Arriving early. Childhood and head-start policies
What is the meaning, and what are the possible consequences, of the emerging
tendency in public policies aimed at children to encourage an «early start». These
questions arise against a background of recent normative changes, through which
the adult world and children’s world come into closer contact, and which promote
greater responsibility on the part of adults and greater autonomy on the part of
children. An analysis of the theoretical and practical implications of this process,
observed within the area of policies for the protection and education of children,
points to much ambivalence and suggests the need for instruments to control, accompany,
and if necessary reverse the logic of early start.