Caring and Learning Together: exploring the relationship between parental leave and early childhood education and care.

This study is a comparative study the purpose of which is to investigate the relationship between parental leave and daycare facilities in 25 European countries.

The results of the study show that all EU countries are required to draw up a policy for maternity/paternity leave as well as parental leave in EU directives specifying the minimum length for both types of leave. Overall the study shows that all children in the participating countries are entitled to daycare from the age of three as a minimum. In the Nordic countries (except Iceland), most children are offered a place at a daycare facility from the age of 12 months. The Nordic countries (and Slovenia) have some sort of parent payment system, but this is to a great extent based on income, and the daycare facilities are largely subsidised by the government. Children are also offered a full-time place in these five countries.

The data material consists of political documents from the 25 participating countries. Data was mainly analysed using descriptive statistics, however the researcher also includes a report on the Nordic welfare model versus the conservative welfare model as described by Esping-Andersen, among others.

Moss, P. (2012). Caring and Learning Together: exploring the relationship between parental leave and early childhood education and care. European Journal of Education 47(4), 482-493.