Early Childhood Education and Care in Israel: An Overview

The research was conducted as part of the Taub Center’s Initiative on Early Childhood Development and Inequality, generously supported by the Beracha Foundation,
the Bernard van Leer Foundation, and Yad Hanadiv

According to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), in 2022, there were approximately 1,286,000 children in Israel between the ages of birth and six. By 2032, the number of children in this age group is expected to reach 1,476,000. Taub Center researchers, Dr. Sarit Silverman and Dr. Carmel Blank, focus on the unique challenges facing policy makers in improving the quality of early childhood education and care frameworks.

Demographic projections for the next decade: Who is the early childhood population?

In the 2022/2023 school year, approximately 520,000 children were enrolled in regular preschools, and about 27,000 were enrolled in special education preschools. From the 2018/2019 to the 2022/2023 school year, the number of children in regular preschools grew by 3.9%, while the number of children in special education preschools grew at a much faster rate of 20.3%. Given the increase in the rate of children with special needs, the preschool system will need more staff trained in special education in the coming years.

The research emphasizes the importance of comprehensive data on children with special needs, including distinguishing between those who attend separate special education preschools and those integrated into regular preschools. It also highlights the need for socio-demographic data and information on the type of their disabilities. This data is critical for evaluating the early childhood special education system and ensuring that children from all population groups and socioeconomic backgrounds have equal opportunities to learn in educational frameworks that meet their needs. Unfortunately, such frameworks are not always available.

Developments in early childhood policy in the past year

In May 2023, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance, and the Minister of Education presented a five-year plan to revolutionize early childhood education frameworks. The plan has three main goals: easing the cost of living for parents of young children, expanding the network of licensed daycare centers, and improving the quality of education and care in licensed daycare centers.

Easing the cost of living: This plan section includes two components; increasing the subsidy received by state-licensed daycare centers and providing income tax credits for working parents with children under age three. The value of these credits can reach up to NIS 470 per month per parent, for each child (up to NIS 940 per month for a couple). However, for many families whose children attend private daycare — about 75% of all children in early childhood education frameworks — these benefits only partially reduce the burden of high tuition fees, which can reach up to NIS 5,000 per month per child and are likely to continue rising.

For families whose children are enrolled in subsidized daycare frameworks, the relief is more significant. In addition to the tax credits, the increased subsidy will save about NIS 500 per month on average for each child. However, only about a quarter of children in preschool are enrolled in these frameworks, and among these families, the number eligible for both the increased subsidy and tax credits is low. Another issue is the insufficient number of subsidized daycare facilities, meaning that even if a family wants to send their children to such a preschool, it is not always available in their area of residence.

Expanding the network of licensed early education facilities: The plan allocates large budgets for building subsidized daycare facilities to increase the percentage of children attending them, currently at about 25%. The researchers note that the budget for building daycare centers is already not fully utilized by local authorities, especially in Arab localities, and emphasize that the plan does not address the many barriers currently hindering the construction of daycare centers.

Improving the quality of education and care in licensed early education frameworks: This section includes increasing training hours for staff, expanding training programs, and improving the staff-to-child ratio in preschools. Additionally, to attract quality personnel, a financial retention grant will be given to caregiver-educators, spread out over about a year and a half. The researchers see this component as an important step, highlighting the state’s commitment to providing quality education for children even from birth to age three. However, they argue that the plan does not thoroughly address the improvement of working conditions in the field and the attraction and retention of quality personnel in the system.

Human resources crisis in the education and care sector

To assess the severity of the human resource crisis in early education frameworks for children aged three months to three years, Dr. Carmel Blank conducted a survey among caregiver-educators and managers in preschools. The survey findings paint a worrying picture: more than 80% of managers in subsidized preschools and two-thirds of managers in private daycare facilities reported a shortage of staff at least one to two days a week. Many respondents reported a staff shortage three days a week or more.

Over 90% of daycare managers who responded to the survey reported difficulties in recruiting new staff, and almost 60% of caregivers in subsidized preschools and 40% of caregivers in private preschools reported frequently considering leaving the profession. The most common reason was low wages. Other reasons cited included the job being too demanding and having too many children in a group.

Policy alternatives

In light of the research findings, the researchers propose several policy alternatives to ensure quality education and care for young children in Israel:

Investment in education infrastructure: The Haredi and Arab populations are growing, and to ensure enough educational frameworks for them, significant investment in infrastructure is required, especially given their high poverty rates.

Human resources: The human resources crisis in early childhood education and care, both in terms of quantity and quality, is worsening. Resources should be invested to increase the number of staff and ensure that quality caregivers enter and remain in the field. To achieve this, comprehensive and significant improvements in working conditions are needed, including wage increases, the development of training and professional advancement paths, and reducing the workload on caregivers by lowering preschool class size.

Special education: The increase in the number of special education preschools and the differences in accessibility for different population groups have far-reaching implications for children’s long-term welfare. Investment in data collection is needed to understand the scope of the phenomenon.