Rethinking Early Childhood

The Rethinking Early Childhood Public Policy Workshop takes as its starting point a growing body of evidence that early childhood experiences shape life trajectories more decisively than any other factor.

While political attention has long centered on formal education, research shows that a significant share of a person's future is determined by the care, stimulation, and environment they receive in their first years of life. Many children are effectively left behind before they even reach toddlerhood. The workshop's goal is to produce concrete public policy proposals that promote equitable opportunities for all children from the start.

The workshop brings together experts from psychology, education, neuroscience, economics, and law, alongside national and international policymakers.

14:00 - Welcome remarks

14:15 - Language, Learning, and the Early Years

Keynote: Lessons and Cautions from Early Language Development — Elika Bergelson

Short talks:

• Infants hear with their mouth (Sónia Frota)
• Arting - Learning to learn (Marta Cabral)
• Designing ECEC systems (Assunção Folque)
• Teaching parents-to-be (M Céu Machado)
• What teacher–child interactions matter most? (Joana Cadima)

15:55 - Coffee break

16:10 - The Developing Child: Brain, Body, and Early Experience

Short talks:

• Beliefs and parental investments in children (Adeline Delavande)
• The Brazilian 2023 cohort (Naercio Menezes Filho)
• Early Relationships, Lifelong Impact: Why the Perinatal Period Matters for Health and Development (Mariana Cerqueira Aokalani)
• Air quality and respiratory diseases in infants (Pedro Carreiro-Martins)
• BABY TALKS: Babies in High School - A Child Psychiatrist's Perspective (Pedro Caldeira da Silva)

17:00 - Coffee break

17:10 - Systems, Rights, and Policy for Early Childhood

Keynote: Early Childhood Interventions: An Economist's Perspective — Pedro Carneiro

Short talks:

• Children's rights (Odete Severino Soares)
• Access to high-quality early education as a right (Cecília Aguiar & Isabel Lopes da Silva)
• Children don't develop in silos — but our systems do (Raquel Corval)
• The child is father of the man — but orphan of public policy (Gonçalo Cordeiro Ferreira)
• Foster Care in Portugal: Where Are We Now? (Joana Baptista)

19:00 - End