Birth to three matters - Communities and Local Government
Birth to three matters - Communities and Local Government
Birth to three matters - Communities and Local Government
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clean, safe <strong>and</strong> uncluttered <strong>and</strong> havingappropriate materials for play <strong>and</strong>interaction for the age-group. What isspecial about this research is its inclusion,for the first time in such a study, ofinformal care by other family members(fathers, gr<strong>and</strong>parents, nannies). Theresearchers state that it was the inclusionof this form of care which increased thelevels of their results related <strong>to</strong> sensitivity<strong>and</strong> stimulation.Another American in-depth,observationalstudy (Galinsky et al 1994),which focusedsolely on children in home-based care(with a childminder or member of theirown family), issued a warning that in theUSA, children from low income familieswere more likely <strong>to</strong> be in care which gavecause for concern. They found that parentschoose providers who are similar <strong>to</strong>themselves in income <strong>and</strong> ethnicity. Theseresearchers reiterated results like those ofthe NICHD study outlined above – thatcarers need <strong>to</strong> be ‘committed, caring, open<strong>to</strong> learning, <strong>and</strong> purposeful about theimportant work of being a family childcare provider.’ (Galinsky et al 1994: 96). Asa result they recommended that publicbodies should not push reluctant workersin<strong>to</strong> becoming child carers; that thereshould be investments in advocacy <strong>and</strong>education about ECEC; that government<strong>and</strong> businesses should fund child caretraining initiatives <strong>and</strong> help families payfor childcare; that family child careproviders should be entitled <strong>to</strong> access <strong>to</strong>resources enabling them <strong>to</strong> providestimulating learning experiences; thereshould be associations <strong>to</strong> offer social <strong>and</strong>technical support <strong>to</strong> family carers atnational <strong>and</strong> local levels; that anyregula<strong>to</strong>ry system should be providerfriendly<strong>and</strong> inspection visits r<strong>and</strong>om <strong>and</strong>rotating. One important finding from thisextensive study was the fact that thechildren’s mothers, when interviewed infocus groups, expressed their mostessential requirements of a practitioner <strong>to</strong>be exactly those listed by the NICHD team– warmth, attention <strong>to</strong> the child,cleanliness <strong>and</strong> communication (with boththe child <strong>and</strong> themselves). Sadly, this studyfound only 50 per cent of the children <strong>to</strong>be securely attached <strong>to</strong> their child careproviders but they were no more likely <strong>to</strong>be securely attached <strong>to</strong> a carer who was arelative than a non-relative. This figure of50 per cent tallies with that found byHowes <strong>and</strong> Hamil<strong>to</strong>n’s (1993) study ofchildren in group settings. Galinsky et al(1994) concluded that the best way ofensuring children become attached <strong>to</strong>their carers (seen as an essentialpre-requisite of effective provision; seealso the section on resilience in chapter 1<strong>and</strong> discussion in chapter 3), is by drawingin<strong>to</strong> ECEC only those workers who want <strong>to</strong>learn more about being a care-giver, areintentional in their approaches <strong>and</strong> aboveall,are committed.In a longitudinal study of 354 parents <strong>and</strong>their firstborn infants, Laucht et al (1994)examined the relationship betweenchildren’s development <strong>and</strong> parentalpsychopathology (mental illness). Theycompared the social-emotional <strong>and</strong>120 EDUCATION ANDSKILLS B I RT H T O T H R E E M AT T E R S