Recommendations from researchers for child care policy focus on accessibility, affordability and high-quality care for all young children. The likelihood of children accessing quality child care is dependent on the material and social resources of parents. If high-quality child care is positively associated with improved development in young children and if all children are to benefit from their early experiences in child care, the overall quality of care needs to be enhanced. Nevertheless, is quality care enough?
Researchers have provided valuable information about the impacts of early care and development, yet further longitudinal studies are needed to examine short and long-term outcomes (i.e. “sleeper” influences) of child care and to evaluate which types of child care should be promoted.
Additional recommendations include monetary provisions to support families with infants and toddlers (extended and paid parental leave, child tax credits). In Sweden, child care is included in the educational system and efforts to provide quality care are ensured through state regulation. Family support also plays a large role in the context of early care in Sweden. Family support includes, but is not limited to, the parents’ ability to stay home when a child is very young (parental leave, lasting for twelve months with 80% of the salary paid by the state) or ill (same financial support as received from parental leave if a child falls ill during the preschool years). These provisions greatly alleviate parental concerns regarding child-rearing choices and care arrangements.
To ensure that all children receive the highest quality of child care, policies and regulations need to promote and support:
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well-trained and educated staff;
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high staff-child ratios (plus attention to group size and composition);
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low staff turnover and good wages;
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quality of the curriculum and access to a variety of positive social relationships and experiences;
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quality of the care provider-child relationship;
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effective leadership.
All levels of government and the public need to take decisive action to assign responsibility for the provision of quality child care. Benefit-cost analyses regarding interventions provide wide margins for benefits over costs, suggesting that even small to moderate benefits from quality care are of sufficient value to warrant government regulation and financial support on behalf of all children.
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