The history of corporate childcare

Retrieved from: http://richmondconfidential.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Screen-Shot-2013-05-17-at-3.53.12-PM.png

The demand for childcare has grown and developed overtime as society has changed. Childcare has traditionally been seen as the prerogative of mothers and women. In 1877, when school attendance became compulsory from the age of six, the care of younger children was still seen as the parent’s responsibility. However, the need for women to work meant that formal childcare was gradually established.

As more women joined the workforce, the demand for childcare increased. In the 1970s  women began to seek economic independence through paid work. The amount of women in the workforce rose steadily from 1971 to 1980. This led to an increase in the amount of children that attended full-time care, and the availability of childcare services.

Corporate childcare began in the late 1970's as private centres operated from private homes. The first corporate childcare began with the opening of Kindercare in Auckland 1978.

 

Education and care became integrated when the government introduced the 'Before Five' policy. This led to an increase in government funding, and the implementation of the national curriculum called Te Whāriki.

 The complete history of New Zealand early childhood education and care can be found in an article here

A more recent history of child enrolments in early childhood care is shown on the chart below.

Retrieved from: http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/early-childhood-education-and-care/page-1

This shows that numbers enrolled in care and education have skyrocketed since 1990. This has led to a further increase in the demand for childcare, and therefore an increase in the numbers of corporate centres to meet this demand.
The chart below shows the percentage of children that had prior participation in early childhood education when they began school. This has also been a contributing factor to the increase of childcare and corporate childcare.

Retrieved from: http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/ece2/ece-indicators/1923