Inc.

To provide the overall context of ECCE in Trinidad and Tobago, this study centers on three levels—national, centre, and classroom. With major educational reform efforts underway, the government has begun implementing an ECCE programme to provide more preschool children with equal access to high quality early childhood education experiences. As a result, the government has promulgated new regulations and guidance that are beginning to spearhead change—launching new ECCE centres and calling on existing private, government/governmentassisted ECCE programmes to adopt these new requirements. Therefore, the Proposed National Standards for Regulating Early Childhood Services (2004), the National Model for Education in Trinidad and Tobago (draft 2007), and the National ECCE Curriculum Guide provided an important backdrop and resource for EDC’s methodology.

Research Questions
Our study is structured around the critical questions in EDC’s TOR, centering on primary and
secondary research questions. We examined three principal questions:
1. What is the state of quality of ECCE in Trinidad and Tobago?
2. What practices, policies, and systems at the local and national levels promote service
quality and access for children and families?
3. How can the institutional capacity and sustainability of MOE be strengthened and
expanded to ensure buy-in and support from the community, government, and business?