Abstract

This chapter explores how Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) undergraduate programs in Chile are including the child rights approach within their respective plans of study and/or extra-curricular activities. Drawing upon a multiple case study entrusted by the national UNICEF office, it analyzes ten ECEC undergraduate programs selected as examples of the variety existing in Chile. Understanding ECEC teachers as primary moral duty-bearers for the fulfilment of children’s rights, it asserts their undergraduate preparation as a critical element in promoting infants and toddlers’ rights (Gerber, 2008; Ljungman, 2004; UNHCHR, 2010). The first section describes Chile as a developing country of substantive interest regarding this matter, for it has made relevant progress towards the enactment of children’s rights, by establishing a national curriculum for ECEC and standards for the undergraduate preparation of ECEC teachers, both of which uphold children’s rights. These regulations imply not only a large consensus about the relevance of the child rights approach for the field, but also that policies have addressed it as a matter of pedagogical concern. This section claims that adequate undergraduate preparation of future EEC teachers requires specific efforts, being those progresses not enough to accomplish it (UNICEF, 2016). The second section contends the emerging inclusion of the child rights approach in ECEC undergraduate programs, by identifying their main attainments and limitations. As attainments, it highlights the favorable diffusion of the UNCRC throughout students’ preparation. As limitations, it underlines two main categories: (i) narrow understanding on relevant concepts (i.e. rights, duties, participation), overlooking the relation between them and the pedagogical practice for 0-6 year-olds; (ii) lack of institutional priority to provide the necessary resources to prepare students on this approach (i.e. specialized literature), giving precedence to efforts to comply with policies. The third section concludes the chapter by reflecting upon strategies to strengthen the inclusion of the child rights approach into ECEC undergraduate programs in Chile. It argues that for future ECEC teachers to fully understand and commit to their responsibility as primary moral duty-bearers for the fulfilment of infants’ and toddlers’ rights, universities must embrace the child rights approach through more resolute measures.