducted bythe Roma Education Fund confirms that despite the ruling, the practice of sending Romanychildren to special schools persists in many countries, including Hungary, Slovakia, Serbia,Bulgaria and Montenegro. The most recent study conducted by REF provides the firstcomprehensive picture of the over-representation of Roma children within specialeducation in Slovakia. The report confirms that approximately 60 per cent of children inspecial schools are Roma and the report asserts that the vast majority of these childrenclearly do not belong in special education.

De facto segregation is more than an abuse of human rights. It amounts to a willful andmalicious squandering of the Roma communities’ most precious asset - the intellectualcapacities of future generations. Substandard segregated education leaves young peopleunable to progress beyond elementary levels of schooling, and unable to compete in thelabour market. From an early age, it isolates Romany children from the wider society inwhich they live. Segregation perpetuates and exacerbates existing divisions andinequalities in society.

Policies and Recommendations, Part IBy Bernard Rorke

The Decade of Roma Inclusion: closing the gap by 2015We are at the mid-point of the Decade of Roma Inclusion (the Decade runs from 2005 to2015, see www.romadecade.org). I am happy that the Czech Republic, which will assumethe presidency of the Decade for one year from June 2010, has prioritized the rights andwell-being of Roma children. Each of the Decade countries have drawn up National ActionPlans in the priority areas of health, housing, education and employment with the declaredobjective of closing the gap between Roma and non-Roma peoples by 2015.

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Within the context of the Decade, and drawing on UNICEF research, the following pointsneed to be emphasized:• Particularly vulnerable groups of children, including Romany children, are likely to suffer most

from the lack of coherent child and family policies across central and south-eastern Europe. • The National Action Plans have not given enough attention to childhood issues.

Decade National Action Plans (NAPs) of countries participating in the Decade of RomaInclusion were found wanting on a number of issues, according to the UNICEF reportBreaking the cycle of exclusion: Roma children in South East Europe. UNICEF 2007http://www.unicef.org/ceecis/070305-Subregional_Study_Roma_Children.pdf Oneexample is the issue of upgrading settlements. None of the NAPs account for children’sneeds in this area, such as outdoor safety, spaces for play, access to transport, andrecreational and sports facilities. No role is foreseen for children and young people inhelping to improve their own environment. According to UNICEF the NAPs do not reflecta holistic, multi-dimensional understanding of children’s lives and well-being.

• Such an understanding is necessary to define what policies are needed to createconditions in families, communities, schools and healthcare to enable Romany childrento develop to their full potential. In the education system this would, for example, meannot only focusing on enrolment and attendance rates but on the conditions for learningwithin schools: the quality of teaching, child participation and parental involvement, andtackling bullying and violence among students. Addressing the well-being of Romanychildren from a broader perspective requires comprehensive and coordinated strategies.

• As regards the sphere of education – affirmative and positive action is so importantbecause schools play a crucial role in creating a wider sense of belonging in society.Integration and a sense of belonging should, always and everywhere, be a two-wayprocess. The Roma cannot belong to a society that does not welcome them. Schoolsshould prepare their pupils by cultivating such skills and virtues as sympatheticimagination, tolerance, openness to other ways of life and mutual respect. Schools mustaddress issues of racism in playgrounds and classrooms, among children and teachingprofessionals. Schools must work to provide a welcoming and positive environment forRoma and all ethnic minority children.

• Early childhood intervention from Year Zero: the provision of health care,development and education for children under compulsory school-age.The material deprivation endured by so many Romany children in their early years,impedes their potential to progress from the very outset of their schooling. To ensureequality there is a clear need for a series of compensatory interventions at the earliestpossible stage in a child’s life. We need to think in broader terms than compulsoryenrolment in pre-school. Readiness for school must include health and emotional well-being, cognitive and language development and take into account of the child’s familyand social environment.

• When we speak of Roma children we are not talking merely about a category ofhumankind. We are discussing the fate and dignity of millions of young individuals in alltheir diversity and uniqueness. We must refute those who would diagnose these children

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in terms of what they lack, those who would categorize them as problematic. What isneeded is a supportive, child-centered learning environment for these children to enablethem to realize their potential and successfully adapt to mainstream schooling.

In a region characterised by aging populations and falling birth rates, the Roma populationis the youngest and fastest growing demographic segment of the citizenry. Our societiescannot afford another lost generation of excluded and marginalised young Roma.

To paraphrase UNICEF, what is needed for the next five years of the Decade is nothing lessthan

“a revolution that places children at the heart of human development – not onlybecause this offers a strong return on our investment (although it does) norbecause the vulnerability of childhood calls upon our compassion (although itshould), but rather for a more fundamental reason: because it is their right.”

At the level of the European Union, the impact of the Decade is clearThe establishment of an integrated EU Roma Platform marks an unprecedented departure.The task of the Platform is to grapple with Roma issues at a European level. We now seesigns of its commitment to engage fully in the Western Balkans. And we look forward toheightened political commitment and concrete recommendations from the 2nd EU RomaSummit in Cordoba in April 2010.

The Decade of Roma Inclusion provides a working templateTo meet the challenges facing Roma communities in general and children in particular weneed more than a Platform. We need a comprehensive EU strategy for Roma Inclusion thatembraces member states and accession countries alike. The Decade of Roma Inclusion, itsshortcomings notwithstanding, provides a working template. The Decade of Roma Inclusionis unique in bringing together such a wide array of partners with shared objectives andcommon goals and with a shared commitment to make a difference. The EU could harnessthese efforts and the experience garnered to date to best effect. I have been impressed bythe concern and focus of many within the European Commission and the genuine desire todo the right thing. What is needed now is the courage and political will to move out of thecomfort zone and for the Commission to devise a comprehensive strategy for Romainclusion that is proportionate to the challenge.

One glaring deficit is the lack of ethnically disaggregated data. If there is no data there canbe no progress. If we lack basic data we cannot devise effective, targeted policies. If welack basic data we can neither make nor measure progress. The Open Society Institute hasrecently launched a report on the state of data collection across the Decade countriescalled No Data No Progress with clear recommendations on how best to move forwardhttp://www.soros.org/initiatives/roma/articles_publications/publications/no-data-no-

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progress-20100628. One thing is clear, early findings confirm our long held assertion thatthe lack of disaggregated data has proven to be a major barrier to progress; it weakens theimpact of policies to promote equality and non-discrimination. Such failures may result inworsening the situation for the impoverished, the marginalized, and the disenfranchised.

Adopted in 2004, the European Common Basic Principles for Integration call for clearlydefined objectives and highlight the need for evaluation and monitoring. Much more couldbe done by the EU to support and encourage governments to collect data disaggregated byethnicity. Some states object to this, stating that the collection of ethnically disaggregateddata is not permitted, that it cannot be done. The short answer is: 'yes it can'. There areadequate procedural safeguards in place to ensure that personal data is not put to improperuse. In this area, the European Union could play a vital coordinating role in guiding andcoordinating the efforts of national governments to collect the sort of data we need tomove forward. And towards this end we need a comprehensive European strategy for Romainclusion that prioritizes the rights and well-being of Romany children.

Policies and Recommendations, Part IIby Ivan Ivanov

I recommend the following actions: • Adopt a framework strategy for the Roma.• Improve the existing EU policy frameworks.• Enhance legislation compliance and monitoring.• The Open Method of Coordination should encourage a strategic, integrated approach and

facilitate “mainstreaming” at the Member State level with regard to Roma integration aswell as providing opportunities for networking and mutual learning.

• Positive measures need to be part of the EC strategy, in terms of its own initiatives andfunding programmes and the guidance that it provides to the Member States.

• Establish a mechanism to monitor the Member States in order to tackle discriminationand racism directed towards the Roma.

• Focus on strengthening and expanding Roma civil society with particular focus oncapacity and network building and core support for organisations at the European level.

• Greater support and encouragement for data gathering by the Member States.• Promoting respect for Roma identities and culture should be an integral aspect of the EU

approach.• Identifying Roma target groups within current EU social inclusion, employment and life-

long learning strategies should be a priority for the EU Council. This would inform the EUcommitment to Roma integration and would greatly facilitate the bringing of Romaissues into the mainstream.

The actions indicate that Roma issues are quite well articulated at EU level. Some

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Commissioners show a political will for change, but no clear and concrete commitmentshave been made. Perhaps I expect too much, but from my point of view this is somethingthat should happen as soon as possible.

Reflections on how to make policy efforts more effective Over the last five years there have been ongoing discussions with several organisationsabout why the high investment in Roma issues have not lead to a proportional outcome. • One of the three problems that can be seen is that all these projects are not strategically

focused. Usually they exist as parallel systems funded by different private or state runinstitutions and often they do not include ensured continuity or sustainability.

• Secondly, one of the obstacles to really making a difference is the issue of participation.In most cases institutions take a paternalistic approach. They tend to believe that theyare better informed about the rights of the Roma than the Roma themselves. When theethnic and cultural specificity of the Roma is not taken into account these projectsusually fail. To take an example, in Bulgaria, my home country, a health care centre wasbuilt in the Roma ghetto, which lay some distance from the centre of the town. Regularcheck-ups for pregnant women were planned. The centre was staffed by two malegynecologists and two nurses, but over a period of six months not one single Romawoman came to the centre. What had not been taken into account is that Roma womenwill not consult male gynecologists. This aspect of the culture of Roma women had beenoverlooked and led to the failure of the project. Consultation and participation is,therefore, very important – the Roma should not be passive beneficiaries. They should becharged with responsibilities from the beginning to the end of each project.

• The third reason could be that often projects with the same goal and ideas are run indifferent regions or countries and these projects do not communicate with each other.Neither successes nor failures are communicated in an appropriate way, so that thereseems to be no learning process.

• Policy initiatives of the European Union should always have a clear Roma aspect. Theexchange of good practice should also be enforced. I am aware that not everything canand should be solved by “Brussels”. There should be a shared responsibility betweenEuropean and national levels and they should really be linked to each other.

Conclusionby Lorne Walters

Lorne Walters presented a manifesto “Putting Child Rights First – Say No to the Exploitationand Discrimination of Roma Children”. (For the full text of the manifesto – please seeAppendix 1.) The manifesto was written by Lorne Walters, Hvzi Cazim and NicolaeGheorghe and was endorsed in Brussels in March 2010. The document calls for the urgentimplementation of a unified European stand by all stakeholders – Roma and non Roma -against the ever rising wave of ill-treatment, exploitation, discrimination and social

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exclusion of Roma children and for the immediate protection and implementation of theirfundamental rights. The document also lays out proposed methods and targets to improvethe situation for the Roma children in Europe.Lorne Walters also presented a letter from Hvzi Cazim to the meeting. Mr Cazim (who wasunable to be present) is the President of the Brussels-based Roma NGO, ASBL Comité pourl’Union du Peuple Rhom. His letter (for the text see Appendix 2) calls upon other Romaleaders to immediately initiate a Roma child rights campaign.

We need a “Roma Marshall-Plan” to address this appalling situation

We have to break with what has been happening until now. We are getting into a situationwhere it is normal to have seminars and conferences about the fate of Roma and theirchildren. But some kind of “Marshall-Plan” must be set in place to really make a difference- talks and resolutions do not help enough. The problem is: why are the existing agreementsto change the situation of the Roma not being respected? How can it be that people whohave the power to change the unbearable situation do not do anything? They are obviouslyaware of the situation as they have signed all the resolutions, but nothing is being done tochange the situation. It is really time to start the work: the Roma people have to be out infront, but they have to know that others are there beside them.

© Tamás Schild

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Appendix 1:

'Putting Child Rights First – Say No to Exploitation and Discrimination of Roma Children'

Rationale for the urgent implementation of a unified European stand by all stakeholders –Roma and non Roma - against the ever rising wave of ill-treatment, exploitation,discrimination and social exclusion of Roma children and for the immediate protection andimplementation of their indivisible fundamental rights1

1. Given the vulnerability of children in general - especially within the EU Roma community,itself a longstanding victim of discrimination, persecution and social exclusion - commonsense would require the immediate mainstreaming for these children of a non-discriminatoryeffective protection against all forms of violence, neglect and exploitative activities, involvingor not trafficking2. Unfortunately just the opposite is true and the aggravating factor oftoday’s all-for-profit global economy contributing to the exponential spread of socialexclusion and violence against children in general is only making things worse, particularly forsuccessive generations of Roma youth.

2. The illicit and persistent failing of EU society as a whole to provide adequate protection forRoma children and their fundamental rights curtails their individual potential for full positivehuman development thus gravely compromising their possibilities to grow up to beresponsible empowered citizens in a strengthened socially inclusive Europe;

3. Indeed, given the continued absence of prioritized protection and the adoption by allstakeholders – Roma and non Roma, Member States, NGOs, concerned citizens everywhere –of an uncompromising and non-discriminatory child rights centred approach3 to dealeffectively with the root causes of this worsening vicious cycle of successive lost generationsof sacrificed Roma children, the legitimate on-going campaigns for full human rights by andfor the Roma community as a whole cannot possibly succeed; as Nelson Mandela so wiselyput it: “Children are the rock on which will be built the future of Humanity: Citizens oftomorrow, for the better or for the worse.”

1 As set out notably in the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)2 Cf. the important update of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF): Guidelines for the protection of child victims oftrafficking, September 2006, available at http://www.unicef.org/ceecis/0610-Unicef_Victims_Guidelines_en.pdf 3 Cf. the European Parliament Resolution of 16 January 2008 : Towards an EU strategy on the rights of the child,P6_TA(2008)0012 – (2007/2093(INI)), notably para.89: “{the Parliament} calls on the Member States to implement seriousmeasures to ban all different forms of exploitation of children including exploitation for prostitution or other forms of sexualexploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery or servitude, use of children associated withbegging, illegal activities, sport and related activities, illicit adoption, forced marriage or any other forms of exploitation;”

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4. It is therefore urgent for the above-mentioned stakeholders – Roma leaders at the forefront– to kick start together a highly public European Union backed campaign to raise awareness ofthe injustice and increasing dangers of the pursuit of the present unsustainable racist drivenpolicy of “laissez-faire” and to propose and implement concrete measures to effectively stampout all forms of abuse, exploitation and exclusion of Roma children.

Method and targets – a few initial open-ended propositions1. In a nutshell, stakeholders and supporters of this campaign must come together withoutfurther delay to determine how to explicitly mainstream current general Roma fundamentalrights demands by prioritizing those of their children, hence the present appeal “Putting Child’Rights First”. Thus, without “reinventing the wheel”, this could be achieved by appropriatelyreformulating the legitimate fundamental rights demands of the Roma community as a wholeinto specific child rights terms and basically “putting these first” with the specific aim oferadicating on-going violations of the fundamental rights of Roma children and youththroughout the EU 4;2. This child rights prioritizing of current Roma fundamental rights demands could eventuallytake the form of an ad hoc “Charter” 5 open to the signature of the widest possible range ofconcerned potential stakeholders; 3. To increase success, the campaign must benefit from a high-profile launch involving at thevery least the EU Parliament and preferably all EU bodies as well as the active participation ofrelevant Roma, European child rights and antiracist NGOs;4. The invitation to this highly publicized launch – preferably in a high venue building of the EU– should include significant field savvy key speakers6 to underscore the gravity and the urgencyof the said campaign’s objectives;5. Different concerted actions should involve at a minimum urgent verification anddenunciation of existing breaches in present legally binding EU, UN and domestic MemberStates’ legislation imposing the non-discriminatory protection of all children – especially withregard to Roma - and result in their immediate correction;

4 All existing Roma and Roma related policy documents – resolutions, recommendations, communications, etc. – duly adoptedby Member States and European institutions must presently be urgently matched by ad hoc Action Plans, conceived andimplemented from the “Putting Child Rights First” point of view.5For example, by reformulating into a “Putting Child Rights First” perspective key elements of relevant existing documents suchas the European Roma and Travellers Forum’s “Charter of Roma Rights” (February 2010) and the EU Council of Europe’s “EUCommon Basic Principles for Roma Inclusion” (June 2009), etc.6 These could include, for example, renowned experts on child trafficking, specialized researchers from internationalorganizations such as Anti-Slavery International, Terre des Hommes, UNICEF, ILO/IPEC, UN.GIFT(Global Initiative to FightHuman Trafficking), etc., as well as specialized ad hoc investigative reporters and eventual screenings of extracts of some oftheir work, films, photography, etc., documenting the trans-European exploitation of Roma children and youth in prostitution,forced begging, forced crime, etc., which could serve as visual testimony to some less visible aspects of the problem, etc…

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6. Other actions might also include the setting up of a specific “Roma child rights watchdog”body having official EU competency for scrutiny and binding denunciation of all reportedviolations; to do so this group would necessarily interact and cooperate closely with all existingEU bodies presently monitoring and combating child rights violations notably involving humantrafficking;7. Similarly the creation of a trans-European permanent helpline for potentially vulnerableRoma child victims and other concerned groups could add visibility and efficiency to the above;etc...7

Importantly, the proposed campaign must necessarily be perceived to be spearheaded by RomaMEPs and other recognized Roma leaders themselves, together with the above-mentionedstakeholders. This shared ownership is essential in order to ensure necessary credibility andwidespread public support and to bring to an end current untenable implicit trivialization andcondoning of the abuse, exploitation and discrimination of Roma children in the name of amost doubtful “cultural” political correctness. In truth this cynical form of pseudo-humanisticanti-Roma racism is actually fuelling and not combating increasing anti-Gipsy-ism,dangerous racist stereotypes and multiple anti-Roma discrimination whilst allowing MemberState and European authorities at all levels to continue to wriggle off the hook of their legallybinding obligations to effectively prevent and eliminate these problems.

Finally, “Putting Child Rights First” should, within the above-mentioned specific context ofeffectively protecting vulnerable Roma children, strike home the essential but often forgottenuniversal wisdom that as adult citizens, what we do to our children – be they Roma or not -they will one day do back to us!

Indeed, if as a society at large we continue to remain incapable of adequately protecting andrespecting the fundamental rights of our own children, how can they possibly be expected asadults to do otherwise?

Surely, considering the consequences for all of us, “wait and see” is today no longer an option.

The present urgent appeal for active endorsement and ownership of the “Putting Child RightsFirst” campaign is especially directed to all participants at the 2nd Roma Summit, organized inCordoba on the 8th and 9th of April 2010 by the Spanish 2010 Presidency of the EU, and inparticular to the EU Commission, the EU Parliament, the EU Council, the EU Member States andstates participating in the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015, the Council of Europe, theOSCE Contact Point for Roma and Sinti Issues, the Roma representatives and civil society

7 This brief list of propositions should not be seen as limited and/or definitive but rather as a series of suggestions of means toan end; indeed any proposition which would reinforce the main thrust of the campaign i.e. “Putting Child Rights First: Say Noto Discrimination and Exploitation of Roma Children” would be most welcome.

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organisations and notably to the EU Roma Policy Coalition8 with specific reference to its“Declaration on the Occasion of the European Roma Summit”, Brussels, 16 September 2008.

Brussels, 10-11 March 2010

Provisional contacts: Hvzi Cazim, C.U.P.R.Mobile: +0032 (0)495 89 61 05Postal Address: Rue Destouvelles, 571030 Brussels, Belgium

Nicolae GheorgheMobile: +0039 (0)366 32 83 419Email: [email protected]

Lorne WaltersLandline: +32 2 734 93 07Email: [email protected]

8 The members of this coalition are Amnesty International, European Roma Rights Center, European Network Against Racism,Open Society Institute, Spolu International Foundation, Minority Rights Group International, European Roma GrassrootsOrganisation, Roma Education Fund, Fondacion Secretariado Gitano. This working blueprint text was originally drafted inNovember 2009 for the proposed campaign by the Brussels based independent consultant on child health and child rightsissues, Lorne Walters and subsequently embellished together with Nicolae Gheorghe (Roumania) and Hvzi Cazim (Belgium).

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Appendix 2:

Brussels, March 2, 2010

To:The Alliance for Childhood European Network GroupBrussels, BelgiumThe Working Group on the Quality of Childhood at the European Parliament

Subject: the 21st session “Improving the Quality of Childhood in the European Union: the caseof Roma Children”

Dear MEPs, Dear Friends, Dear Fellow Roma,

As President of the Brussels based Roma NGO, ASBL Comité pour l'Union du Peuple Rhom, Iwish to express to you all, and especially to Mr Michiel Matthes, Secretary General of theAlliance for Childhood European Network Group, our sincere thanks for his warm invitation toparticipate in the above-mentioned 21st session for the promotion of the well-being of Romachildren.

Unfortunately, due to a compelling professional engagement, I am unable to attend thisimportant working session. I do hope, however, that you may accept and find useful thefollowing written remarks.

As some of you may know, since its creation in 2001, the C.U.P.R. has set out at the very top ofits agenda the fight against human trafficking in general, and especially against all forms ofchild exploitation, abuse and neglect, notably associated with forced begging, early marriages,forced pregnancies, prostitution and other forced criminal activities of which Roma children,girls and boys alike, are increasingly the vulnerable victims of predators, from without and,most regrettably, from within our own community.

Whatever the circumstances, the exploitation and/or trafficking of vulnerable Roma citizens,especially children, can never be justified or tolerated, especially when perpetrated by otherRoma including family members.

Neither can be the continuing incomprehensible failure by the EU authorities and MemberStates to effectively protect especially Roma children from all forms of violence, abuse andneglect, in clear breach of their legally binding obligations to do so. We also vigorouslydenounce growing cynical attempts, from without and from within the Roma community, topublicly condone or trivialize these practices as a “lesser evil”, wrongly suggesting as

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“legitimate” a sort of would-be special “Roma right” to exploit vulnerable others “out ofnecessity”.

What we must urgently understand, however, is that the combined toxic effects of prolongeddecades of often violent persecution, ever increasing poverty, social exclusion and endemicdespair and desperation resulting in successive lost generations of sacrificed Roma childrendoes not come without a price. Indeed, if not urgently remedied, the knock-on effects of theseuntreated wounds to the individual and collective Roma psyches, like gangrene, will inexorablycontinue to eat away at our moral and cultural vitality, thus compromising our potential toattain the economic, social and cultural goals we are so desperately trying to reach. Increasingdrug abuse among our youth and its influence in rising crime rates is just an example of this. Ifwe dare to continue to ignore the vital necessity of putting the best interests and well-being ofour children at the very vanguard of our endeavours, we are effectively compromising anyrealistic hope for significant change for the better in the foreseeable future.

Moreover the above-mentioned practices, especially involving the use of infants and childrenas commercial commodities, inevitably contribute to the increasing vilification of the Roma ingeneral, perceived as being “less than human” in the eyes of our European neighbours, thusdirectly reinforcing the vicious circle of rising fear and rejection of our community whilstconsolidating the racist stereotypes and discrimination which are seriously hindering thehuman rights based social inclusion we all so ardently aspire to.

At the eve of the 2nd Roma Summit in Spain next month, it is therefore high time for all Romaleaders, not just some of us, to urgently break with our present uncomfortable andunsustainable “silence” and to speak out unambiguously with one voice against this growingthreat to the future of our community. Indeed, if we, the so called Roma leaders remainincapable of standing up publicly and proudly taking full ownership for the protection of ourown women and children as a prerequisite for the sustainable implementation of thefundamental rights of our community, why then should we expect others to do it for us?

Immediate and resolute action on the ground to effectively protect and guarantee withoutdiscrimination basic child rights to all Roma children and youth, as set out notably in the legallybinding dispositions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), musttherefore become the top priority for all European stakeholders, Roma and non Roma alike.

Successful implementation of other key child rights such as the all-important access to qualityeducation must necessarily be directly associated with the immediate provision to all needyRoma families of adequate housing, employment and unfettered access to health care.In conclusion, in the name of the C.U.P.R., I wish to you all a most successful working session

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today and encourage you to adopt decisive measures in favour of urgently prioritizing the fullprotection of Roma children and their basic human rights against all forms of discrimination,ill-treatment and exploitation in order to guarantee that the present generation of Romachildren may still indeed have a chance to be able to grow up to become responsible,empowered citizens in a strengthened, socially inclusive Europe, thus ensuring the aims wehave all been fighting for.

To that effect, I look forward personally to actively participating in your on-going efforts.

Thank you.

Hvzi CAZIM, PresidentASBL COMITE POUR L’UNION DU PEUPLE RHOMC .U.P.R.Siège: Rue Destouvelles, 57 - 1030 Bruxelles

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Ivan Ivanov is the Executive Director of the European Roma Information Office (ERIO). Previously anattorney for the Budapest-based European Roma Rights Centre, Ivan Ivanov was involvedfor five years in researching and building the legal strategy of ground-breaking civil rightscases filed with the European Court of Human Rights and the domestic courts of severalcountries in Central and Eastern Europe. From 1996 to 1998 he served as a legal adviserfor the Human Rights Project, a national human rights and legal defense organisationbased in Sofia, Bulgaria. In this period Ivan Ivanov spearheaded the development of anumber of strategic litigation cases and key advocacy initiatives.

Ivan Ivanov holds degrees in medicine and law. From 1999 to 2000 he was a visiting scholarat the Law School of Columbia University in New York, where he specialized ininternational human rights and anti-discrimination law. He has written a number ofpublications focusing on issues related to discrimination and access to education andhealth care.

Lívia Járókais a social anthropologist and Member of the European Parliament. She is a board memberof the European Roma Information Office and the Roma Education Fund. Lívia Járóka wonthe award of "Member of the European Parliament of the Year" in 2006 in the category ofJustice and Fundamental Rights and was nominated to be a member of the Forum of YoungGlobal Leaders by the World Economic Forum. Currently she is the Vice-Chairwoman of theCommittee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, rapporteur of "The EU strategy on thesocial inclusion of Roma" appointed by the Committee on Civil Liberties Justice and HomeAffairs, and Chairwoman of the Working Group on Roma Inclusion of the European People's Party.

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Bernard Rorkeis the director of International Advocacy and Research, Roma Initiatives, Open SocietyFoundations, Budapest, Hungary. Formerly director of the Roma Participation Program, hehas worked with the Open Society Institute since 1998. Currently he teaches the “RomaRights” course at Central European University in Budapest. He has a PhD from the Centrefor the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster, and an MSc in politics and sociologyfrom the University of London. He has written on Roma issues, national identity andnationalism. Publications include Between the Living and the Dead: the Politics of IrishHistory (1999) and Beyond Friends and Enemies: the Politics of Irish Nationalism in the20th Century (2010). His blog post for commentary on Roma issues can be found onhttp://blog.soros.org/?s=rorke

Lorne Walters is a Brussels based independent researcher and consultant on child health and child rightsissues. He has been actively involved with the elaboration of the EU Parliament resolutionof 16 January 2008. Towards an EU strategy on the rights of the child, notably concerningthe need for Member States to ban in law all forms of exploitation of children. Similarly,he is the author of a proposal to explicitly ban the "use" of children associated withbegging, which, mutatis mutandis, could serve as a model for much needed harmonizationand clarification of present EU Member States' domestic legislation on this particular issue.Since 2005 he has been the coordinator for a citizen's appeal promoting such legalclarification and the reinforcing of a preventive child rights centred approach with regardto the identification and referral of presumed victims of exploitation, whether or notinvolving trafficking, the text of which can be found on the website: www.stop-mendicite-enfance.org. He is also currently active as an independent advisor to European Roma NGOsand individuals working on child protection issues.

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This article is based on a verbal presentation given to the Quality of Childhood Group in theEuropean Parliament in April 2010 and hosted by MEP Gerald Häfner. Notes taken during thepresentation were formulated into the article below, which has been checked and approvedby Professor Peter Moss.

Parental Leave Policies122

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SUMMARYIn 2009 the International Network on Leave Policies and Research, to which Peter Mossbelongs, published the book 'The Politics of Parental Leave Policies, Children, Gender and theLabour Market'.

The European Union has a policy and a legal framework for parental leave, but this representsa minimum standard, which many member states exceed. Member states are also free todecide on whether to provide a benefit payment to parents taking leave and, if so, the level ofincome replacement during this period of leave. For these reasons, there are large variationsin leave provision between member states.

WWhhaatt aarree tthhee bbaassiicc ccoommppoonneennttss ooff aa ggoooodd ppaarreennttaall lleeaavvee ppoolliiccyy??For Maternity Leave: Peter Moss is in favour of 4 to 5 months maternity leave after the birthof the child. This is roughly in line with the position of the European Commission and theEuropean Parliament.For Parental Leave: The period of maternity leave should then be followed by 12 months ofparental leave. In this regard Peter Moss is in favour of the IIcceellaannddiicc MMooddeell, which wouldmean the 12 months being divided as follows:• 4 months for the mother• 4 months for the father, and • 4 months for the family to decide on which parent will take the leave (the leave may be

taken by the father or by the mother).

LLeevveell ooff PPaayy::Peter Moss favours a pay level of at least 80% of earnings, because at this level people willreally make use of the period of maternity/parental leave.

LLeessssoonnss lleeaarrnneedd ffrroomm ddeessiiggnniinngg lleeaavvee ppoolliicciieess::• Maternity and Parental leave can be affected by a wide range of policy considerations

including: maternal health, infant well-being, fertility policy, labour market policies, gender equality,children's rights, family policies, and so on.

Improving the Quality of Childhood in the European Union:Parental Leave Policiesby Professor Peter Moss co-author of the book 'The Politics of Parental Leave Policies, Children, Gender and theLabour Market'.

Parental Leave Policies 123

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• There are similarly main potential actors and stakeholders in the policy area of parentalleave, including those with an interest in labour market, fertility, family and gender equalitypolicies.Germany, Iceland and Québec are examples of recent big changes to parental leave policies,all three increasing the period of well-paid leave which is only available to be taken byfathers.

WWhhaatt sstteeppss nneeeedd ttoo bbee ttaakkeenn oonn tthhee EEuurrooppeeaann lleevveell??Peter Moss assessed that the European Union is drifting with regards to parental leave. Thereis no sense of direction, and no move towards agreeing the principles which should underliepolicy. • The first thing that the European Union could do is to develop a set of targets. In this

context Peter Moss proposed ‘Barcelona Targets’ for Parental Leave for 2020. The targets heproposed would be: 20% of all parental leave taken in the EU to be taken up by fathers; andall EU member states to provide 12 months of parental leave, with a minimum of 4 monthsof ‘mother only’ and 4 months of ‘father only’ leave paid at a minimum of two-thirds ofprevious earnings.

• Eurostat should start to collect statistics on the topic. • The European Union should develop a recommendation on parental leave, more detailed

than the current Directive, thus providing a sense of direction and encouragement to themember states. This might form part of a revised and updated version of the 1992Recommendation on Childcare, which set out a broad and integrated approach to thereconciliation of employment and family responsibilities, covering not only leave policy, butservices for children, workplace measures and measures to support more equal sharing offamily responsibilities between women and men.

Today I will address the question of parental leave as well as other types of leave. However,the underlying theme is, in fact, time and its allocation, for what is it used, how is it valued?I will look at the allocation of time over an entire life course.

The International Network on Leave Policies and ResearchIn 2009 the International Network on Leave Policies and Research, to which I belong,published a book entitled 'The Politics of Parental Leave Policies, Children, Gender and theLabour Market'. I and my colleague Sheila Kamerman, a professor at Columbia University inNew York, edited the book.

This network builds on the work undertaken between 1986 and 1996 by the EuropeanCommission Network on Childcare, of which I was the coordinator. The InternationalNetwork on Leave Policies and Research was created in 2004. It is informal, but it works andpeople like to contribute to it.

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The following countries are part of the network:• The Czech Republic• Belgium• The United Kingdom (U.K)• Estonia • Finland• France • Germany• Hungary • Slovenia• Iceland• The Netherlands• Norway• Portugal• Spain• Sweden• Russia• Australia• Canada• New Zealand• The United States of America (U.S.A)

Other activities of the network include:• An annual seminar• Every year the network publishes an Annual Review of Leave Policies, containing nearly 30

country studies. The current state of affairs in each of the countries is described and discussed,including recent changes in policies, current research projects and new publications. The latestreview for 2010 can be accessed at http://www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/employment-matters/docs/i/10-1157-international-review-leave-policies.pdf

• Other more specialised activities on a certain theme. For example, a seminar is plannedfor 2011 on fathers’ take up of parental leave.

The structure of this article will be as follows:• What are the basic components of a good parental leave policy?• What lessons can be drawn from comparing the policy making process in different

countries?• What steps need to be taken on the European level?At the end I will expand on the concept of 'Life Course Time Credit' which is at present beingexperimented with in Belgium.

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Some basic facts:• 1883 -1960s: maternity leave policies; The U.K only introduced part-paid maternity leave

in the 1970s, Australia in 2010; the USA is the only OECD country without a universalentitlement to paid maternity leave.

• 1919: ILO Maternity Protection Convention defining minimum standards for maternityleave.; 1970s -1990s: childcare/childrearing leave (Hungary, 1967); and parental leave(Sweden, 1974). Parental leave means that the leave is available to both men and women.Sweden is leading the way on this issue.

• 1983: the European Commission proposes a Parental Leave Directive.• The 1990s: European legislation, i.e. the EU Directives setting minimum standards on

Maternity Leave (1992) and Parental Leave (1996). The directive covering Maternity Leavewas adopted on the basis of health and welfare considerations, the Parental LeaveDirective on the basis of gender equality There is increasing realisation that if fathers donot take up their parental leave then parental leave will contribute to gender inequality.

Definitions:Maternity Leave: this form of leave is only for women.Paternity Leave: this is leave for fathers to be present when the birth takes places to supportthe mother, and the days just before and after this time. Parental Leave: by definition this is equally available to men and women. It is not a healthand welfare measure but a care measure. There are different forms:a) it can be an individual right for the man and the woman; b) it can be a family right, leaving it to the family how the leave is taken up;c) it can be a combination of (a) and (b).

At this moment leave policies in the various countries are evolving and a blurring of thedistinct types of leave is occurring. For example, in the Czech Republic, Poland, Portugal andSpain it is nowadays possible for mothers to transfer part of their maternity leave to thefather. Or to take another example, in Iceland, Sweden and Norway parents receive a periodof post-natal leave, where the mother is entitled to a set amount of leave, as is the father,and there is an additional period of leave that is left to the family to decide whether it willbe taken by the mother or the father; there is no separate period of Maternity or Paternityleave.

The European Commission has recently proposed a change to the Maternity Leave Directive.At present it is 14 weeks and the proposal is to increase it to 18 weeks, in principle to bepaid at full earnings.

EU Parental LeaveA new EU Directive on Parental Leave has recently been agreed, which increases parentalleave from 3 months to 4 months, with one month that is non-transferable, i.e. at least one

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month of leave for the father which cannot be transferred to the mother. The Commissionrecognises the importance of payment during parental leave, but the directive is not bindingin this respect. For paternity leave no minimum standards have been set. The pay level is animportant aspect because parents don't take the (full) leave if it is not fully paid.

The European Union has a policy and a legal framework for parental leave, but themember states are free to decide on the pay levels during this period of leave. Forthis reason the variation in arrangements is very wide.

To give a few examples:• In Germany maternity leave consists of 8 weeks after the birth of the child at 100% of

earnings. • In the U.K maternity leave consists of 52 weeks, 6 weeks of which is paid at 90% of

earnings, but with the remainder paid at a low flat rate or unpaid. I do not recommendthe U.K arrangement to other countries because it is far too long (it is difficult to justifya period of 52 weeks leave only for women) and insufficiently paid.

• In Spain parents can take parental leave until a child is three, but it is unpaid. • In Sweden parental leave is 480 days at 80% of earnings. This is the first time that the

notion of days has been used in parental leave legislation. The Swedes have done this onpurpose to stimulate the parents to use it in a flexible way, for instance to spread it outover a longer period.

I wanted to find a yard-stick by which to compare the different national arrangements forparental leave. I came to the following: the number of months of leave at two-thirds ofearnings. The European Commission has also been using this indicator to categorize thevarious arrangements in Europe. It gives a good snapshot of how generous an arrangementis.

Using this yard-stick the ranking order for parental leave in Europe is as follows (going fromworst to best):

The countries at the bottom of the league table in Europe are:• The U.K • Austria• Belgium• The Netherlands• Spain• Italy• Poland

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The countries doing best are:• Denmark• Norway• Sweden• Slovenia • Germany, which has recently overhauled its parental leave policies• Estonia• Hungary. This top league is an interesting mixture of Nordic countries and countries in Central andEastern Europe.

The basic components of a good parental leave policyMy picture of what constitutes a good leave policy is as follows: (I would like to stress thatthese are my ideas, and other people may hold other points of view.)

For Maternity Leave:I am in favour of a period of 4 to 5 months maternity leave after the birth of the child. Thisis roughly in line with the position of the European Commission and the EuropeanParliament.

For Parental Leave:Maternity leave should then be followed by 12 months of parental leave. I am in favour of the Icelandic Model, which consists of dividing the leave period equallybetween periods of mother-only, father-only and family leave. However I would increase theperiod of leave currently found in Iceland from 3 to 4 months per period:• 4 months for the mother• 4 months for the father, and • 4 months for the family to decide on which parent will take the leave (this 4 months may

be taken by the father or by the mother). and the Swedish Model, which can be used in very flexible ways, for example:

• it can be used part time, or full time• the entitlement to parental leave can be saved and “banked” to be taken up later, for

instance when the child is six and goes to primary school.

Level of Pay:I favour a pay level of at least 80% of earnings, because at that level people will really makeuse of maternity and parental leave.

Another element in this whole picture deserves to be looked at. In almost all countries thereis a ministry responsible for maternity, paternity and parental leave and there is a separateministry which is responsible for policies in the field of early childhood education and care.

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These two sets of policies are not integrated, which they should be; for example in manycountries leave finishes before there is an entitlement to a place in a good early childhoodservice. The Nordic countries again show the way here, for example in Sweden well-paidleave runs for 13 months, while all children are entitled to a place in a preschool centre from12 months.

Each EU member state should monitor the use of parental leaveI would also like to emphasize the importance of setting up a good monitoring and researchsystem that takes up the following questions:• Who is using the parental leave, who is not using it?• Why are the parents using it, or why are they not using it?• If a parent takes up the parental leave on offer, does it have consequences for their

career? Is it good, neutral or bad for the career of the person in question?In general the Nordic countries collect the best statistics, but even so among this group ofcountries there are gaps. Where leave is unpaid, it is usually the case that there are nostatistics in use.

A key component of a good parental leave policy is that it should be designed in such a waythat both the mother and the father will use it. If it is only used by the mothers, it is bad forgender equality; a good leave policy is taken by both parents. This is good for the family andgood for the children. This means periods of well-paid leave for fathers and for mothers onlyto use; leave that is a ‘family’ entitlement is invariably used mainly by mothers. The worstkind of leave, in terms of gender equality, is long periods of ‘family’ entitlement that is lowpaid or unpaid; this will either not be used at all or only used by women. In my view, ratherthan such long periods of leave, the aim should be a shorter period – 12-15 months – ofwell-paid leave either divided equally between mothers and fathers or, as in Iceland, dividedequally between a father, mother and family entitlement. A degree of flexibility in use is alsodesirable, for example, the possibility to take leave either full time or part time, and thepossibility to use part of the leave period at a later stage of parenthood.

When designing a good leave policy the policy makers have to manage a challengingbalancing act to meet the needs of the various players:• Are the needs of the child being met?• Are the needs regarding maternal health being met?• Is it attractive enough for fathers and for the family for the fathers to take their share of

the parental leave?• Is it sufficiently good with regards to gender equality?• How does it work from the point of view of the labour market and the demographic

challenges of that society?

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The example of Iceland:Until recently Iceland had a poorly organised leave policy. In 2002, however, the governmentdecided to implement a completely new system, based on 9 months of post natal leave at80% of earnings divided equally between a father, mother and family entitlement. Thisprinciple of equal shares is attractive, and might be extended to 4 month shares to bring theleave period up to one year.

The example of GermanyBefore the unification, parental leave in West Germany was rather conservative. Parents(which usually meant mothers) could stay at home until the child was three years old, witha low level of payment, and the provision of early childhood services was very limited. Theparental leave system in East Germany was, on the other hand very different, with a shorter(one year) period of well paid leave followed by extensive provision of early childhoodeducation and care services. In 2007 the German government reformed its parental leave system following the exampleof East Germany before 1991. The main elements of the new system are:• The parents are entitled to 12 months leave at 66% of earnings;• If the father takes up at least 2 months of this leave, then the family gets a bonus of

another 2 months of leave. There is evidence of increased take-up by fathers, though Germany is still far from achievinggender equality. The current parental leave systems in Québec and Iceland push this aspectthe furthest, and are therefore worthy of study.

My questions with regard to a good leave policy:I am still working with the following questions with regard to this theme:• Should we drop the idea of maternity leave and paternity leave and just go for parental

leave? In the Icelandic model the authorities do not use the words 'maternity' and'paternity' leave, they just speak about parental leave. Some argue that as long as youhave maternity leave – i.e. leave just for women - you will not reach gender equality.

• On the other hand, there are biological, health and welfare reasons to maintain maternityleave. However, I consider that offering 12 months of maternity leave, as happens in theU.K, is far too much, and not possible to justify on health and welfare grounds.

• Another question: should parental leave be divided only into a mother and a fatherallocation, or should there be a family allocation, for parents to divide as they choose,offering a certain amount of flexibility, as in the current Icelandic model?

• Another policy question: how far can or should we push the individual entitlements formothers and fathers? Iceland offers 3 months to each – could this be increased to 4, 5 or6 months of paid leave for fathers only (matched by a similar period for mothers only)?

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3.3 Lessons learned from Designing Leave Policies:• Parental leave is the end result of policy considerations in the following areas:

- maternal health- foetal and infant health- fertility policy- labour market policies- gender equality- children's rights- family policies

• Children's Rights are never, in my experience, taken into consideration when designingparental leave policies. I have not seen one country where the Children's Commissionerwas consulted, or where he/she offered his/her services, when the new parental leavepolicy was designed. Did the European Commission and the European Parliament consultthe Commission’s Rights of the Child Unit when considering new Directives on Maternityand Parental Leave?

• The main actors and stakeholders in this area are the people responsible for labour marketpolicies and gender equality. Often this subject falls under the department handlinglabour affairs and it is the social partners that decide on it. However, as mentioned above,there are so many other actors and stakeholders who should play a role, but whose voicesare not heard. They are not even invited to the table.

• It is interesting to see how the mix of actors and stakeholders, who participate in thenegotiations, differs from one country to another. It says a lot about the nationalpriorities, values, national interpretations and social constructs of the family andchildhood, and so on.

• If you want to understand what it means to be a good mother or father in a country, thenlook at the parental leave policy that is in place there.

• Because so many policy areas are involved the end result can go in many directions,depending on the stakeholder who has the most influence.

• Most countries are strongly inclined to continue along the path that they had opted fora long time before. The U.K is a good example in this respect. It chose a long period ofmaternity leave in 1976 and since then it has gone further and further down this path.

• But sometimes there are major shifts in policy, for example Germany, Iceland and Quebecsuddenly took another direction. In general, the improvements consisted of redesigningleave to place more emphasis on fathers’ use of leave.

What steps need to be taken on the European level?The EU level has its 'Barcelona Targets', which provide targets for the number of children inearly childhood education and care. However, these targets do not cover parental leave. Myassessment is that the European Union is drifting with regards to parental leave. Irecommend the following steps:

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• The first thing that the European Union could do is to develop a set of targets. I wouldrecommend an equivalent of the Barcelona Targets for Parental Leave to be met by 2020.These targets might be: 20% of all parental leave taken in the EU is taken by fathers; andall EU member states to provide 12 months of parental leave, with a minimum of 4months of ‘mother only’ and 4 months of ‘father only’ leave paid at a minimum of two-thirds of previous earnings.

• At the same time Eurostat should collect statistics about the numbers of people taking upparental leave, as happens at the moment with regards to Early Childhood Services.

• The European Union should work on the theme of diversity. How do leave policies workfor different individuals and parents, for example ethnic minorities, families with adisabled child, parents who have temporary or other precarious employment? I took partin a leave network seminar on this subject and the conclusion from this was that:

- Very little is known about the profiles of parents who take up parental leave;- It is necessary to start to collect much more detailed data on this subject.

• The European Union should develop a recommendation on parental leave, more detailedthan the current directive, thus providing a sense of direction and encouragement tomember states. This might be done in the context of a revised version of the 1992Recommendation on Childcare.

• We should consider parental leave in a broader context and perceive it as a part of anentire life course approach. How can we give people more control over the way they canuse their time over their whole life course? You can find this issue – of the use of time –coming up in debates about the future in many areas, such as developing a sustainableeconomy, renewing democracy, and providing care for the elderly.

• There is far too little border crossing between policy areas. For example, little discussiontakes place between policy makers and researchers dealing with children on the one handand the care for the elderly on the other.

• People and organisations working on the theme of a sustainable economy and themeaning of a flourishing life as a reaction to the broken economic model of neo-liberalcapitalism, which can only function as long as there is endless growth, are alsoconsidering the issue of time and its use. They realise that everybody is on an economictreadmill: everybody is working longer hours to earn more and to spend more, while theirlevel of consumption increases their carbon footprint and affects their well-being. Thetreadmill economy is not a good way of achieving a well-balanced life.

In the U.K two important reports have been published recently, which address this theme:The government's Sustainable Development Commission published a report entitled'Prosperity without Growth' by Professor Tim Jackson. This report criticizes the currenteconomic model based on endless consumption-fuelled growth, as unsustainable andunfulfilling. It furthermore criticizes economics in general because it does not offer analternative macro-economic model, one that is not based on the idea of continuouseconomic growth.

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The New Economics Foundation has published two recent reports – ‘The Great Transition’and ‘21 Hours', both of which also question current unsustainable and unfulfilling economicmodels and examining how working time might be reduced. The common theme of all these subjects is time - its use, its allocation, and within these thetheme of gender equality.

Is Belgium showing us the way?In Belgium they have developed a unique and innovative life course programme, a keyingredient of which is time credits. In the 2009 International Review of Leave Policies andRelated Research, three articles are included on this subject:

• Belgium: 'Articulating work and family, the gendered use of institutional measures' byBernard Fusulier;

• Belgium: 'Career breaks in Flanders' by Jessie Vandeweyer and Ignace Glorieux;• Belgium: 'Family-work articulation policies, a life-course approach' by Amandine Masuy;

Belgium has maternity, paternity and parental leave, but on top of this it has a 'Life CourseTime Credit' system. This arrangement was introduced in 1985 in order to re-distribute workat a time of high unemployment. Employees could reduce their time at work, and theemployer could then, with the money that was freed up, hire unemployed people. The statepaid the person who reduced his/her time at work. In 2002 the time credit system wasupdated and the last condition, i.e. the obligation to hire an unemployed person, wasdropped, because there were not enough unemployed people available to be hired.

In Belgium employees can make use of 'time credit' facilities of between one and five years.They can take time off for any reason whatsoever, but if the person takes time off to carefor somebody else, then the credit can be extended to 5 years. For people of 50+ theconditions are more generous (they are more flexible and the people receive more generouspay). Jessie Vandeweyer and Ignace Glorieux say the following about this:

'The current policy is intended, on the one hand, to enable a more relaxed career andacknowledges the need for time across a lifespan for activities other thanemployment'.

What is the role of civil society organisations in this area?• Civil society organisations could make connections across various interest groups, such as

the people working on children's issues, the labour market, children with special needs,people that care for the elderly, and those working in the fields of democracy andsustainability. There should be much more discussion between these various groups - theyhave common interests and strong alliances between them should be possible. Of courseeach group should keep the focus on its own field of work.

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• Civil society organisations can also come forward with new ideas, which are out of reachof politicians.

Discussion

What about one-parent families?Your question comes under the heading of diversity. We have seen an interesting change inEuropean politics in this respect. In 1983 when the first draft of the Directive on ParentalLeave was published it was proposed that single parent families be given a 'double helping'of parental leave. However, when the Directive was adopted in 1996 this clause haddisappeared. At present the entitlements to parental leave are different in each country andthis is also true for single parent families. The entitlement can be for the family or there canbe an individual entitlement. In the former case the single parent receives the fullentitlement, in the latter only the individual part. This aspect of diversity is not addressed inthe European Union’s policies. The same holds true for the EU member states.

Parental Leave has been considered from the point of view of the parent, and not from thatof the child. Can you comment on this?'I agree with your remark, but I would like to add to that if children's rights advocates wouldhave been present at the discussions regarding the design of parental leave it would not beclear what position they would have taken, because within the children's rights movementdifferent perceptions are held. One position is that a child has the right to have its parentas a caregiver until he or she is 3 years old. Another is that the child has the right to a periodof being breast fed by his/her mother, a period to develop a safe attachment to a parent, andafter this they will benefit from being at nursery school.

Should parents be given coaching in parenting?This is not a field in which I feel particularly comfortable. I took two years of parental leaveand I went with my toddler daughter to a crèche. It was good to meet other people there.In this context I think that it is important to facilitate opportunities for parents with youngchildren to meet one another, where they can share their experiences about the challengesthat they are faced with, and be part of a wider community, since it is not easy being aloneat home with a toddler.

There are two issues here:• the resources to be made available;• the question of democracy.

I worry about parental training because it holds the danger of experts telling parents whatto do. It needs to be discussed in the context of democracy and the ambiance should be suchthat people are facilitated to see things in new ways. Of course, there are many practicalthings that parents have to learn, either by themselves or by being taught by others. Before,

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mothers taught their daughters these things, but today it is different, and both mothers andfathers must make a deliberate effort to pick up this knowledge. In the absence of supportfrom grandparents it would be helpful if other networks would be available to youngparents.

A fundamental question here is: How do we understand education? How does educationhappen and how can it be delivered without regulating people?

Gender issues in the home and in early childhood education and careAt this moment there are two separate discussions going on: on the one hand the discussionabout fathers spending more time at home and taking more responsibility there, and, on theother hand, the issue of gender equality in early childhood services, which have within livingmemory been dominated by women. These two discussions should be connected. We also see that men now spend more time at home, but the children spend more timeoutside the home in early childhood services, and here the children interact mostly withwomen. There needs to be a strategy to make these services more gender balanced.Otherwise we create a feminized childhood for our children. Norway is the only country inthe world that has set a target to increase the number of men in the early childhoodworkforce. That target is 20% of men in 2020. I don't believe in female and male role modelsfor parenting, both men and women parent in many different ways, but I think that it isimportant to have diversity in early childhood services, in order that men have responsibilityfor children just as women do.

Closing ThoughtWe have to ask ourselves the question: what form of capitalism do we want? The work ofTim Jackson, in my opinion, points in the right direction in this respect. The following typesof questions should therefore be addressed: how do we look at the work place and genderequality? What is a good life?

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Professor Peter Mossof the Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London, has beenan activist for decades to push for improvements in the Quality of Childhood in theEuropean Union. With colleagues from 25 countries, he has established an internationalnetwork on leave policies and research. The network is very active with an annual seminarand an annual review of national leave policies, and members collaborate to produce otherpublications, including a recently published book ‘The Politics of Parental Leave Policies’,edited by Peter Moss and Professor Sheila Kamerman from the U.S.A.

BOOKS CITED DURING THE SESSION

Sheila B. Kamerman and Peter Moss (editors) (2009): 'The Politics of Parental Leave Policies, Children, Gender andthe Labour Market'. Bristol: Policy Press.Sustainable Development Commission (UK) (2009), 'Prosperity without Growth'. Available at: http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/pages/redefining-prosperity.htmlThe New Economics Foundation (2009): ‘The Great Transition’. Available at:http://www.neweconomics.org/sites/neweconomics.org/files/Great_Transition_0.pdfThe New Economics Foundation (2009): '21 Hours'. Available at: http://www.neweconomics.org/publications/21-hoursPeter Moss (editor): 'International Review of Leave Policies and Related Research 2009'. Available at:http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file52778.pdf. Three articles were cited in the session:• Belgium: 'Articulating work and family, the gendered use of institutional measures' by Bernard Fusulier; • Belgium: 'Career breaks in Flanders' by Jessie Vandeweyer and Ignace Glorieux;• Belgium: 'Family-work articulation policies, a life-course approach' by Amandine Masuy.

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This article is based on a verbal presentation given to the Quality of Childhood Group in theEuropean Parliament in June 2010 and hosted by MEP Vittorio Prodi and MEP KarinKadenbach. Notes taken during the presentation were formulated into the article below,which has been checked and approved by Vanessa Pallucchi.

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SSUUMMMMAARRYYLegambiente is one of the leading environmental organisations in Europe, with 110,000members and regional offices in most provinces in Italy. Its main focus is to work on improvingand protecting the quality of the physical environment. In addition, Legambiente works toimprove the social environment, particularly for children, in urban and rural contexts. Theorganization works on many levels to improve the quality of childhood in Italy’s cities, townsand villages.

Currently Legambiente is running an advocacy campaign on the topic of ‘Le Cittá amiche deiBambini’ (Child friendly cities) to convince local governments to adopt its programme. Themain components of this are:• The establishment of a municipal council of children.• Measures to promote the participation of children younger than 14 in Italy’s cities.• The implementation of services and instruments to encourage the participation of young

people.• The promotion of a child-friendly infrastructure. • The organisation of activities with and for children.• Another measure is to turn problems caused by children and adolescents into challenges for

children and adolescents, whereby adult experts help to formulate and to implement thesolutions that the children and young people have come to.

• Certain areas in the town are adopted by children and they take care of these incooperation with local government departments.

Vanessa Pallucchi concluded her presentation with the following points:

The changes under way to prepare our societies to face the challenges of climate changeprovide, at the same time, windows of opportunity to make cities more child friendly. Theopportunity exists to rethink our cities, large and small and to re-consider our levels ofconsumerism.

Lessons from Italy: Child friendly citiesby Vanessa Pallucchi Director of Education, Legambiente, Rome, Italy.

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IntroductionLegambiente is an organisation that was set up in Italy in the 1960s to protest againstnuclear proliferation, but gradually it developed into an influential environmental advocacygroup with a broad membership base. Today it has more than 110,000 members from allover Italy. Legambiente is set up slightly differently from organisations with similar aims,such as Greenpeace. The organisation asks for a monetary contribution from its membersand, in addition, provides structures to enable members to engage in activities on local,regional and national levels. Legambiente is thus a professional advocacy group and anetwork organisation of tens of thousands of local environmental activists. These activistsare adults as well as families, as Legambiente encourages its members who have childrento engage in the activities as a family. The different generations all have fun and familieshave a chance to meet and engage in meaningful action.

Legambiente is also unique in the way it defines the environment. It works with a broaddefinition of the environment which includes nature, the physical environments in whichthe members live, and the social and pedagogical environment of Italy's schools and cities.Legambiente is organised on three levels: on the local level, the provincial level and thenational level. It has some 370 employees. The organisation is unique in Europe as itaddresses simultaneously the current environmental and social challenges of society.

Legambiente is a non-violent association active in supporting and promotingdemocratic processesA fundamental aspect of Legambiente is that it is a non-violent association active inpromoting and supporting democratic processes, both in Italy and worldwide. The processof globalization has led to the inevitable consequence that Legambiente, traditionallyinvolved in campaigns to take action with regard to issues on Italian territory, has to drawattention to issues with an international dimension. The organisation participates activelyin a movement of many hundreds of NGOs around the world. The NGOs have priorities thatdiffer but what they have in common is that they all use peaceful, non-violent anddemocratic means to achieve their goals.

Legambiente is one of the leading members of the European Environmental Bureau.Legambiente and its associates operate in the following fields: • international cooperation, • environmental protection, • the defence of citizens’ rights, • full recognition of the dignity of labour, • promoting alternative economic models which are more fair, • forms of multi-ethnic coexistence and intercultural exchange,





• commitment to peace and advocacy against injustice. Legambiente's key principles and programmes

1. 'Think Globally, Act Locally': We think that we can create a better environment for everyone on a global scale.

2. Scientific Environmentalism: All of our actions and campaigns are based on accurate scientific data. We say 'no' tooptions that may be environmentally hazardous and at the same time we suggest practicaland environmentally sound alternatives.

3. Legambiente’s priorities: • Problems arising from environmental and urban degradation• Energy and the development of renewable energy sources • The links between the economy and the environment.

4. Strong involvement in international actionIn order to fight the inequity that exists in terms of access to resources we promote ethicaltrade through our campaign “Clima e povertà” (Climate and poverty). The campaign is socalled because we focus on the link between climate change and the increase in poverty.

5. Educating people about environmental issues.

6. We take original and innovative approaches to the issues of the economy andemployment.We promote and develop a wide variety of production activities: including local goods,cultural heritage, technical innovation, and urban and land maintenance. All the activitiesimprove the quality of the environment and make the businesses and activities morecompetitive. We are strongly involved in issues of nature conservation and in defendingprotected areas.

7. Parks and reserve areas must be the primary examples of how to run sustainable andbalanced initiatives in the tourism and economic realms.

8. The Comitato Scientifico, Italy (Scientific Committee)Legambiente’s activities are supported by the Comitato Scientifico in Italy, which is madeup of more than 200 scientists and technicians.

9. Istituto di Ricerche Ambiente Italia (The Research Institute for Italy's Environment)This research institute publishes an annual report on the environmental conditions in Italy.





10. Osservatorio su Ambiente e Legalità (The Observatory for Environment and Law)The observatory collects data and information on the connections between environmentaldegradation that occurs as a result of illegal actions and approaches.

11. Centri di Azione Giuridica (Legal Action Centres) where people can report instancesof deliberate exploitation of areas of land or of the environment.

12. Centri di Educazione Ambientale (Environment Education Centres) which promotesustainable development, educate pupils and train their teachers to safeguard theenvironment.

13. Legambiente’s National CampaignsAmong the most important activities of Legambiente are the national information andmonitoring campaigns, which combine scientific analysis of environmental quality withpublic awareness and mobilization to protect the environment:

14. Goletta Verde (The Green Schooner)Legambiente owns a schooner and the crew on this boat monitor the quality of the seawater in the Mediterranean, off the Italian coast. Every year some 5000 samples of seawater are taken and analysed. In order to do this the boat sails about 10,000 km per year.

15. Treno Verde (The Green Train)This 'railway version' of the Goletta Verde (Green Schooner) was launched in 1988 and,since then, has monitored over 100 cities, collecting data on air and noise pollution;

16. Mal'Aria (Sick Air Campaign)Through this campaign, we try to raise awareness among municipalities to take the rightcourses of action in order to create a better environment (particularly in terms of improvingair quality). People hang white sheets from their balconies and windows as a protest. Aftersome days, the sheets grow grey, thus becoming indicators of the levels of air pollution.

17. Salvalarte (Save the Art)This campaign promotes the safeguarding of works of art. To date, specialists haveanalysed the condition of over 100 'forgotten' monuments, and have suggested solutionsfor restoring, protecting and saving them.

18. Cento Strade per Giocare (A Hundred Streets in which to play)Since 1995 we have nominated one day a year in which children can claim the streets tocelebrate and play, thus clearing the streets of traffic and pollution for the occasion.





19. Puliamo il Mondo (Clean up the World)This well-known campaign takes place annually and is a day when volunteers clear theenvironment of empty bottles, garbage, litter and so on. In the year 2000 more than400,000 people were involved in cleaning up more than 3,500 sites in 1,300 municipalities.

20. Spiagge Pulite (Clean up the Beaches): A day to clean up our beaches and to celebrate World Environment Day in Italy. Clean-Upthe Med Sea Action, is a three-day programme to clean up the beaches in theMediterranean Basin. 100 organizations from 20 countries are involved in this programme.

21. Volontariambiente (Volunteers for the Environment)Every summer, thousands of volunteers and children spend 'ecological' holidays taking careof and improving the environment.

22. Legambiente’s magazines:Legambiente publishes three different magazines for its members: • La Nuova Ecologia for adults (sent to all Legambiente members) • Jey is for primary school pupils (5,000 copies are distributed to primary schools every two

months) • Formazione Ambiente for teachers.

Ecosystem Child During the second half of the 1990s Legambiente decided to launch a special project toencourage the participation of children under 14 years of age in the Italian cities. Theycalled this project Ecosistema Bambino (Ecosystem Child).

When we started this work, we were living through the golden years of policies for children: • 1989 -The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.• 1991 - The Charter of Educating Cities (in accordance with the EU Summit Agreement

in Barcelona) that recognized an educational role for the urban environment.• 1994 - Charter of Aalborg, which provides a framework for local sustainable

development and calls on local authorities to engage in Local Agenda 21 processes.Agenda 21, adopted by the United Nations Conference on Environment and Developmenton 14 June 1992, is a comprehensive programme of action to be implemented "from nowand into the twenty-first century" by governments, development agencies, UnitedNations organizations and independent sector groups in every area where human(economic) activity affects the environment.)

• 1991 – ratification by Italy of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.• 1997 - the Action Plan for the Child was approved by the Italian government. This saw

the launch of Law 285 (Legge Turco). This law promotes the rights of children andadolescents. For the first time Act 285/97 offered tools to Italian local authorities which





enabled them to carry out actions to promote the rights, quality of life, growth,individual maturity, and socialization of children and adolescents.

It was the season for Councils of Children, Healthy Cities, and Cities for Children. During this period, Legambiente launched the option for children to become members ofthe organization and some projects and initiatives were specifically dedicated to promotingthe active citizenship of children. A few examples are:

- an environmental education programme called Work in Progress was established in 1995 to expand the concept of environmental education beyond the cognitive domain.Classes and groups of young people adopted and cared for the environment of the area: a fully educational experience that connected thinking, knowing and doing.

- Festambiente Ragazzi - Legambiente’s national Environmental Festival for Children which includes wonderful games and experimental workshops about renewable energy,waste, and climate change. Festambiente Ragazzi is a citadel where children are the main characters and they can aquire new knowledge and have a good time together.

- 100 Strade per Giocare (100 streets in which to play)

• 1998 – The establishment of the Recognition of Sustainable Cities for Children thatmade money available for urban sustainability initiatives.

The Ecosistema Bambino 2008 report is the 11th report by Legambiente on policies topromote the participation of children and young people under 14 in Italian cities. It isbased on more than 10 years of research. It was established that a city that meets theneeds of girls and boys, a real Child Friendly City, does not exist in Italy. But after ten yearsof Ecosistema Bambino we can at least imagine it. Aspects of good practice exist in eachof the following regions and cities (although none of them include all the necessaryelements). Our Child Friendly City would be in a region such as Emilia Romagna, wherethere are many quality services and pathways to encourage children to participate in thedevelopment of the area. The technical departments would be in Turin (Piemonte) as thecity council has a good track record in creating and implementing policies for children. Thebest framework for cultural activities would be Rome: because of the quality of the culturalterritory, driven by the city council’s projects and all in all the large number of projects thathave been put in place. (However, the current administration is not as friendly to thesepolicies as previous governments have been.) The heart of our ideal city, finally, isCaltanissetta, Sicily. This city involves young people in legal education and activecitizenship. This is surprising, since southern Italy does not usually provide good qualityservices for children.





Enhancing the participation of children in Italian citiesDuring the past decades the following instruments were developed in Italy to enhance theparticipation of children in Italian cities:

The Municipal Council of Children: Democracy is learnedThe tool that is most frequently used by administrators to ensure Italian children andteenagers’ participation in democracy is the CCR (Consiglio Communale dei Ragazzi), whichare municipal councils of children.

This idea comes from France and has been widely adopted in Italy, often in a simplifiedform. Establishing a CCR without proper preparation and training of children, facilitatorsand politicians, is likely to create an imitation of the adult world, leaving the projectexposed to failure. Yet, as Valter Baruzzi and Anna Baldoni said, "Democracy is learned". InItaly we have developed many good practices to teach children and young people aboutdemocracy. The objective is being achieved through a range of actions and instruments.

Children participate in the design of the city or parts of the cityAnother popular tool is participatory design. Children work with experts to find solutionsto a particular need or problem, and plan the implementation. In many cases children andyoung people really express their opinions but too often adults, usually in good faith,assume that they know what the children and young people are going to think and say. Avery good approach is when children adopt, at times ideally and at times specifically, acertain section of their city (urban and green areas). The adoption of a specific area offerschildren and young people an opportunity to get to know themselves and to discover theconcept of living in community.

The above mentioned tools are increasingly being used by governments even though theyneed to be updated. However, what is missing in Italian politics, including in localgovernment, is the ability to keep pace with change. In Italy the role of raising children hasbeen left entirely to the family, with school in second place, but the role of the land hasbeen ignored. Those who take care of children have continued to do so without consideringthe social and cultural changes that have taken place in Italy. Children’s dreams and needshave changed. For this reason we hope for a new era of activism in childhood policies. Wewant to invite governments, research organizations, citizens and associations to worktogether, to exchange expertise and knowledge in order to hand back to children the rightto be protagonists and activists, playing an active role in shaping their own environment,learning from their environment, and learning to take responsibility for it.





The relationship between children and the urban environment: it is alive, interactive andcan be highly enrichingThere is a relationship between the city or the region and the local community that livesthere. This community has an identity, both culturally and with regards to the land. Thesetwo elements have always been at the core of Legambiente's advocacy policies. Thisimportant relationship has its roots in Italian culture and in its social organisation: thelocal community gives the urban space (streets, squares, buildings) an educational role.This can help children and young people acquire important competences such as social,emotional and relational skills as well as competences related to citizenship and space. Forthis reason we have always advocated the development of our cities as welcoming places,where the growth and development of the new generation is stimulated and not preventeddue to innate hostile or alienating attributes.

Translation of the Convention for the Rights of the Child into concrete actions for theItalian situationThis same reflection was also at the basis of the most innovative strategy for childhood thatItaly outlined in 1997 with the Act 285: “Directives for promoting the rights of childrenand adolescents”. Thanks to this law, a new project began which was called “Cities asfriends of boys and girls”. This project promotes the implementation of the convention forthe rights and opportunities of children through a bottom up approach where childrenparticipate in the decision making process. The first years of the implementation of the law also saw the financial engagement of theGovernment providing a stimulus for those local municipalities that were determined toimplement real change. However, due to the recent economic downturn, this financialsupport has unfortunately disappeared.In this period Legambiente encouraged local governments to take into account the needs,the rights and also the cultural potential of children. Through the following campaigns andreports, Legambiente has been monitoring and promoting the improvement of child relatedpolicies: • Ecosistema bambino (Ecosystem child), • Research into the quality of children’s lives in our cities; • 100 strade per giocare (100 streets to play, a campaign for the right to street play, and

for a healthy urban environment); • Le bande del cigno (The swan clubs), Legambiente clubs for members under 14 years of

age.

Legambiente offers two annual Prizes for the best environmental book for childrenLegambiente puts up two annual prizes for the best environmental book for children:• the first prize is for a scientific book, which is accessible to children.• the second prize is for a fiction book.





Ecosystem Child 2009: focus on peer learning among the most active Italian cities inthe area of childhood policiesEcosystem Child started out as a survey of municipalities. A questionnaire aboutimplementing policies for children and organisational urban models was distributed alongwith a request for data on the quality of the urban environment, which was part of anothersurvey called Urban Ecosystem. This latter report is a major publication which is widelyused by governmental agencies, NGOs and the business sector. Our approach to monitoringhas changed over time as, with the new 285 bill, local municipalities took more innovativeand dynamic approaches to policies for children, including running pilots and participativeprojects, often as part of Agenda 21 processes.However, over the last few years, this major push by local authorities has stopped,particularly due to the lack of financial support. This has resulted in fewer municipalitiesreturning their data to us and reporting on only a few projects linked to childhood.

For this reason, from 2009 the survey has become a gathering of best practice approachesin the areas of the environment, childhood and adolescence. The results of the survey areas follows:• The focus on the quality of childhood and adolescence is a cultural choice that only some

local authorities choose to implement due to the fact that there are few national policieswith specific budgets attached to drive this, as was the case with Law 285.

• Local authorities that devote financial resources and time to younger citizens do it withpassion and belief and the projects are very well implemented and documented.

Legambiente as a campaigning organisation in the field of childhood Legambiente’s priority is to conduct campaigns. We also do research, but it is always inpreparation for a campaign or for political action. Often hundreds of thousands of peopleparticipate in our campaigns and political activities. Our activities linked to the subject ofchildhood are as follows:• At present the Green Schooner project, mentioned previously, consists of two boats. The

crew analyse the water quality out at sea and near the beaches. We do this in the earlysummer in order to achieve the greatest media impact.

• In September we run a nationwide campaign, which we call ‘Clean up the World’. Wework with volunteers and we clean up the litter in many places in Italy. An everincreasing number of children are involved in this campaign and through it we are ableto teach them about ‘active citizenship’.

• Action ‘Stop the Fever’. Every year we send out a brochure on a certain environmentaltopic to all schools in Italy. This year the topic is climate change. By means of thebrochure we try to educate the schools and the children about climate change andhighlight what children and families themselves can do about it.

• In the autumn we will hold a conference in Urbino for the administrators of Italy’s cities.At this conference we will present our report on the research we have completed with





regard to child friendly cities. • In November we will run a project aimed at commuters to make them aware of their

carbon footprint.• In Italy some regions are under-populated. We run a project to encourage schools in big

cities to adopt a village with a maximum of 5000 inhabitants. Through this projectchildren from the bigger cities are brought into contact with the children from thesmaller villages and they learn from each other’s lifestyles.

Concluding remarksThe Italian policy landscape: complexity and paradoxes• If we look carefully at the learning performance of our students, we see that the

environmental and family context accounts for 50% of their developmentalachievements: a local environment that is better equipped for cultural and participativeapproaches produces more cultured citizens.

• A sustainable environment enables adults and young citizens to improve their mentaland physical well being

• Apart from specific policies on childhood and adolescence, there is also the need for ahealthier and more open physical environment in which children and young people canregularly meet and interact with their peer group and have opportunities to meet peoplefrom other generations

• With regard to this point a critical element appears from the survey: the best practicesare very good experiences for children and their families, but they take place in specificplaces and circumstances. They are thus often not suitable for a full roll out across allthe Italian cities.

• A paradox also emerged: cities such as Turin and Caltanissetta, with a strongengagement in policies for childhood and adolescence, have a low quality physicalenvironment within each of the cities.

Climate change projects provide windows of opportunity to make our cities childfriendlyThe changes that are under way to make our societies ready to face the challenges ofclimate change provide, at the same time, windows of opportunity to make our cities morechild friendly. The opportunity is there to rethink our cities, large and small, to re-considerour levels of consumerism, and along the way we may discover that our young generations,in their own time and way, already hold solutions for the future.

My proposal is that once a year we hold a Children's Day in the member states of theEuropean Union. On this day the child will be the focus of attention. Legambiente has donea lot of groundwork for an occasion such as this and could play a supporting role.





The kind of activities that could occur on Children’s Day are as follows:• families will be given the chance to undertake activities that are uplifting and fun for all

family members. • it can be a day organised by the various organisations working for and with children, i.e.

schools, youth organisations and municipal organisations.• it can also be a day of reflection: What is the state of affairs regarding children and how

can it be improved? Who can cooperate with whom? What can organisations do togetherto improve the well-being of all?

• what can administrators learn from scientists working in the field of childhood and viceversa? And what can the different scientific disciplines such as pedagogy, psychology, thescience of learning, and so on, learn from one another?

• families can take part in projects with themes such as the city of the future, childfriendly cities, sustainable cities, and so on.





Vanessa Pallucchi Since 2008, Vanessa Pallucchi has been the National President of Legambiente School andTraining and the Association of Legambiente Teachers and Educators. This role followed 8years in the position of President of Legambiente, Umbria Region.

Prior to her work for Legambiente she graduated with a B.A in Philosophy and worked as atrainer in the field of green economy and the environment.

She has edited several environmental education publications for teachers and young people.




The Botin Foundation is a member of the Alliance for Childhood European Network Group.Hosted by Karin Resetarits at the European Parliament, Fátima Sánchez Santiago addressedthe Quality of Childhood Group at the European Parliament on the subject of Social andEmotional Education, an International Analysis.

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SSUUMMMMAARRYY

The Botín Foundation is Spain’s leading private foundation in terms of the scale of itsinvestment and the far-reaching impact of its programmes. Since 2004 it has been working inthe sphere of education, with a particular focus on Social and Emotional Education in schools.The Foundation’s Responsible Education programme is now run in 100 schools in CantabriaSpain. In addition, it has developed and delivered an innovative pilot project called “Life andValues in Education” in three of the 100 schools. The initial results from the externalevaluation of the 3-year pilot indicate that the students improved in three areas: in emotionalclarity, in assertiveness and their anxiety levels decreased.

On the international stage the Foundation is researching what has been developed in Socialand Emotional Education in different countries. In 2008, it published Social and EmotionalEducation – an International Analysis (which covered Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, theUnited Kingdom, Sweden, and the U.S.A). In 2009 the Foundation established the BotinPlatform for Innovation in Education. The members of the Platform are experts in the areas ofCreativity in Education and Social and Emotional Education. A second International Analysiswill be published towards the end of 2011, focussing on what is happening in Social andEmotional Education in Canada, Singapore, Australia, Portugal and Finland.

In 1964 Marcelino Botín-Sanz de Sautuola and his wife Carmen Yllera established theFundación Marcelino Botín to “respond to the needs and help foster social development”in Cantabria, Spain. Today the Botín Foundation is Spain’s leading private foundation interms of the scale of its investment and the far-reaching impact of its programmes.

The mission of the Botín Foundation is to contribute to the global development of society.To achieve this it manages a variety of programmes in education, science, ruraldevelopment, culture and social development. The Foundation mainly works in Spain andespecially in the region of Cantabria, although it also carries out international projects inLatin America and the U.S.A.

The Foundation’s programmes reflect its conviction that talent is the main driving force inthe development of society and, accordingly, it continually strives to stimulate and supportthat talent.

Social and Emotional Education in Cantabria, Spain by Fátima Sánchez SantiagoDirector of Education, Botín Foundation.






The Foundation’s principal interest has always been in training, as a priority strategy in allof the areas in which it works: Art, Music, Science, Rural Development and so on. In 2004the Foundation began to work specifically in the educational field. There can be no doubtthat the best way to contribute to well-being, development and progress in our society isto support and promote an all-round education and healthy growth, from early childhoodonwards. We support the development of human capital and promote life-long learning.

We are conscious of the need to act in conjunction with others, and to deal with theeducational challenges facing us in a coordinated manner. From the outset we haveworked closely with the Consejería de Educación of the Regional Government of Cantabria(equivalent to the Ministry of Education for the region), and with other official bodies. Wehave made proposals that answer to the expectations and educational needs of youngchildren, in the framework of school, family and society in the 21st Century, where rapidand constant change is the order of the day, and so many contradictions are apparent.

The Fundación Botín’s understanding of the concept of well-rounded education is that aprocess of intellectual and academic training should go hand in hand with healthy physical,psychological and social growth in order to achieve a sufficient level of well-being,balance, and personal and social contentment. We consider Social and Emotional Educationto be an inseparable part of the well-rounded education of each individual.

Developing and applying the Responsible Education programme in Cantabria

The Education Department of the Foundation runs an educational programme, calledResponsible Education, that embraces research, project set-up and implementation,support and assessment to gather together resources and educational techniques. Theobjective of the Responsible Education Programme is to work with schools, families andcommunities to facilitate and encourage the emotional, cognitive and social developmentof children and young people, helping them to become independent, responsible, civic-minded and competent.

This educational project has been developed in close collaboration with families, schoolsand the community; taking into account the physical, psychological and social aspects ofeach child or young person to ensure emotional equilibrium and well-being, positiveacademic achievement – and, in addition, to protect children and young people against thetype of risks that nowadays present themselves at an increasingly early stage in life (riskssuch as: violence, intolerance, failure, drugs, etc.).

The geographical location of this project gives it a unique value, because the particularcharacteristics of the province of Cantabria (Spain) - in terms of its territory, population,and its administrative and educational set-up – make it an ideal centre for an experimentthe aim of which is to develop a model that can be properly evaluated, and that can also





be successfully transferred to other places.

Currently 100 schools are involved in our project (40% of the total number of schools inCantabria). This includes 700 teachers and 12,000 pupils and their families. We currentlywork with children and young people from 3 to 16 years of age.

The various components that we work on through different activities, games and content are:self-awareness, self-esteem, empathy, emotional identification and expression, self-control,pro-social values, decision-making processes, positive attitudes towards health, social skills(initial interaction and communication), self-affirmation and the ability to say no.

Some of the specific characteristics of this programme are as follows:a) We have enjoyed an excellent and close relationship with the Council for Education ofthe Regional Government of Cantabria – which has included both the activeencouragement and the direct participation of the Council in every stage of the project.

b) Voluntary participation and commitment by all those involved in the project. Thisensures the project’s stability, and is also clear proof of the interest aroused by the project.

c) A joint initiative involving schools, families and the community. The Foundationconsiders itself as part of the community, and as belonging to all the people to whom theproject’s educational programmes are directed.

d) Support and close supervision. We offer constant support to teachers, school principals,parents and so on. We are committed to taking responsibility for meeting the needs thatarise in the educational community. A climate of trust has therefore been created, whichhas enabled all those involved in the project to progress, in a united fashion, towardsmeeting the declared objectives of the Foundation, and to overcome any difficulties.

e) We have an excellent relationship with the University of Cantabria, and various differentteams from the University are directly involved in our project – both in terms ofdevelopment and evaluation.

f) All our initiatives continue to be analysed in terms of their viability and theirtransferability, and are implemented in a clear and organized manner.

g) The independence of the Foundation and the fact that it is self-funding mean that theproject can be planned for the long term.

Since our Education Programme was launched, in 2004, the number of participants has grown,and the various different initiatives within the Programme have also developed and expanded.





Life and Values in Education: An experimental innovation in education project.

In 2006, thanks to our partnership with the Consejería de Educación (the equivalent of theMinistry of Education in the region), the Foundation launched a pilot project for innovationin education, which intensively promotes the development of personal and socialcompetencies in students from 3 to 16 years old, in three schools. (The three schools wereselected from the 100 schools that are engaged in the Foundation’s Responsible Educationprogramme). The three schools are:• The Colegio Sagrados Corazones in Sierrapando-Torrelavega (Cantabria, Spain), an urban

school with a religious foundation which operates within the state education system,including children and young people at all levels of education (from 3 to 16 years old);

• The Colegio Marcial Solana in La Concha de Villaescusa (Cantabria, Spain), a rural stateschool, offering education at infant and primary levels (for children from 2 to 12 yearsof age);

• The Instituto de Educación Secundaria Nuestra Señora de los Remedios in Guarnizo,where we continue to offer support and close supervision to the state school pupils (aged12 to 16) who attend this secondary school.

Some 73 teachers, 1,102 pupils and their families have participated in this pilot project. Themain objectives of the pilot are:

• To encourage the all-round development of children and young people• To increase educational quality, by ensuring that our Project has a favourable effect on

the climate of each school• To promote positive communication between teachers, pupils and families.

The different strategies that are deployed in this innovative project include: teachertraining, monitoring (of teachers and students), follow up, creativity, assessment andevaluation. All these aspects are used to embed the content and activities of the projectinto the different subjects (arts, music, literature, physical education, history, science, etc.)with the aim of promoting the learning of academic subjects, and the students’ personaland social development.

Many initiatives are being carried out in these schools – in an integrated and tailor-madefashion – in the different subject areas. In some areas we have benefited from the adviceand collaboration of official bodies such as the FAD Foundation (who produce teachingmaterials for Science, History, Physical Education, and the weekly tutorial sessions), and theGermán Sánchez Ruipérez Foundation (who focus on literature). Both organisations haveallowed us to adapt their educational programmes to our requirements. In areas such asmusic, we have created a specific programme for schools, working in conjunction with theUniversity of Cantabria. Finally, in other subject areas, such as art, we have adapted ourown programmes, and have developed new ones specifically designed for schools.





Each of these areas of activity has its particular methodology, and requires a specifictraining for teachers. In addition, planning is needed in order to actively involve familiesand to work effectively within the community. Each area of activity also has to betimetabled, and teaching materials organized.

The Foundation, together with the Educational Council of the Regional Government, carriesout ongoing monitoring and evaluation of all these activities, programmes and initiatives.The programming and evaluation activities are co-ordinated with the regional governmentand with the teams of teachers. At these meetings guidelines are shared and plans areagreed and put into place. The Foundation and the regional government work with theschools to co-ordinate the programme over the course of each year. Finally, the Foundationand the regional government carry out regular evaluations of the programme with theproject co-ordinators and the teachers.

Furthermore, we have a close working relationship with the University of Cantabria. TheUniversity is responsible for performing an external evaluation of this project. Two teamsof experts at the University’s Education Department evaluate the project in two ways: thepsychological effects of the project on the children and young people (through regularqualitative interviews), and measuring the effects of the programme (in a quantitativemanner). We have already received some of the results of the evaluation. These will bepresented and published shortly. So far, the first results look very satisfactory. The resultsindicate that students’ emotional intelligence (especially with regard to emotional clarity)improved over the three years of the programme, as did their assertiveness. In addition,their levels of anxiety decreased.

The need to continue expanding, innovating and moving forward meant that in 2007 theBotín Foundation directed its sights to the situation in education in both Spain and the restof the world in order to:

1. Acquire information about new developments from around the world, in the field ofwell-rounded educational provision and emotional and social development;

2. Initiate educational research with a view to identifying, sharing, incorporating anddeveloping initiatives that would improve and reinforce the work of the Foundation, andwhich could also prove useful to professionals working in other places and in differentcontexts.

Consequently, the Foundation worked with Christopher Clouder to establish the firstinternational project in this field.





We gathered together an international working group, consisting of experts from a varietyof European countries (Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Sweden) andthe United States, which met periodically at the Foundation’s head office to research,review and collect a variety of international educational case studies, research projects andeducational approaches and programmes related to the needs and all-round developmentof children and young people. The result of this work was the report: Social and EmotionalEducation. An International Analysis. (http://educacion.fundacionmbotin.org).

This report outlines the educational challenges facing contemporary society and offersseveral ways to improve children and teenagers’ well-being and their academicperformance through addressing their social and emotional growth.

The report also includes a review of recent scientific research, the results of which providea compelling conclusion: the systematic development and delivery of social and emotionaleducation programmes by schools have positive effects not only on the emotional well-being of children and teenagers, but also on their social relationships and on theiracademic achievement, and act as an important factor in preventing problems relating tomental health and behaviour while they are growing up.

For many years now, educational programmes to promote emotional and socialdevelopment have been researched and applied in countries around the world. Thescientific progress made during the same period has made it possible to test and investigatein detail the importance of emotions for the positive growth of people and for their well-being.

We felt the need to take responsibility for setting up an organised, clearly-structuredsystem that could make it possible to pool knowledge and any advances in research in thisfield.

At the end of 2009 the Botín Platform for Innovation in Education was created, aninternational initiative that works in the areas of Creativity in Education and Social andEmotional Education. This Platform is made up of different experts from around the worldand is directed by Christopher Clouder.

Its general objectives are:

• To foster international collaboration in the development and promotion of InnovativeEducational initiatives.

• To effect change and raise the profile of the work of the Foundation in the field ofinnovation in education (holistic education suitable for preparing children and youngpeople for the future).





In the coming year the Foundation’s Platform for Innovation in Education will continue towork on its International Survey of Emotional and Social Education, in countries such asAustralia, Canada, Finland, Portugal and Singapore. It will also work on producinginformation (such as examples of good practice, the latest research findings, and so on) todisseminate through the Platform’s website to teachers, parents and policy makers aboutthe role of Creativity and the Arts in the development of an all-round education, withexperts from Germany, Austria, Brazil, Norway and the United Kingdom.

After nearly 5 years spent on the development of these educational projects, we have toadmit that our work is just beginning. Education is a slow, daily job, with long-term goals.For this reason we wish to progress step by step, adding our grain of sand, little by little,and setting down solid foundations to facilitate the growth, consolidation and extensionof this work over the years to come.

What have we achieved so far? A working model and a series of activities which areparticularly worthwhile because of their open and all-encompassing nature.

Activities have reached schools and the community and have been supported and well-received by them, since they treat Social and Emotional Education as a fundamental andinseparable part of children and young people’s educational process and well-being.

There is, furthermore, something else we regard as truly important: the trust, partnership,and work we have been able to achieve jointly with the Government administration, schoolmanagement, teaching staff, families and the numerous professional experts from aroundthe world involved in this innovative experience; and to whom we are sincerely grateful fortheir efforts and their contributions.

There is still a lot of work to do and the Foundation is willing to go on developing its workin the educational sphere. Some of the aspects that we need to take into account are:

1. Effectiveness of the programmes designed to promote social and emotionaldevelopment in children and young people in the school context.We wish to continue our research in this field, to extend the work we have begun in thefield of Social and Emotional Education and to dig deeper, in order to provide educationalcentres, families and communities with initiatives and programmes which will meet theirneeds and ensure emotional and social growth in our school pupils. As a result of theexperience already acquired by the Foundation, we can offer guidance and support, and canhelp to adapt and integrate our initiatives and programmes into the specific context ofeach educational centre, so as to set them on their own particular paths in this educationaladventure.





2. Social and Emotional Education: integrated into and shared by the entire EducationalCommunity.Social and Emotional Education should become part of the daily curriculum and operate,without exception, at all levels and among all pupils to support and develop academicachievement, well-being and young people’s abilities to become mutually supportive andresponsible, active contributors to society.

3. The importance of further training.Social and Emotional Education is for everyone. To learn to identify, express and regulateour emotions, to continuously develop greater self-knowledge, to understand others byputting ourselves in their place, to learn how to take care of our bodies and minds, to takedecisions responsibly, to relate sufficiently well to other people, to know how to say “no”without creating a situation of conflict, and to know how to solve problems, etc. – all theseskills are necessary if we are to enjoy a balanced life that is happy and has meaning, andis the fundamental starting-point for thriving in the workplace. The training of adults(teachers, academics, parents, professionals, etc.) is therefore of fundamental importance,firstly, to improve our well-being, and secondly, to work towards developing the fullpotential of children and young people. With all our educational experience, we, atFundación Botín, are firm supporters of the training – both theoretical and practical – ofteachers, families, and of society as a whole, and we are involved in a continual search fornew approaches and new educational solutions in order to bring these new types oftraining to our society.

The Fundación Marcelino Botín wishes to support, develop and stimulate educationalexperiences that encourage in society as a whole the emotional, cognitive and socialdevelopment of children and young people, helping them to be independent, skilled andcommitted, improving their academic performance and attaining higher levels of well-being, balance and happiness. In short, we wish to contribute to the development andprogress of society.





Fátima Sánchez Santiago was born in Santander (Spain). She graduated in Translation and Interpreting from theUniversity of Salamanca where she specialized in Social Education. Since 2003 she hasbeen working with the schools of Cantabria (Spain), the pupils’ families and thecommunities around the schools to foster the emotional, cognitive and social growth ofchildren. She is the director of the Foundation’s Education Department, designing thestrategies used to achieve the objectives of the educational programmes. She works withthe different groups in charge of evaluating the educational projects, the development ofaudiovisual media as a teaching aid and new programmes that link the teaching of artswith the social and emotional growth of children. She also takes part in the teaching andcoordinates the different trainings in schools and at the local university.

© Botín Foundation




MEMBERSThe Members of the Alliance for Childhood European Network Group (October 2010):www.allianceforchildhood.eu

ARGE-Erziehungsberatung, Austria Dr. Martina Leibovici

The Linkedness Project, Belgium Heidi Defever

Experiential Education Project, Belgium Professor Dr. Ferre Laevers

Flemish Institute for Family Sciences, Belgium Professor Dr. Hans van Crombrugge

Saharan & North African Toy and Play Cultures, Belgium Dr. Jean-Pierre Rossie

The Kempler Institute, Denmark Claes Solborg Pedersen

Le Furet, France Marie-Nicole Rubio

Legambiente, Italy Vanessa Pallucchi

Ministry of Justice/Council for Child Protection (NL) Jeroen Petri

Stichting Universele Opvoeding (NL) Marijke Sluijter

Janusz Korczak International Society Theo Cappon

Center for Youth and Development, The HagueUniversity for Professional Education, The HagueRoosevelt Academy, Middelburg (NL) Professor Dr. René Diekstra

Verein mit Kindern Wachsen, Germany Lienhard ValentinSabine Heggemann

University of Cordoba, Spain Professor Rosario Ortega RuizRosario Del Rey

Fundación Marcelino Botín, Spain Fátima Sánchez Santiago

International Association for Steiner / WaldorfEarly Childhood Education (Sweden) Clara Aerts

European Council for Steiner Waldorf Education, Brussels Christopher Clouder

The Educational Volunteers Foundationof Turkey Nurdan Sahin

Mother Child Education Foundation, Turkey Batuhan Aydagül

Secretariat of the Group, Brussels Michiel Matthes

QOC10 members/Afc pages.qxd 24/12/10 18:02 Page 1



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France E-Mail [email protected]@free.fr

HollandAlliance for Childhood/Vereniging Jonge KindE-mail: [email protected]: www.verenigingjongekind.nl

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U.K.Alliance for ChildhoodE-Mail [email protected] Web www.alliancechildhood.org

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