A meeting place for policy-makers and researchers: the Transatlantic Forum on Inclusive Early Years

While policy-makers and researchers in the field of early childhood education and care (ECEC) often seem to speak different languages, overwhelming research evidence on how quality ECEC can play a key role in alleviating the effects of disadvantage can be extremely relevant for policy-makers. In this article, we focus on how philanthropic foundations can facilitate the dialogue and bring together researchers, policy-makers and stakeholders on (particularly quality) issues in ECEC. In this article, we present a comprehensive advocacy project, designed by 13 philanthropic foundations on both sides of the Atlantic, under the leadership of the King Baudouin Foundation (KBF) (Belgium). This group of foundations wants to clarify, discuss and document some of the most relevant issues in ECEC at this point, with a focus on children from low-income and migrant families. Meetings have already taken place on accessibility, professionalisation and curriculum, parent involvement and evaluation. With the fifth forum – on integrated systems in ECEC – on its way, it is time for a short recap. Can meeting opportunities of this kind, for a limited group of policy-makers, successfully influence policy?