Book extract: Childcare markets - can they deliver an equitable service? Edited by Eva Lloyd and Helen Penn

Childcare markets: an introduction by Eva Lloyd

Introduction

The state’s role in the provision of early childhood education and care (ECEC) services is of particular interest, since such services are closely linked to other social, educational, demographic and economic policy developments. Robust education systems, labour market policies which acknowledge the key contributions of women, family stability and ideas of inclusive citizenship all to an extent hinge on the provision of comprehensive and high quality early childhood education and care. This role requires states to strike a balance between serving the interests of parents and the wider family, of children and of the state itself. But negotiating the intersections between these policy interests is often conflictual (Archard, 2003; Kamerman and Moss, 2010). Agreeing and enabling a coherent mix of leave policies, financial support and childcare services, while also allowing for parental choice and achieving a satisfactory resolution to the macro-division of costs, may pose serious challenges for governments (Plantenga and Remery, 2009). One particular option for addressing these policy conundrums is the promotion of a market-based approach to the provision of early childhood education and care, the subject of this boo