Accessing childcare: Parents’ logistical challenges and gender equality Prof Ingela Naumann from ... more Accessing childcare: Parents’ logistical challenges and gender equality Prof Ingela Naumann from the University of Fribourg, explains why reducing parents’ logistical challenges in coordinating work and childcare matters for gender equality. Over the last two decades, we have seen an extensive expansion of early childhood education and care (ECEC) services across the countries of the OECD. A novel and ground-breaking consensus amongst policymakers and society had emerged by the beginning of the 21st century that ECEC is an essential pillar of our knowledge-based economies (see, e.g. European Commission 2018): they benefit children by fostering good child development – if the provided services are of good quality – thus supporting positive life courses and productivity of future generations; they help parents to remain active in the labour market, thus contributing to the prevention of family/child poverty and, again, boosting productivity.
The importance of good childcare services for gender equality Professor Ingela Naumann at Fribour... more The importance of good childcare services for gender equality Professor Ingela Naumann at Fribourg University discusses the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on childcare arrangements and family wellbeing, and how it highlighted gendered care norms. The COVID-pandemic put a spotlight on a central conundrum of modern society: you cannot do your job while simultaneously looking after your child. Whatever you do, in the long run one or the other will suffer: You can park your child in front of the TV so you can do that online meeting (bad educational value!), or you pretend to be present in that meeting while, actually, you are stacking blocks with your child (and you might miss that important part in the meeting for your input!). Yet, during COVID-lockdowns when childcare services and schools were closed and employment moved online for many, scores of parents tried to do exactly that: juggle employment and childcare in their homes, all at once. How did they fare?
Over the last 25 years Britain saw a huge public investment in childcare. From New Labour to the ... more Over the last 25 years Britain saw a huge public investment in childcare. From New Labour to the Coalition Government the declared goals of new childcare policy was to bring more mothers into work, thereby reducing child poverty, and to improve child outcomes particularly for disadvantaged children by supporting ‘early learning’. Hence the unwieldy term ‘early childhood education and care’ (ECEC) that is commonly used to emphasise both purposes.
Parents across the European Union use a range of childcare arrangements. This working paper contr... more Parents across the European Union use a range of childcare arrangements. This working paper contributes to our understanding of the determinants and consequences of different childcare arrangements for different families and different family members. The paper has three aims. The first is to deepen understanding of the motivations of parents for using a particular source of childcare. The second is to set the scene for an exploration of the extent of policy implementation gaps between an administrative understanding of statutory childcare service provision and the actual experience of users of these services. Third, the report highlights where the policy community might benefit from improved data to address certain knowledge gaps around childcare use. This research employs a mixed methods approach, combining primary data collection in six countries (Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Sweden, UK); reviews of the statutory childcare policies in these six countries; and a methodologica...
Accessing childcare: Parents’ logistical challenges and gender equality Prof Ingela Naumann from ... more Accessing childcare: Parents’ logistical challenges and gender equality Prof Ingela Naumann from the University of Fribourg, explains why reducing parents’ logistical challenges in coordinating work and childcare matters for gender equality. Over the last two decades, we have seen an extensive expansion of early childhood education and care (ECEC) services across the countries of the OECD. A novel and ground-breaking consensus amongst policymakers and society had emerged by the beginning of the 21st century that ECEC is an essential pillar of our knowledge-based economies (see, e.g. European Commission 2018): they benefit children by fostering good child development – if the provided services are of good quality – thus supporting positive life courses and productivity of future generations; they help parents to remain active in the labour market, thus contributing to the prevention of family/child poverty and, again, boosting productivity.
The importance of good childcare services for gender equality Professor Ingela Naumann at Fribour... more The importance of good childcare services for gender equality Professor Ingela Naumann at Fribourg University discusses the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on childcare arrangements and family wellbeing, and how it highlighted gendered care norms. The COVID-pandemic put a spotlight on a central conundrum of modern society: you cannot do your job while simultaneously looking after your child. Whatever you do, in the long run one or the other will suffer: You can park your child in front of the TV so you can do that online meeting (bad educational value!), or you pretend to be present in that meeting while, actually, you are stacking blocks with your child (and you might miss that important part in the meeting for your input!). Yet, during COVID-lockdowns when childcare services and schools were closed and employment moved online for many, scores of parents tried to do exactly that: juggle employment and childcare in their homes, all at once. How did they fare?
Over the last 25 years Britain saw a huge public investment in childcare. From New Labour to the ... more Over the last 25 years Britain saw a huge public investment in childcare. From New Labour to the Coalition Government the declared goals of new childcare policy was to bring more mothers into work, thereby reducing child poverty, and to improve child outcomes particularly for disadvantaged children by supporting ‘early learning’. Hence the unwieldy term ‘early childhood education and care’ (ECEC) that is commonly used to emphasise both purposes.
Parents across the European Union use a range of childcare arrangements. This working paper contr... more Parents across the European Union use a range of childcare arrangements. This working paper contributes to our understanding of the determinants and consequences of different childcare arrangements for different families and different family members. The paper has three aims. The first is to deepen understanding of the motivations of parents for using a particular source of childcare. The second is to set the scene for an exploration of the extent of policy implementation gaps between an administrative understanding of statutory childcare service provision and the actual experience of users of these services. Third, the report highlights where the policy community might benefit from improved data to address certain knowledge gaps around childcare use. This research employs a mixed methods approach, combining primary data collection in six countries (Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Sweden, UK); reviews of the statutory childcare policies in these six countries; and a methodologica...
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