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

COVID-19 对英格兰和威尔士幼儿保育服务的影响

• 批准号: ES/V013203/1
• 负责人: Kate Hardy
• 金额: $ 45.46万
• 依托单位: University of Leeds
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FV013203%2F1
• 关键词: impact; COVID; 19; provision; Early

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.

早期儿童保育对英国经济和社会至关重要，因为它对儿童的发展和福祉产生了积极影响。如果不提供正式和非正式的托儿服务，父母将无法在COVID-19危机期间或之后重返工作岗位，这将加剧家庭内部和家庭之间的不平等。在COVID-19的背景下，这项研究将解决的紧迫挑战与以下方面有关：1）供应中断和可持续性正规托儿服务在COVID-19之前面临财务困难（Penn et al 2011），四分之一的托儿所表示，危机后可能不会重新开放（EYA 2020）。关键是要提供经验证据，说明这些关闭的原因和地点，关闭对家庭意味着什么，不断变化的安永环境及其可持续性将如何影响工作回报以及性别和社会经济（不）平等。此外，必须了解对家庭护理和非正式护理的影响。在COVID-19之前，数千名保姆和保姆以及500万祖父母定期提供儿童保育服务。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，以及对安永供应的影响。2）确保员工、儿童和家庭的安全环境。我们已制定了一些社交距离和安全措施，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务压力。迫切需要了解如何支持临床上脆弱且可能无法返回群体环境的工作人员、儿童和家庭。该研究旨在找出：-COVID-19对安永儿童保育服务造成的主要压力是什么？-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？如何确保提供足够的服务，并使其对提供者、工作人员和家庭来说可持续且安全？-如何为安永儿童保育行业创造更可持续的未来？该项目将通过四个工作包（WP）回应这些问题和挑战：WP 1：托儿所和学前团体提供者。对1000家托儿所进行了两次调查，并对25名托儿所经理和50名托儿所工作人员进行了两次定性访谈，以捕捉随着时间的推移而发生的变化。WP 2：家庭保育工作者：对500名保姆和500名幼儿保育员进行了调查，并对25名保姆和25名幼儿保育员进行了两次定性访谈。WP 3：父母和祖父母：对多达1000名0-4岁儿童的父母进行了两轮调查，并对25名父母和25名祖父母进行了定性访谈，他们在COVID-19之前为0-4岁儿童提供了至少一天的儿童保育。WP 4：四个不同国家的案例研究，与安永儿童保育服务主要利益相关者的2-4次专家访谈，探索在其他情况下的最佳做法，并为英国制定政策吸取经验教训。该项目将是第一个产生详细，关于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的直接和长期影响的纵向证据。所产生的证据将提供急需的洞察力，以了解COVID-19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护理的潜在影响。

项目成果

Essential but undervalued: early years care and education during Covid-19

重要但被低估：Covid-19 期间的早期护理和教育

• 发表时间: 2022
• 作者: Kate Hardy