ABC of a Tragedy: Governance, the Rule of Law and the Failed Implementation of Early Childhood Education in Mexico

ABSTRACT Mid-2000s Latin America witnessed serious policy discussions regarding the modes, delivery methods and goals of early childhood education and care (ECEC). Mexico implemented programs to provide access to ECEC to working mothers and young families. However, behind policy discourse lie very real security concerns for service users. This has been highlighted by incidents such as the 2009 death of 45 children at a daycare, an event which would severely undermine policy development. Using a governance framework, we argue that security concerns trumped other issues for users, including infrastructure and curriculum, and derailed the implementation of ECEC policies. We use an original database of 2005–2013 news reports on ECEC for two Mexican national newspapers to establish the narrative for that period. We argue that until governance and rule of law concerns are addressed, no amount of discourse and policy design will be able to succeed in this vital area.