What McKinsey Says About Early Childhood Education

We have long thought that parents over-index on secondary schools and the test scores and university placements that come at the end. Professional educators often point to the foundational role played by the early years—and early childhood education in particular—in setting the stage for all that happens later. The gap between what parents think matters most and what educators know to be true is one of the most insurmountable we encounter.  

A new report from McKinsey, the global consulting group, entitled, "The Skills Revolution and the Future of Learning and Earning," identifies eight findings that the authors say will frame the future of education. The fifth finding in the report is about the criticality of early childhood education and the need for greater indexing by countries and families on high-quality education at this level. What happens (or doesn't) in early childhood education drives many of the outcomes so frequently attributed to secondary schools as if they stand alone in their effect on students' lives. 

Evidence from decades of neuroscience research points to the importance of learning through play. This has been shown to be a particularly effective methodology for the development of future skills that are cross-cutting and interlinked.

Finally! An argument of this sort from outside the education school world is long overdue.