The UK Government is committed to delivering early childhood education and care through a mixed market economy. Currently the private for-profit sector delivers three quarters of daycare provision in the UK. In particular the UK corporate for-profit childcare sector has grown seven-fold since 1997. Similar growth of private for-profit care is reported in some other OECD countries. In Australia since the early nineties the growth rate of for-profit childcare provision has been eight times that of not-for-profit services. In Canada, recent economic research suggests that the for-profit sector may not be cost-effective in delivering quality care.
The growth in private for-profit childcare and early education was based on the assumption of rising demand from mothers entering the workforce. But female employment rates in the UK have not expanded as predicted. Are mixed economies of childcare faltering due to oversupply of provision? How can regulation protect childcare quality while also promoting the childcare market? Is a child-focused, equitable, universally accessible and publicly subsidised early childhood care and education system attainable through the for-profit sector? These are among the pressing questions to be discussed at this conference.
© 2007
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