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In the context of international agreements and commitments concerning early childhood, the purpose of this document is to review and renew the challenges that are involved in forging educational and curriculum policies for the first level of education. In the light of early childhood being increasingly included in the public agenda, countries are making sustained efforts to increase equity and quality in the design and implementation of policies for the early years.

These are policies that are in the process of changing by including quality and participation criteria; fine-tuning monitoring and assessment mechanisms; going beyond the lack of sectoral and territorial coordination, among other limitations; moving from a needs-based approach to a rights-based approach; and adopting a comprehensive view. The document analyses, from a long-term public policy perspective, some of the challenges that second-generation policies face, positioning the curriculum as the articulating factor for the development of comprehensive policies for early childhood.