Authors

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

Keywords

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

Abstract

The survey focused on the scope, service provision, administration and development of child-minding services in Finnish municipalities. These services (also called family day care) offer families child-minding at the home of the minder, at the home of the family or in a group with several minders. The respondents were child-minding coordinators. Similar surveys were carried out in 1997, 1999 and 2003, from the viewpoints of child-minding coordinators, day nursery managers and municipal service directors.

First, the respondents were asked how many children there were within municipal child-minding service, how the children were divided in terms of age, and whether there were any children from other municipalities within the service as well. The number of employees in municipal child-minding service and their tasks were queried, as well as the current expenditure and income of family day care services.

Further questions covered management and decision-making on child day care in the municipality. Views on the use of client surveys and performance measures were also investigated. Finally, the development of child-minding services since 1992, the present state, and development policies for the future were charted.

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