Tekijät

• Heikkinen, Erja (University of Vaasa. Faculty of Public Administration)

Asiasanat

child day care, child-minders, child-minding, children, community development, day nurseries, local community facilities, local government, local government officers, local government policy, local government services, pre-primary education, pre-primary schools, preschool children, public services, social systems, subcontracting

Sisällön kuvaus

The survey focused on the scope, service provision, administration and development of child day care services in Finnish municipalities. The respondents were municipal officials responsible for child day care services. Similar surveys were carried out in 1997, 1999 and 2003, from the viewpoints of municipal service directors, day nursery managers and child-minding coordinators.

First, the respondents were asked how many children there were in the municipal day care centres, whether there were queues for places in those centres, and how the children were divided in terms of age and the type of day care (e.g. full day care, sessional day care; day nursery, family day care). The number of employees in the municipal day nurseries and their tasks were queried, as well as the current expenditure and income of day care services. There were also questions pertaining to service provision, competitive tendering, and satisfaction with services.

Further questions covered management and decision-making on child day care in the municipality. The respondents were also asked which body decided on matters such as using outsourced services. The use of performance measures and the impact of different bodies on day care services were studied. Finally, the development of municipal day care since 1992 and development policies for the future were surveyed.

Background variables included the respondent's gender, mother tongue, year of birth, job title, work experience, level of education, and elective offices.