Childcare Matters
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Transcript of Childcare Matters
Childcare Matters
What the public thinks about childcare in Northern
Ireland
Overview
• Background• Research design• Views on childcare policy• Public image of childcare• Searching for and using childcare• Review of key points• Concluding comments
Background
• £4bn Sure Start, early years and childcare investment in England
• €575 million childcare investment in Republic
• 2003 – NI childcare study, partly commissioned by DEL
Research design
• Ipsos MORI survey
• 1,024 adults questioned
• part of Northern Ireland Omnibus Survey
• face-to-face interviews carried out in Nov and Dec 2007
Views on childcare policy
Figure 1: "Good quality, affordable childcare should be priority for NI Executive"
Base: all respondents (1,024)
7%5% 1% 5%
45%
38%
Strongly agree
Agree
Neither agree/ disagree
Disagree
Strongly disagree
Don't know /not sure
The public image of childcare
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
%
Childminders
Nurseries
Figure 2: perceptions of quality of nurseries and childmindingBase: all respondents (1,024)
Very good
Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very poor
Don't know /not sure
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
%
Childminders
Nurseries
Figure 3: perceptions of quality of nurseries and childmindingBase: all parents (318)
Very good
Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very poor
Don't know /not sure
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
%
Parents w ho had soughtchildcare
Parents using childcare
All parents
Figure 4: perceptions of quality of childminding
Very good
Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very poor
Don't know /not sure
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
%
Parents w ho had soughtchildcare
Parents using childcare
All parents
Figure 5: perceptions of quality of nurseries
Very good
Good
Satisfactory
Poor
Very poor
Don't know /not sure
Searching for and using
childcare
Who uses childcare?
• 37% of all parents
• 41% of working parents
• 31% of non-working parents
• 44% of ABC1 parents
• 32% of C2DE parents
Figure 6: Ease of search for childcareBase: parents who looked for childcare in previous 3 years (95)
13%
17%1% 3%
41%
26%
Very easy
Fairly easy
Fairly dif f icult
Very diff icult
Unsuccessful
Don't know /not stated
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
%
Cost
Convenience
Known person
Quality
Figure 7: Factors in looking for childcareBase: all parents (318)
All
ABC1
C2DE
Preferred method of findingchildcare
• Word of mouth recommendation – 74%
• Phoning childcare information organisation – 11%
• Using adverts in papers or shops– 4%
• Using internet – 1%
Key points
• 83% thought the Northern Ireland Executive should give priority to the provision of good quality, affordable childcare
• 30% of parents who had recently looked for childcare said they had found their search ‘fairly’ or ‘very’ difficult –
• 52% of parents said quality of care was important factor
• nurseries viewed more favourably than childminders in terms of perceived quality of care they were perceived as providing
• strong preference for care provided by someone who knows the child
• word of mouth recommendation was by far the most favoured method of finding childcare
Childcare Matters
What the public thinks about childcare in Northern
Ireland