Helen Penn

My current interests are the interfaces between theory, policy and practice in early childhood education and care, and in particular how policy shapes provision; and early education policy and practice in low income countries. A key part of my work on policy concerns the childcare market, and the role of for-profit entrepreneurs within systems of early education and care provision. This perspective on the childcare market is important and relevant not only in high income neo-liberal English speaking countries, but even more so in low income countries, where much or most provision for young children is entrepreneurial. With my colleague Eva Lloyd, I co-direct a research centre, The International Centre for the Study of the Mixed Economy of Childcare. www.uel.ac.uk/icmec This is a multi-disciplinary centre, involving economics, business studies, and the private sector, as well as early childhood specialists. We run regular seminars on topical issues concerning childcare markets, as well as generating a small research programme. We are editing a book on childcare markets, with contributors from many countries. The theme is the relationship between provision that relies heavily on entrepreneurial for-profit activities and inequality. I have also published widely on this topic in academic journals. I work on a number of European projects. I was commissioned to write a report Early Education and Care in Europe; Lessons for Policy Makers which has been widely translated and circulated throughout Europe www.nesse.fr/nesse/activities/reports/ecec-report-pdf I have also worked on other European projects on the regulation of the for-profit sector across Europe and on financing childcare. I have also undertaken work for the OECD. A summary of this work is available in my recent book: Quality in Early Childhood Services: An International Perspective" www.mcgraw-hill.co.uk/html/033522878X.html I have been working in low income countries, especially in Southern Africa and Central Asia for over 15 years. Much of my work has been with international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) and large consultancy firms, where I have been contracted to develop policy initiatives and developments in early education at a governmental level. I have undertaken work for UNICEF, most recently in Iraq; and for UNESCO, when I contributed to the 2010 World Conference on Early Education, held in Moscow. I have close links with the University of the Free State in South Africa, and |I co-authored a recent booklet on childcare provision in South Africa, Siyabonana: We All See Each Other. I have taken a critical perspective on the activities of INGOs and in particular on the early childhood policies of the World Bank, and argued that they are unduly influenced by neo-liberal economic theory emanating from the USA. This work has been published in a variety of books and journal articles, most recently in the journal Childhood.