An investigation into the OECD’s International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study (IELS).

Ayesha Lohar

Abstract

The plan to introduce the International Early Learning and child well-being Study (IELS) was discovered by the Early Childhood community after the OECD published an invitation for tenders to plan, develop and execute a study to establish data on the development of early childhood learning traits and behaviours. The OECD justify the need for such assessments to allow for the development of high quality early childhood provision that will enable children to become successful contributors to the knowledge economy. However, the direction of travel from progressive education to instrumental education points to a narrowing of the curriculum to the extent that subject areas that develop employable traits alone are fostered.

This report argues that the OECD’s plan to universalise and streamline the Early Years curriculum is a pre-cursor to creating model children to develop and feed into the economy as opposed to allowing education to nurture the unique qualities of a child and bring about their development on a holistic level. This report also focusses on the scale of this study and its implications by analysing the contribution of the Global South to this study.

Lohar, A. (2019) An investigation into the OECD’s International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study (IELS).. Transformations, [online] Vol. 3(1). Available at: https://educationstudies.org.uk/?p=9963 [Accessed 20 Apr, 2024].

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Volume 3(1) 2019

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