Legislation and policies

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The main policy that has effected corporate childcare is the ECE participation programme.

This programme is discussed in depth here. The focus of this policy is to increase the participation in quality early childhood education, as it is seen as an essential foundation for children.

 

This programme is specifically focussed on the children living in low socio-economic areas, as these children are seen as vulnerable. The aim is that 98% of children starting school will have participated in quality early childhood education by 2016. This effectively increases the demand for childcare, which boosts the numbers of children attending corporately run centres. 

 

One of the initiates of this programme is to "increase the supply of ECE services in target communities through full and partial funding of property projects and one-off grants". This affects corporate childcare as it means that if they are in a 'target community', they can be eligible to large amounts of funding from the government. This does not seem reasonable as corporate centres aim to make a profit, and so there is no guarantee that the funding they receive will go towards providing the quality of care that is so essential.

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The Early Childhood Services Regulations 2008 can be found here.

 

 

The schedules of these regulations set out the minimum requirements related to qualifications, ratios and service size.

Schedule 1
Qualification requirements

	Requirement
All services		Person responsible must hold recognised qualification
All services recognised as a teacher led service (as defined in regulation 44(4))		50% of required staff (including person responsible) must hold recognised qualification

Schedule 2

Adult to child ratios

 For all day centres

– under 2 years old maximum 21-25 ---to minimum 5 staff

- 2 years old and over maximum 41-50---- to minimum 5 staff

 

Schedule 3

Service size (Maximum)

 

Service		Number of children attending
Early childhood education and care centre and hospital-based education and care service		No more than 150 children aged 2 years and over attending at any one time
		No more than 25 children under 2 years attending at any one time unless otherwise approved by the Secretary under regulation 22A(3)
		No more than 50 children attending at any one time if children are a mixture of those under 2 years and those 2 years and over, unless otherwise approved by the Secretary under regulation 23(3

 

Summed up, these schedules state that only 50% of teachers in any early childhood centre need to be qualified. The adult to child ratios and service size therefore suggest that 150 children can attend a centre at any one time, which would require 15 staff, 7 of which have to be qualified. As corporate centres push for more children to attend so their profits are maximised, many corporate centres have 150 children that attend, with minimum staffing requirements. I feel that the ratios are therefore not relative to providing children with quality care. How can children receive quality care when only 50% of the teachers in their centre are qualified, and they are contending with 149 other children for the love and care of only 15 staff?

 

 

 

 

 



Requirement

All services

 

Person responsible must hold recognised qualification

All services recognised as a teacher led service (as defined in regulation 44(4))

 

50% of required staff (including person responsible) must hold recognised qualification

Service

 

Number of children attending

Early childhood education and care centre and hospital-based education and care service

 

No more than 150 children aged 2 years and over attending at any one time

 

 

No more than 25 children under 2 years attending at any one time unless otherwise approved by the Secretary under regulation 22A(3)

 

 

No more than 50 children attending at any one time if children are a mixture of those under 2 years and those 2 years and over, unless otherwise approved by the Secretary under regulation 23(3