诺贝尔经济奖得主芝加哥大学教授J. Heckman指出:早期良好的发展可以在相同教师的条件下提高学校的效率,能培养出高质量的学生,从而可以提高劳动者的质量《29》。美联署主席 Ben Bernanke在2007年对企业界的领袖们发表演说时也指出:越来越多的研究表明投资于早期儿童发展具有高的回报,不仅是可以促进后继的学业成绩,而且可以降低解决社会问题的代价《30》。他们的论点基于动态人力资源积累生命周期模型的研究, 见图 6《31》。图 6 根据动态人力资源积累生命周期模型预计人力资源投资回报率和开始投资时年龄的关系
(五)国家投入举例
瑞典人口不到九百万,可是它的创新能力和高新技术的发展令世人瞩目。瑞典长期以来就有重视早期教育和公平教育的历史,图7是瑞典在1995年对不同年龄阶段教育的投资,他们对儿童在学前阶段的投资远大于对学生在正规教育阶段的投资。在世纪之交,这样的投资政策已经成为许多OECD国家的选择,包括瑞典在内的一些北欧国家,对早期儿童发展的投资达到GDP的2%,见(图 8 )。
一些亚非国家也作了教育投资政策的重大调整,例如韩国在ECEC项目上2006年预算为1.7286万亿韩元,与2001年3609亿韩元的投入相比增加了4.8倍,与1991年919亿韩元的投入相比增加了18.8倍。实施“新苗计划”后,在2010年投入将增加到6.1590万亿韩元,比2006年再增加3.6倍《32》。
图7 瑞典对学生的投入与年龄的关系
图8 2004年OECD国家在0-6岁儿童发展上公共财政投入占GDP的比例,此外,瑞典、芬兰和丹麦对6-7岁的儿童投入为GDP的0.3%《33》
后记
我国是一个人口大国,独生子女生长的特殊性不容忽视,又处在转型期,社会矛盾复杂,劳动力转移中大量儿童生存环境特殊,一度教育政策中却出现了削弱早期教育的倾向,甚至在经济十分发达的地区,却出现政府转移公立幼儿园管理权,把早期教育推向市场的“改革”。一些家长盲目给孩子“加餐”,反而给儿童造成伤害。国家加强对早期教育的投入和指导,已经是十分迫切的任务。
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