Eva Jespersen EUROCHILD workshop 4: reconciling a child

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Eva JespersenEUROCHILD workshop 4 reconciling a
childs best interest with labour market needs6
November 2008

• Child bearing and work life giving kids and
  parents a good start

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Framework on child wellbeing (w/o ECD)
Material wellbeing Income, employment and
material possessions
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Young Children have Rights

• Article 5 Parental guidance and childs evolving
  capacities
• Article 6 The right to life, survival and
  development
• Article 18 both parents have common
  responsibilities for the upbringing and
  development of the child. States Parties shall
  render appropriate assistance to parents .. in
  the performance of their child-rearing
  responsibilities and shall ensure the development
  of institutions, facilities and services for the
  care of children.
• Article 24 Right to health and health services
• Article 27 Right to a standard of living
  adequate for the child's physical, mental,
  spiritual, moral and social development role
  of parents, support by the state
• Articles 28 and 29 Right to and aim of education
• Article 31 Right to leisure, play, participation
  in cultural and artistic activities
• CRC General Comment No. 7 is about early childhood

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Fertility Rates, 2006
Source EurostatNote Data for Slovakia of 2005
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(No Transcript)
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First year one on one care crucial

• Neuroscience evidence first year spent with a
  loving adult for best physical, cognitive, mental
  development
• Shonkoff excessive levels of stress hormones in
  infancy disrupt brain architecture
• Exclusive breast feeding for 6 months
• No Europe wide data on exclusive breast-feeding
  is available
• Support to parenting pre-natal and post natal
• (Visiting) nurse services
• Learning about risk of shaking baby syndrome,
  exposure to domestic violence - etc
• Inclusion of vulnerable families (in Norway,
  refugees informed within a short period of
  arrival of importance of ECEC programmes, and
  legislation on violence in the home)
• Case for partially compensated full year parental
  leave including weeks for dads
• Dads bonding with infants may also stimulate more
  engagement as the child grows

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Effective Parental Leave
18 weeks
EC proposal New Directive 18 weeks leave at 100
or at least sick pay. Source Bennett (2008)
Early Childhood Services In OECD Countries,
Innocenti Working Paper 2008-01, UNICEF IRC,
Florence.
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The child care gap
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Not too young and not too long

• Research shows
• 25 hours for lt1s in group care may lead to
  antisocial behaviour, but this effect was less
  important gt1s.
• Benefits increase up to 15 hours in preschool,
  the impact of 15-30 hours does not increase,
  although this might be the case for seriously
  disadvantaged children
• Thus from a childs perspective part time may be
  fine, but from the parents perspective and the
  labour market full-time services will be
  important.
• Unified system of care and education
• holistic development rather than poor care and
  early scholarisation

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ECEC work-force professionalised

• Regulatory framework, curriculum, staff training
  and support (for public and private services)
• Highly qualified staff
• gt 80 staff trained in ECD, gt50 advanced degree
• Good staffchild ratio
• 115, 24 kids per group
• Special attention to kids w learning needs

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High quality systems dont come cheap
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Poverty Among Children, percentages, mid 2000s
Source OECDNote Poverty thresholds are set at
50 of the median income of the entire population.
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Child poverty and exclusion

• Disadvantages are persistent
• Even the best funded and designed services can
  only overcome disadvantage to a certain degree
• Supporting policies are required to make
  investment in ECD/ECEC pay off poverty
  reduction, reaching every child from birth onward
• RC 6 recommendation all OECD countries should
  aim for a child poverty rate target below 10
  (50 of median)

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Family spending in cash, services and tax
measures, in percentage of GDP, in 2003
Source OECD Family Database
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• www.unicef-irc.org
• IWP No. 2008-01 "Early childhood services in the
  OECD countries review of the literature and
  current policy in the early childhood field" by
  Bennett, John
• IDP 2008-01 Children's Perspectives on Economic
  Adversity A Review of the Literature by Gerry
  Redmond
• IWP No. 2005-06 "Through Children's Eyes An
  Initial Study of Children's Personal Experiences
  and Coping Strategies Growing Up Poor In An
  Affluent Netherlands" byTamara van der Hoek.
• IWP No. 2005-07 "Alternative Tax-benefit
  Strategies to Support Children in the European
  Union" by Christine Lietz, Holly Sutherland and
  Horacio Levy
• IWP 2005-04 "The Impact of Tax and Transfer
  Systems on Children in the European Union" by
  Miles Corak Christine Lietz and Holly Sutherland
• IWP No. 2007-03 "Early childhood education in
  Mexico expansion, quality improvement, and
  curricular reform" by Hirokazu Yoshikawa,
  Kathleen McCartney, Robert Myers, Kristen L. Bub,
  Julieta Lugo-Gil, Maria A. Ramos, and Felicia
  Knaul.
• IWP No. 2006-01 "Reinvesting in children
  policies for the very young in South-Eastern
  Europe and the CIS " by Kitty Stewart and Carmen
  Huerta
• IWP 2006-02 "Overview of Child Well Being in
  Germany Policy Towards a Supportive Environment
  for Children" by Hans Bertra
• IWP 2006-03 "Comparing Child Well-Being in OECD
  Countries Concepts and Methods" by Jonathan
  Bradshaw, Dominic Richardson and Petra Hoelscher
• IWP No. 2006-04 "Child consumption poverty in
  South-Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of
  Independent States" by Leonardo Menchini and
  Gerry Redmond.