A new study published today by The Policy Press shows that government childcare policies, combined with decades of under-investment in childcare services, are hampering reforms designed to integrate childcare and education in England and Scotland.

The twin track policies of targeted investment on disadvantaged areas and families and stimulating a private childcare market for working parents has maintained the division and fragmentation of services, while parents still pay, on average, six times more for a pre-school place than parents in Sweden.

The study, A new deal for children?, compares the success of reforms introduced in England and Scotland in the late 1990s with progress made in Sweden. All three countries have moved towards greater integration of services, making early childhood education and care, childcare for older children and schools the responsibility of national departments for education.

Co-author of the report, Bronwen Cohen said: “While there has been an emphasis on investment of public funds in initiatives to tackle poverty, childcare provision has largely been left to the private sector. This combined with an increased demand for childcare services makes government efforts to integrate education and childcare an uphill struggle.”

Specifically, the study found that:

• Although government policies have emphasised the need for a close relationship between education and care, integration has been limited. Childcare services in England and Scotland are still fragmented and expensive with a wide variety of providers and complex, often shortterm funding. By contrast, in Sweden ‘whole-day’ schools have been introduced which combine education and childcare in one setting. Schools are also increasingly linked with pre-school education and care services for children from age one, under the leadership of the school principal.

• Childcare services in England and Scotland have suffered from decades of under-investment and, more recently, targeted rather than universal funding of services.  In Sweden, there were already extensive well- and publicly-funded childcare services before reforms were introduced in 1996.  Swedes also pay higher taxes but have low child poverty, universal and affordable services for children from the age of one and high levels of satisfaction in the services provided.

• The workforce in England and Scotland is divided with huge differences in training, qualifications and pay between pre-school and childcare staff and teachers.  Services in Sweden share a mainly graduate workforce with (from 2001) a common framework for training for preschool and childcare staff and teachers.

• Parental leave entitlement is less generous in England and Scotland than it is in Sweden.  English and Scottish parents are entitled to 3 months unpaid parental leave in addition to 12 months maternity leave, of which just 6 weeks are paid at 90% of earnings and 20 weeks at a low, flat-rate level.  This compares with Sweden where parents are entitled to over 18 months paid leave (up to 480 days), with two thirds at 80% of earnings. Swedish parents are also entitled to up to 120 days of paid leave per annum to care for a sick child.

The study also found that devolution has offered Scotland the possibility of distinctive policies.  However, Scotland has been locked into central government’s market-led childcare policy, making it more difficult to realise the potential of innovative educational policies such as Integrated Community Schools.

Co-author of the study, Peter Moss said: “Sweden shows the value of working with long-term goals, sustained investment supported by high taxes and treating childcare as a public good, not a private commodity – this is a challenge for England and Scotland.”

A new deal for children?: Re-forming education and care in England, Scotland and Sweden by Bronwen Cohen, Peter Moss, Pat Petrie and Jennifer Wallace is published by The Policy Press.  Price £19.99 (plus £2.75 p&p). It is available from Marston Book Services on tel 01235 465500.

A Conference - A New Deal for Children? - is being held at the Institute of Education University of London on July 5.  For details contact Elaine Peck on tel 0207 612 6556.