Peer-reviewed article
The Shape of Things to Come and what to do about Tom and Mia: Interrogating the OECD’s International Early Learning and Child Well-Being Study from an anti-colonialist perspective
Mathias Urban ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This is a critical academic commentary on the OECD's International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study (IELS). The author critiques IELS from an anti-colonialist perspective, examining how the study's test characters Tom and Mia may reflect and perpetuate global power imbalances. The article argues that marginalized experiences offer practical alternatives for reconceptualizing early childhood education and services.
Key points
- IELS is an OECD study being rolled out to measure early learning and child well-being internationally
- Early childhood scholars, professionals and advocates have voiced critiques of IELS
- The article applies post-colonial and neo-colonial analysis to the test characters Tom and Mia
- The author argues that marginal notions and experiences from society's margins offer alternatives to dominant early childhood education frameworks
Limitations
This is a theoretical and critical commentary rather than an empirical study. It does not evaluate the actual effects of IELS on children's outcomes or provide data on child well-being; instead, it offers conceptual critique of the study's design and underlying assumptions.
Abstract
In this article, I discuss the International Early Learning and Child Well-being Study (IELS), which is currently being rolled out by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. I summarise the development of IELS and the critique that has been voiced by early childhood scholars, professionals and advocates. I then move to an aspect of IELS that has so far been absent from the discussion: the actual conduct of the test, using the two stylised child characters Tom and Mia. I provide a provisional reading of the Tom and Mia imaginary through the lens of post-colonial and neo-colonial analysis. Applying the concept of colonisation as a frame of reference opens a space for introducing resistance and anti-colonial practices as productive forces to challenge the global hegemony. I draw on Pedro Sotolongo’s concept of the power of marginal notions to argue that experiences made on the margins of society, both geographically and socially, offer very practical alternatives to reconceptualising early childhood education, and services for young children, families and communities.