In this paper Peter Moss, a Professor of Early Childhood Provision at the University of London, challenges the hegemony of the market model in early childhood education and care. He shows how the market model emodies the values of neoliberalism and, drawing on the work of the Brazilian social theorist Roberto Unger, discusses "democratic experimentalism" as an alternative. The paper's aim is not to prove that one is superior or that these are the only two models avaiable; rather, it is to show that alternatives to the market model exist, and that the questions raised by ECEC are therefore ethical and political rather than merely technical.