It is predictable that the Labour Party’s election pledge to expand Sure Start has turned into a row over how many children’s centres have actually closed since the coalition government took over in 2010…
Getting the right balance between short- and medium-term ‘fixes’ may well be the most significant challenge for Social Services Minister Scott Morrison.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
Scott Morrison’s appointment as minister for social services in late December 2014 has been seen as an important step for the Abbott government as it moves towards its second budget. The tasks he faces…
But what awaits her at home?
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David S. Pedulla, The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts y Sarah Thebaud, University of California, Santa Barbara
The latter part of the twentieth century saw a dramatic increase in women’s participation in the workforce as well as a rise in ideological support for women’s employment in the United States. However…
The social norm of women as care givers has a big impact when women return to work after childbirth.
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The return by women to paid work after maternity or parental leave plays a crucial role in driving our workforce and economy. There is growing recognition of the link between supporting employees with…
The government has foreshadowed they’ll announce a “families package” next year, what form should it take?
AAP
There are a lot of babies around, and the numbers are increasing. However, Australia does not have coherent policies that recognise the effect of parenting on workforce participation and vice versa. Parenting…
Time to go back to work?
Toddler via Photographee.eu/Shutterstock
Over the last 20 years, early childhood education and childcare for the under-fives has become a major policy priority in the UK. Get more mothers into work, it’s argued, and we can start to close the…
Nordic nations enjoy regulated working hours, substantial welfare provision and strong economies.
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At the end of this month Australia’s Productivity Commission will issue the final report of its inquiry into Early Childhood Education and Care. The inquiry was limited from the outset by the requirement…
Childcare is likely to be a key battleground for the UK’s 2015 general election. The Labour party has committed to a universal quality childcare service. It sees it as a strategic political, social and…
The proportion of women in the Australian news media has grown, but in general men still rule the newsrooms.
EPA/Yoon S. Byun
As I write this I can hear a clique of blokes guffawing at morning news conference. Not a woman at the table … We are marginalised and excluded by the blokes’ club because admitting women would change…
The Productivity Commission report reflect the limits set by Tony Abbott when he announced terms of reference focused on economic benefit.
AAP/Alan Porritt
The Productivity Commission’s Draft Report on Childcare and Early Childhood Learning shows the serious limitations of market economics for analysing social policy. The report’s 900-plus pages offer a collection…
A government giving the Productivity Commission an issue to probe should always expect that it is likely to get back more than it bargained for. The commission, well known for both rigour and commitment…
Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s much debated paid parental leave policy has suffered another blow.
AAP/Nikki Short
The Productivity Commission has issued a challenge to Tony Abbott by saying that some funds from his expensive proposed paid parental leave scheme should be redirected to child care. In its Childcare and…
What shall we spend the pupil premium on?
John Stillwell/PA Wire
All children deserve a good start in life, and we know that high quality early years provision can help to support children’s development. Research shows that it is particularly beneficial for disadvantaged…
Do you think your Mum and Dad made the right choice?
John Stillwell/PA
Choosing a good quality nursery is one of the most important decisions any parent will make during the first years of their child’s life. In a recent report, UK school and childcare regulator Ofsted acknowledged…
My mum could use that extra cash.
Peter Macdiarmid/PA
Kitty Stewart, London School of Economics and Political Science
The coalition has placed a series of new plans on the table with regard to childcare and early years education. Most eye-catching is the new “tax-free childcare” scheme: from September 2015, for every…
Too many two-year-olds.
Edmond Terakopian/PA Wire/Press Association Images
Proposals to allow schools to start looking after two-year-olds go to the heart of a long-standing tension in education policy: is early childhood provision about childcare for working parents or is it…
What’s wrong with the policy picture? Private childcare operators’ priorities are driven by profits, not social needs.
AAP/Joe Castro
Can the Productivity Commission review commissioned by the Abbott government recognise the possible failure of the market-model funding of many early childhood services? This rather broad term now covers…
A roundtable of academics have reviewed family and work policies proposed by the major parties in the lead up to the 2013 election on September 7.
AAP Image/Dean Lewins
Sunanda Creagh, The Conversation y Patrick Hutchens, The Conversation
Australia is approaching a “care tsunami” in which more people will find themselves juggling work with care of children and the elderly but experts have warned that neither major party has proposed adequate…
Caring is part of everyday life; it taps into our vulnerabilities and allows us to turn possibilities into material outcomes.
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Welcome to the The Conversation’s Election 2013 State of the Nation essays. These articles by leading experts in their field provide an in-depth look at the key policy challenges affecting Australia as…
The vast majority of childcare workers are women.
Childcare image from www.shutterstock.com
The federal government’s announcement this week on pay equity for the early childhood workforce is an important step for the childcare sector. But in the long term, it will provide little more than a stop-gap…
Adjunct Professor, Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development at Ontario Institute for the Study of Education (OISE) and Senior Policy Fellow at the Atkinson Centre, University of Toronto