Universal Preschool

Universal preschool is an international movement to make access to preschool education available to all families, similar to the availability of kindergarten. Child advocates and other members of this movement differ in terms of how they define who should be included and how it should be funded. There has been a proposal to change the name to "preschool for all", as they have named the program in the U.S. state of Illinois. Like kindergarten, the concept is to have a voluntary program, unlike compulsory elementary, that is mandated by law with exceptions to allow for homeschooling and alternative education. Advocates have argued over:

• the age of children eligible for the service of preschool (with some taking the more traditional view that priority should be provided to children four years of age and others believing that brain development dictates that learning begins at birth and declines significantly by age eight),
• the requirement for full-day rather than part-day preschool (based on the needs of different family structures such as two parent family, single parent family, foster care, guardianship, or kinship care),
• the suitability of the American Head Start program as a model (in terms of parent involvement and education, social services and a family focus),
• whether universal preschool should be provided privately or by the state (via public schools) or the existing diverse delivery system (preschools currently may be provided by public, nonprofit, church related, private for-profit, or in home settings such as family day care).