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Fecha
2025-12-01
Derechos de acceso
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
Título de la revista
ISSN de la revista
Título del volumen
Editorial
Emerald
Citas
Resumen
Childcare services are related to positive outcomes for children's development, female labour participation, and gender equality. This chapter presents an overview of access to early childhood education and care (ECEC) systems up to three years old in 31 European countries (all EU countries -except Malta - plus Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the Republic of Serbia) using data from the EU-SILC between 2010 and 2022. The chapter aims to answer questions related to 1) the evolution of access rates by age in recent years, considering the coherence between 2030 EU targets for ECEC enrolment and employment, 2) the different levels of access rates and intensity (weekly hours per child) prevalent in each country and 3) the bias related to the socioeconomic characteristics of the children who access (and do not access) to the ECEC system in the different countries.
Using the 2022 revision of the Barcelona targets, countries have been classified according to their achievement concerning access and intensity in four groups. An access bias by social origin has been identified in all countries (except for Denmark, and relatively reduced in Iceland, Luxembourg, Sweden and Greece). The access bias more intense are for children with mothers with low educational achievement, followed by those with fathers in the same situation (which are actually the same in most countries, due to homogamous matching patterns). In general, the higher the ECEC participation and use intensity, the lower the access bias for children with disadvantaged conditions. European policies that boost intense use and universal access to ECEC and coordination with parental leave systems (based on gender-equal participation in care at home) are essential to guarantee children's wellbeing and gender equality. This would widen childcare options for all types of families, especially for the less privileged ones.
Descripción
Categorías UNESCO
Palabras clave
Early childhood care and education, EU-SILC, Equal Opportunities, Gender equality, Parental Leave, Care Economy
Citación
Fernández Lozano, I. and Castellanos-Serrano, C (in press). Access to early childcare and education in contemporary Europe. Who is being left out? In Česnuitytė, Meil, Rogero-García, & Budginaitė-Mačkinė (Ed.) European Families Facing Hard Times: Challenges, Strategies, and Family Policies, Emerald.
Centro
Facultad de Ciencias Políticas y Sociología
Departamento
Sociología II (Estructura Social)