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Agenda for this week

Agenda for this week. Field trip is cancelled. Proposal for Weeks 23 / 24. Some consolidation, some pot luck celebration… Paper #5 – take enough time to go over your prose and critical reflection. Today’s theme: Child care. SWLF 3105 (Week 21) Today’s theme: ‘Child Care’.

MartaAdara
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Agenda for this week

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  1. Agenda for this week • Field trip is cancelled. • Proposal for Weeks 23 / 24. Some consolidation, some pot luck celebration… • Paper #5 – take enough time to go over your prose and critical reflection. • Today’s theme: Child care

  2. SWLF 3105 (Week 21)Today’s theme: ‘Child Care’ Two important thoughts as we begin: • Does it take a village… • What role does the state have in the nurseries of the nation?

  3. Being ‘optimistic’ about Canadian child care policy The historical record: • 1922 – federal government creates the Division of Child Welfare (provides information on child-rearing for expectant mothers and new mothers). • WW2 – when many women enter the paid labour force, the federal government offers subsidies for nurseries and after-school programs. Programs withdrawn after WW2. • 1970 – Royal Commission on the Status of Women calls for a National Child Care Act. • 1986 - 1988 – successive reports call for a national, publicly funded child care system.

  4. Recent developments • October 2004 – federal Throne Speech indicates the government is willing to finally move ahead on its stated promises concerning child care (Handout: “Daycare in Canada”). • February 2005 – the 2005 Federal Budget pledges $5 B for child care over the next 5 years (Handout: “Child Care”).

  5. 2. Friendly: the case for high-quality, publicly funded child care Friendly offers two propositions: • That high-quality child care addresses the difficulties faced by working parents, particularly those most disadvantaged. • That access to high-quality child care provides women access to the labour market, and the potential of non-precarious employment.

  6. 3. Public support for high-quality child care On social attitudes and social policy: • If two-thirds of Canadians support a publicly funded, national program of high-quality child care, how do we explain the existing frameworks for child care? • Is it fair to assess blame on politicians and policymakers alone?

  7. The Quebec model Tougas points out three features of Quebec’s social policy concerning child care: • Early childhood agencies: delivered through day care centres and regulated family day care for $7 per day (formerly $5 per day); • School-age programs: covering kids aged 5-12, and about 120,000 children. • Full-day kindergarten: for 5 year olds, with some programs for 4 year olds from disadvantaged families.

  8. Quebec child care – from ‘natalism’ to ‘feminism’ • Quebec’s earliest programs for child care involved ‘baby bonuses’ to stimulate increases in the birth rate; • After these programs were shown to have failed, Quebec embarked on an experiment in social policy that emphasized choice for parents (most notably mothers) who wanted the choice to work. • The result were targeted programs aimed at making child care a collective responsibility.

  9. 6. Where is the outrage? • What are possible explanations for the lack of outcry around the question of publicly funded, high-quality child care outside Quebec? • Could politicians get away with temporarily asking Canadians to pay for health care costs while they settled disagreements between provincial and federal governments? • What role does the existing labour market play in complicating this issue? (Handout: “The daycare dilemma”)

  10. 7. France and Germany: two approaches to state-funded child care • France: emphasis on choice for parents to access outside caregivers, maintain work or stay at home. • Germany: emphasis on providing support to parents to stay at home with children • What are the benefits or drawbacks of each approach?

  11. Single mothers, poverty, and child care • What forces single mothers interested in pursuing a career out of the labour force? • Why is this a matter where women are more likely to be involved? Why is there not similar data documenting the experiences of single fathers?

  12. 9. The case against publicly-funded child care • How significant are these topics for the case Patrick Basham and Jonathan Chevreau present against publicly-funded child care? • Tax credits over universal government programs • Maintaining and supporting traditional ‘family values’ • The efficiency of private sector child care over public sector options

  13. Next week • The theme: criminal justice. • Required reading for next week: National Council of Welfare, Justice and the Poor (2000). • Other interesting sources worth a closer look: Law Commission of Canada, What is a Crime? (2003)

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