The French Connection part 1 - Early Childhood Education

Aired Monday, February 27, 2006

By Liam Moriarty

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Anchor Lead: While living in France, KPLU reporter Liam Moriarty had a chance to compare schools in Europe with schools in the US. Over the next three days - as part of our series The Learning Curve -- he'll explore the differences - and unexpected similarities. Today, Liam looks at the French system of universal preschool, and whether it offers any lessons, as Washington struggles to make early education more available here.

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Christine Farndon sits on a tiny chair in front of a cluster of toddlers, leading them in a song.

Farndon is a teacher at Ecole Notre Dame, in Pontorson, Normandy, a small town that sits among the corn fields and dairy pastures of northwestern France. She explains that the sing-along is more than just play.

FARNDON: The objective is to learn to live with the other children and to learn by the game and the body by the game and the body.

This is what the French call ecole maternelle, or nursery school. There, children develop basic social and learning skills that help them succeed in primary school.

FARNDON: It's good for then to be with other children and to discover lots of things.

Perhaps most appealing is that it's affordable - and available to everyone who wants it The French child care system began in the 18-hundreds, mostly as a service for the poor. By the 19-60s -- with more women entering the workplace -- the program expanded. Michelle Neuman is an expert in comparative international education with Columbia Teachers College in New York.

NEUMAN: In France and in other countries, early childhood education served two roles; one was for the child and to promote childrens' development and learning, and the other was to provide some form of child care while women were working.

By almost any measure - the American preschool system lags behind the French. Their system has a uniform, high-quality curriculum that's fully integrated into the public schools. Teachers have masters-level degrees and are given the same pay and benefits as other primary school teachers. The cost is heavily subsidized by the government.

NEUMAN: In the U.S. it's just a struggle because families and parents have to piece together so many arrangements and really are left alone to navigate the available options. I mean, it's very difficult.

To American parents, universal high-quality, low-cost pre-school might sound like an impossible dream. Some states have improved quality and access to pre-school, but Washington is still struggling.

BOB WATT: We're behind most of the rest of the United States and most of the rest of the civilized world. And that's unfortunate and needs to be changed.

Bob Watt is a top Boeing exec and co-chair of the Washington Early Learning Council. The group is working to put meat on the bones of Governor Christine Gregoire's preschool initiative. A growing body of research says brain development in the first five years of life is critical and Watt says long-term studies show high-quality early learning can have a dramatic effect.

WATT: More of these kids complete high school, fewer of them get pregnant, fewer of them are involved in drugs and alcohol and therefore juvenile crime, more of them go on to college, more of them marry and form stable family relationships where they're parenting their own children.

Right now the council is exploring how to make that happen here. The most likely scenario is a set-up using existing day care centers and preschools. The state would probably set standards, issue licenses and provide some funding. Other money might come from businesses and foundations. For Lila Owes, there's the rub.

OWES: Whatever the pitfalls that are there, it still comes back to having some sort of system that can subsidize people who can't afford it.

Owes founded Cascade Children's Corner, a well-regarded for-profit preschool in Seattle. She says that - while support for early learning may be gaining political momentum in Olympia, deciding who's going to pay for it remains an obstacle.

OWES: There may be more people out there who are recognizing the importance of education but I don't see that the money is getting dedicated to what it's going to take to make this happen.

That choice is as much a matter of cultural attitude as it is of economics. The French decided universal preschool benefits everybody and should be tax-supported. But as Michelle Neuman notes, in the U-S, that's not a settled debate.

NEUMAN: There is some ambiguity about whether it's a public responsibility or a private one.

However that shakes out, there's not much chance Washington will develop a French-style preschool system. Bob Watt.

WATT: Y'know, this is the United States of America, we are at a moment where people are deeply suspicious of government, skeptical about it's ability to deliver, already questioning the quality of our public schools so why would we make more public schools.

Watt says the next step is a pair of pilot projects, using public and private money. He estimates that after 5 to 10 years of experimenting, a consensus will emerge. With any luck, that could lead Washington toward an affordable approach to early education that'll help more children reach their potential.