Full Description
This timely book reveals how policies of childcare and early childhood education influence children's circumstances and the daily lives of families with children. Examining how these policies are approached, it focuses particularly on the issues and pitfalls related to equal access.
Chapters explore early childhood education and care policies in different social and geographical contexts, highlighting the different ways in which stakeholders - including parents, administrators and policy makers - approach issues of equality. The book further analyses what is meant by, and expected of, early childhood education and care in society and how this varies between nations. Key case studies in the context of liberal, conservative and universal approaches to welfare are used to show the broad differences between them, problematizing the notion of equal access.
Social policy, family studies and sociology scholars will appreciate the new insights into the question of the equality of societies offered in this book. It will also prove incisive for researchers looking at the family and early childhood education, as well as for politicians and administrators working in the field.
Contents
Contents:
1 Introduction 1
Katja Repo, Maarit Alasuutari, Kirsti Karila and Johanna Lammi-Taskula
2 Governable spaces of early childhood education and care: the Canadian case 6
Rianne Mahon
3 For all, for free! Why do parents have to pay for early childhood education but not for primary education? 22
Jorma Sipilä
4 The paradox of universal access: alleviating or perpetuating inequity for children in New South Wales, Australia 40
Zsuzsa Millei and Jannelle Gallagher
5 The long-term effects of full-time childcare on family lives in Japan 60
Takayuki Sasaki
6 Childcare, education, protection and prevention: the transformation of early childhood policies in Germany since 2000 73
Helga Kelle and Johanna Mierendorff
7 Parents as objects of interventions: what they have to say about early childhood education and schoolification 92
Michel Vandenbroeck and Katrien Van Laere
8 Early childhood education and care in times of transition: the role of policy reforms and advocacy processes in improving the accessibility of services for young children and their families 108
Arianna Lazzari and Lucia Balduzzi
9 Home care and early childhood education in Finland: policies and practices of childcare 133
Johanna Närvi, Minna Salmi and Johanna Lammi-Taskula
10 Rationalizing early childhood education and care in the local context: a case study of Finnish municipalities 152
Petteri Eerola, Maarit Alasuutari, Kirsti Karila, Anu Kuukka and Anna Siippainen
11 Epilogue: contradictory equal access 172
Maarit Alasuutari, Kirsti Karila, Johanna Lammi-Taskula and Katja Repo
Index 177
