Policy Press

Childcare Markets

Can They Deliver an Equitable Service?

Edited by Eva Lloyd and Helen Penn

Published

Jun 5, 2013

Page count

264 pages

ISBN

978-1847429346

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Jun 20, 2012

Page count

264 pages

ISBN

978-1847429339

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Policy Press
Childcare Markets

The viability, quality and sustainability of publicly supported early childhood education and care services is a lively issue in many countries, especially since the rights of the child imply equal access to provision for all young children. But equitable provision within childcare markets is highly problematic, as parents pay for what they can afford and parental income inequalities persist or widen.

This highly topical book presents recent, significant research from eight nations where childcare markets are the norm. It also includes research about ‘raw’ and ‘emerging’ childcare markets operating with a minimum of government intervention, mostly in low income countries or post transition economies. Childcare markets compares these childcare marketisation and regulatory processes across the political and economic systems in which they are embedded. Contributions from economists, childcare policy specialists and educationalists address the question of what constraints need to be in place if childcare markets are to deliver an equitable service.

Eva Lloyd, Reader in Early Childhood at the University of East London, UK, and Co-director of the International Centre for the Study of the Mixed Economy of Childcare (ICMEC), has extensive childhood policy research experience.

Helen Penn is Professor of Early Childhood at the University of East London and Co-director of ICMEC. Her research focuses on the impact of childcare marketisation on children, families and services, taking a global overview.

Part I: Introduction: Childcare markets: an introduction ~ Eva Lloyd; Childcare markets: do they work? ~ Helen Penn; What future for the mature UK childcare market? ~ Philip Blackburn; Part II: Explorations in childcare markets: Local providers and loyal parents: competition and consumer choice in the Dutch childcare market ~ Janneke Plantenga; Tinkering with early childhood education and care: the case of early education vouchers in Hong Kong ~ Gail Yuen; Markets and childcare provision in New Zealand: towards a fairer alternative ~ Linda Mitchell; Publicly available and supported early education and care for all: the case of Norway ~ Kari Jacobsen and Gerd Vollset; Childcare markets in the US: supply and demand, quality and cost, and public policy ~ Laura Sosinsky; Workforce shortages in the Canadian ECEC sector: how big, how costly and how solvable? ~ Robert Fairholm and Jerome Davis; Raw and emerging childcare markets ~ Helen Penn; Part III: Ethics and principles: Need markets be the only show in town? ~ Peter Moss; ABC Learning and Australian early childhood education and care: a retrospective audit of a radical experiment ~ Jennifer Sumsion; Childcare markets and government intervention ~ Gillian Paull.