Lights and Shadows of Early Childhood Education (0 to 3) in Andalusia: Acces Conditions to Reception and Schooling

Abstract

This article examines different aspects of 0–3-year-old pre-school education in Andalusia. It analyses the characteristics and recent history of the model implemented here in the context of state-wide 0–3-year-old education. The analysis reveals a great recent expansion of schooling in all the years of this cycle but based on the proliferation of an offer of underfinanced private subsidized children’s centres, in economic difficulties, very conditioned by this to meet minimum assistance projects. All of this often limits the pedagogical quality and efficiency that are increasingly demanded for this cycle. The analysis also identifies exclusions for economic reasons, but these have a lower impact on the most vulnerable families with fewer resources below the poverty line than families from the lower classes who exclude themselves or delay enrolment as much as possible due to the lack of subsidies, economic incentives, and the right to free places.