INVESTING IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE: THE HEALTH AND WELLBEING CASE Moore T, Oberklaid F. Investing in Early education and care: The Health and Wellbeing

The dramatic social and demographic changes that have occurred in developed nations over the past several decades have lead to significant changes in the circumstances in which families are raising young children, and in the conditions that young children experience as they group up. In parallel with these social and demographic changes, there is evidence of worsening health and developmental outcomes for many children and young people (Perrin, Bloom & Gortmaker, 2007). These have associated social and economic costs that undermine the general productivity and wellbeing of countries, and the fact that they have occurred in those very countries that have benefited most from economic and technological advances has been termed ‘modernity’s paradox’ (Keating & Hertzman, 1999).