A couple of Canadian friends staying with me hadn't been to England for a while and what surprised them most was the disappearance of community nurseries. Canada does not have particularly good coverage of childcare and education, but what it does still have in abundance is a thriving self-help movement. There are hundreds of community nurseries. They offer full-day childcare, set up and run and used by local people on a non-profit basis, supported in part by local authorities, which fund the centres directly so that they can provide for low-income parents and employ trained staff.
A recent survey of these nurseries suggests that on average their quality is significantly higher than in the for-profit sector. In some way over the last 20 years, the movement has generated an ethos of care and commitment and discussion that has led to good practice.
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