Day care
What is day care?
Day care involves temporary care
provided by someone other than the primary caregiver. It is not the same as
residential nurseries/fosters and it is not care provided by family members or
someone known to the child. Day care includes childminders, nannies or day
nurseries.
Basics of day care
·
Staff
are all CRB checked- make sure there’s no criminal convictions
·
Trained
staff
·
Include
washing facilities
·
Tick
box curriculum (measuring learning and development)
·
A
specified staff child ratio
·
Floor
space certified per child
Staff ratio
-
1
member of staff for every 8 children aged 3-5 years
-
1
member of staff for every 4 children aged 2-3 years
-
1
member of staff for every 3 children aged under 2 years
Campbell et al
(2000) a good day care has...
1. A low adult to child ratio: To ensure each child gets plenty of
attention and stimulation
2. A small sized group: Small groups are easier for young children to mix in
as there are fewer strangers
3. Mixed aged groups: This can stimulate younger children’s ability to learning
from the older children
4. Low staff turnover: This prevents feelings of insecurity when the adults
leave
5. Well trained staff: Who appreciate the attachment theory
Ideals the child also experience are...
-
A stable attachment figure: To form a bond with a primary
caregiver
-
A structured day: Routines and structured learning
based activities
Key workers
·
Reduce
stress, many nurseries use the ‘key worker’ technique (Goldschmied &
Jackson 1994)
·
Key
workers act as the significant adult for each child while working in day care
·
Can
be used as an attachment figure when stressed-
morning separation/anxious return
·
Emotionally
available, provide warmth and security
EPPE PROJECT
(1997-2003)
Aim
-
To
study the impact on preschool provision on children’s intellectual, social and
behavioural development
-
Sylvia
et al also wanted to see if some provision was better than others within the UK
(funded by the government)
Procedure
·
A
study of 3000 children consisting of observation and interviews with parents
and teachers, as well as using 144 different centres
·
The
sample are also from a wide range of backgrounds
·
2
groups- those who were in day care and those who stayed at home (control group)
Findings
·
High
quality care improved social, intellectual and behaviour development
·
The
earlier the children start day care the more improvements we see
·
The
better sociability, independence and concentration the longer they were in day
care
·
Day care improved the most for disadvantaged
children
·
Full
time attendance had no greater benefit than part time
Evaluation of EPPE
Project
ü Big sample of children (3,000) so
findings were easily representative/generalisable
ü Wide sample range- children from
different backgrounds and used 144 different centres
ü Triangulation- findings were easily
reliable due to this
ü Applicable to real life settings,
trying to improve day care or the best way to look after children
ü Well controlled- used a control group
ü Government funded
ü Naturally occurring groups- so they
were projected from harm
û Based in the UK only
û High dropout rates- longitudinal
û Difficult to replicate for
reliability- longitudinal
û Don’t take into account other
factors- reductionist
û Observations involve interpretations-
increase in subjectivity
û Children can’t give consent
NICHD STUDY
This was a longitudinal study in the USA, commissioned by the
institute for childcare.
Aim
-
To
look at the effect of childcare on children
Method
·
Observations,
interviews and surveys of 1,200 children from birth until when they started
school.
Findings
·
Age
5- The more time a child spent in day care no matter what kind of day
care/quality of it were said to be rated disobedient and aggressive
·
Children
in full time day care were almost 3 x more likely to show behavioural problems
that those cared for at home. Behavioural problems included arguing, temper
tantrums, lying and hitting.
·
Type
of care- Nursery care resulted in improved cognitive and language abilities,
whereas not in people’s homes
·
Quality
of care- Low quality was particularly bad. Good quality could be judged by
responsiveness, attention of staff and stimulating environment.
Conclusion
There is a
positive correlation between the time spent in a day care and the amount of
aggressive behaviour, therefore this suggests that day care and aggression are
linked.
Evaluation of NICHD
ü Big sample size- 1,200 children so
it’s easily representative and generalisable
ü Triangulation
ü Applicable to real life settings,
trying to improve day care or the best way to look after children
ü Longitudinal study- rich in validity
ü Backs up Bowlby’s research
ü Gained consent from parents
û Based in the US only
û Observations involve interpretations
û High dropout rates- Longitudinal
û Time consuming- Longitudinal
û Difficult to replicate for
reliability
û Children can’t give consent
û A correlation doesn’t necessarily
show that day care caused aggression- there may be an unknown factor which
affects both these sets of data.
û The findings may have been reported
in a way that makes the outcome seem magnified. There was a slight negative
correlation but 83% of children spending between 10-30 hours per week in day
care showed no increase in aggression.
Day care- Comparison
studies
Quality of day care
Howes et al (1998) studied a number of caregivers that
were involved in in-service training to increase their sensitivity. 6 mothers
after their training it was found that the children aged 2yrs became more
secure compared to another group whose caregiver has received no training.
Individual
differences
Baker et al (2005) said that in the period after day
care became widely available, aggression among 2-4 year olds increased by 24%
in Quebec, compared to 1% in the rest of Canada. The wellbeing of parents also
declines, with a greater incidence of hostile parenting and dissatisfaction
with spouses.
Number of hours
Sammons et al (2003)
analysed data
and showed that there is a slight risk of antisocial behaviour when children
spend more than 20 hours per week in nurseries. This risk increases noticeably
when they spend more than 40 hours a week in care.
Cognitive
improvement
Watamura et al
(2006) found
that the cortisol levels of babies and toddlers gradually increased through the
day on days that were spent at nursery, but not on days spent at home. Greatest
increases were for those aged 24-36months and shy toddlers. Cortisol is a
hormone of stress.
Cognitive no
improvement
Tizard (1979) studied conversations between a
mother and her child, rating them as more than complex than those between a
child and a nursery school teacher. Mothers have more exchanges and elicited
more from the children. This is likely to be due to the fact that teachers have
to divide their attention between numbers of children, but they also inevitably
know the children less well and have less of a personal sense of investment in
the child. This suggests that day care might have a negative effect on
cognitive development.
Social improvement
Clarke – Stewart
(1994) looked at
children who had attended nurseries could cope better in social situations, and
were able to interact better with peers compared with children previously
looked after in family settings. Being in day care helps social development and
improves peer relations.
Social no
improvement
Di Lalla (1988) found a negative correlation between
the amount of time children spend in care and their amount of pro-social
behaviour. Children who spent more time in day care were less cooperative and
helpful in their relationships than other children.
Aggression
improvement
ALSPAC (1991-1992) found that the progress of 14,000
children born in the UK between 1991 and 1992 was followed. No negative effects
of day care, including no evidence of increased anti-social behaviour or
aggression.
Aggression no
improvement
Melhuish (2004) noticed increased aggression amongst
children whose carers are constantly changing.