Functional illiteracy is a re-occurring problem. In order to address this educational, social and economic challenge, early childhood education is crucial. EU member-states must provide comprehensive, high quality early childhood education and care, that is attractive and easily available to all groups of their population. As a result, early foundations for good performance and social inclusion are laid (PISA 2015 and PIRLS 2017).
Improving basic skills in literacy, numeracy as well as digital competences, go hand in hand with competence development in a broader range of key competences; it is especially strongly related to personal development, the development of learning competences and civic competences (OECD: Skills for Social Progress. The Power of Social and Emotional Education. 2015).