The impact of COVID-19 on the provision of Early Years childcare in England and Wales

鉴于幼儿保育对儿童发展和福祉的积极影响，幼儿保育对英国经济和社会至关重要。如果不提供正式和非正式的托儿服务，父母将无法在2019冠状病毒病危机期间或之后重返工作岗位，这将加剧家庭内部和家庭间的不平等。这将主要包括性别不平等，因为妇女的工作生活受到缺乏EY和通过家庭和友谊网络提供的非正式托儿服务的影响最大。本研究将在2019冠状病毒病背景下解决的紧迫挑战涉及：1)提供的中断和可持续性在2019冠状病毒病之前，正规托儿服务面临财务困难（Penn等人，2011年），四分之一的托儿所表示，它们可能不会在危机后重新开业（EYA 2020）。至关重要的是，要产生经验证据，说明这些关闭发生的原因和地点，关闭对家庭意味着什么，安永格局的变化及其可持续性将如何影响重返工作岗位以及性别和社会经济平等。此外，必须了解对家庭护理和非正式护理的影响。在2019冠状病毒病之前，数千名保姆和托儿人以及500万名祖父母定期提供托儿服务。我们将了解他们提供照顾的能力，以及父母对失去非正式支持的反应和对提供安永的影响。2)确保工人、儿童和家庭的安全环境。照顾孩子需要近距离的身体接触。已经制定了一些社会距离和安全措施，但需要更好地了解这对提供安全的安永环境构成的挑战，以及它带来的额外财政压力。迫切需要了解如何支持临床易受伤害的工作人员、儿童和家庭，这些儿童和家庭可能无法返回群体环境。该研究旨在找出：-由于COVID-19，安永儿童保育服务面临的主要压力是什么？-在COVID-19期间和之后，正式和非正式托儿服务的格局将如何变化？-如何确保为提供者、工作人员和家庭提供充足的服务，并使其可持续和安全？-如何为安永儿童保育部门创造一个更可持续的未来？该项目将通过四个工作包（WPs）来应对这些问题和挑战：WP1：托儿所和学前团体提供者。在两次浪潮中对1000个托儿所进行了调查，并对25名托儿所经理和50名托儿所工作人员进行了定性访谈，以捕捉随时间的变化。WP2：家庭保育员：对500名保姆和500名保育员进行调查，并对25名保姆和25名保育员进行定性访谈。工作三：父母和祖父母：对多达1000名0-4岁儿童的父母进行调查，分两波进行，并对25名父母和25名祖父母进行定性访谈，这些父母和祖父母在COVID-19之前为0-4岁儿童提供至少一天的托儿服务。WP4：四个不同国家的案例研究，与安永儿童保育服务的主要利益相关者进行2-4次专家访谈，以探索其他情况下的最佳实践，并为英国制定政策吸取经验教训。该项目将首次提供详细的纵向证据，证明COVID-19对英格兰和威尔士不同类型的正式和非正式托儿服务产生的直接和长期影响。所产生的证据将为了解2019冠状病毒病后在英国提供可持续儿童保育的挑战以及失去正式和非正式提供护理的潜在影响提供迫切需要的见解。

Early Years (EY) childcare is critical to the UK economy and society given its positive impact on child development and wellbeing. Without the provision of formal and informal childcare, parents will not be able to return to work during or after the COVID-19 crisis, which will exacerbate intra- and inter-household inequalities. This will be includes notably gender inequalities given women's working-lives are impacted most by the absence of EY and informal childcare through families and friendship networks.The urgent challenges that this research will address in the context of COVID-19 are in relation to:1) Disruption to and sustainability of provisionFormal childcare faced financial difficulties before COVID-19 (Penn et al 2011) and 1 in 4 nurseries said that they may not reopen after the crisis (EYA 2020). It is critical to generate empirical evidence on why and where these closures are occurring, what closures will mean for families, how the changing EY landscape and its sustainability will impact on returns to work and gender and socio-economic (in)equalities. Additionally, it is essential to understand the impact on home-based and informal care. Pre-COVID-19, thousands of nannies and childminders and five million grandparents regularly provided childcare. We will generate knowledge of their ability to provide care, as well as parental responses to loss of informal support and the implications for EY provision.2) Ensuring safe environments for workers, children and families.Childcare necessitates close physical proximity. Some social distancing and safety measures have been enacted, but better understandings are needed of the challenges this poses for providingsafe EY environments, and the additional financial pressures it brings. There is an urgent need to understand how staff, children and families who are clinically vulnerable, and may not be able toreturn to group settings can be supported. The research seeks to find out:- What are the key pressures on EY childcare provision as a result of COVID-19?- How will the landscape of formal and informal childcare provision change during and after COVID-19?- How can sufficient provision be ensured and made sustainable and safe for providers, staff and families?- How can a more sustainable future for the EY childcare sector be created?This project will respond to these questions and challenges via four Work Packages (WPs):WP1: Nursery and pre-school group providers. A survey of 1000 nurseries over two waves complemented by qualitative interviews with 25 nursery managers and 50 nursery workers across two waves to capture change over time.WP2: Home-based childcare workers: A survey of 500 nannies and 500 childminders plus qualitative interviews with 25 nannies and 25 childminders over the same two waves.WP3: Parents and grandparents: A survey of up to 1000 parents of children aged 0-4 years old, over two waves complemented by qualitative interviews with 25 parents and 25 grandparents who provide at least one day of childcare pre COVID-19 for 0-4 year-olds.WP4: Case studies of four different countries, 2-4 expert interviews with key stakeholders in EY childcare provision, to explore best practice in other contexts and draw lessons for developing policy in the UK.This project will be the first to generate detailed, longitudinal evidence on the immediate and longer-term impacts that COVID-19 has on different types of formal and informal childcare provision across England and Wales. The evidence generated will provide urgently needed insight into the challenges of delivering sustainable childcare in the UK following COVID-19 and potential impact of loss of both formal and informal provision of care.