Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Israel is facing a structural crisis characterized by resource constraints, staff shortages, high workforce turnover, unstable regulation, low wages, challenging working conditions, and limited professional recognition. Quality indicators of Israeli ECE are among the lowest in OECD countries, even within state-supervised settings. While previous research has documented these conditions primarily through quantitative indicators, this study offers a qualitative account of how the ECE crisis is experienced in the everyday work of daycare staff. Recognizing the central role of early education in children's development, particularly for toddlers from low socioeconomic backgrounds, the study conducted a comparative analysis of structural conditions and staff work experiences across socioeconomically contrasting contexts. It examined how the challenges of Israeli ECE manifest in different localities through a comparation of daycare centers in affluent and disadvantaged settings. The research was based on two case studies: one conducted in a peripheral, low-income city and the other in a middle-class kibbutz. Data were collected through observations in daycare centers, semi-structured interviews with managers, administrators, and professional instructors, and focus groups with caregivers. The findings reveal that both contexts are shaped by the same underlying structural crisis, though its intensity and lived expression differ. In the disadvantaged urban setting, the crisis was experienced in an intensified and acute manner, whereas in the more affluent setting, it unfolded under more privileged "first-class" conditions. Overall, the study demonstrates that socioeconomic advantage does not eliminate crisis dynamics in ECE systems but rather reshapes their form and severity.

Authors:
Amit Rottman, Emek Yezreel Valley Academic College, Israel
Yoad Eliaz, Emek Yezreel Valley Academic College, Israel
Lior Gendelman, Emek Yezreel Valley Academic College, Israel

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Amit Rottman is a lecturer at the Departments of Education and of Sociology and Anthropology, the Emek Yezreel Valley Academic College, Israel.

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