How and Why Belgium Became a Pioneer of Preschool Development

Abstract

Belgium, together with France, was the pioneer of preschool development in the world. In 1900, 49% of three- to five-year-olds were registered in kindergartens; in 1910 the registered proportion within this age group already amounted to 60%. Registration went up dramatically after World War II to reach nearly 100% from 1970 onwards. The main change which occurred after that was that preschools were also opened for children aged only two to two and a half (Depaepe, De Vroede, Minten and Simon, 1998a, pp. 191–192). Registration and attendance are, of course, two different matters, and we know little of attendance for the period before 1960; it is possible that some parents who had registered their children only brought them to the kindergarten for a few hours a day, a few days a week or certain periods of the year. Even so, registration figures were much higher than in most other industrially developed countries, where they remained negligible until the second rise of female labour market participation from the 1960s onwards. Moreover, from early on, there were many kindergartens providing full-day care and education. All of this contrasts sharply with the provision of public child care for babies and toddlers, where — as in most other European countries — only a minimal supply existed until recently. In 1990, there were publicly subsidised child-care places for only 11.5% of children aged under three years and over three months.