Care work in Europe: how do we compare?

Care work in Europe: how do we compare? Claire Cameron and Peter Moss Thomas Coram Research Unit Institute of Education, University of London

EC funded 2001 - 2005 6 Partners Denmark, Hungary, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and UK English as working language Main objective to contribute to the development of good quality employment in care work in services that are responsive to needs of changing societies Care work in Europe

Mapping the care workforce using European and national level literature and statistics. Main themes - quality, job satisfaction and gender issues Three cross-national case studies of work: young children (HU, DK, SP); older people (SW, ENG, SP + HU); adults with severe disabilities (DK, NE, SW) Development ofvideo-based method for cross-national study of practice in care work (SOPHOS) www.ioe.ac.uk/tcru/carework Study methods

Illuminate some points at which contestation of concepts took place in the comparative project: Country unique concepts Contested concepts Concepts with differing salience Discuss some issues that need to be thought about to address these contestations Today we will …

Kropslighed – ‘bodyliness’,the use and expression of the body in everyday life ‘You could say that the children’s bodies are dealt with in a different manner in the Danish film … The children’s bodies are much more accepted. The body is allowed to be there. It is strongly symbolized by the fact that he is allowed to put his legs up on the table not only once but two times. … one way or the other the body has been reduced to a head in the English film.’ (Danish expert) Country unique concepts

‘Care’ in English = anxiety, burden, concern, protection, responsibility ‘Care’ in Swedish – Omsorg; Dutch – Zorg = worry about, take care of, care for, nurse ‘Care’ in Hungarian – gondoskodás = satisfying physical, emotional, social needs ‘Care’ in Spanish – cuidado = informal care, self care, responsibility, prevention of danger, ethos of health and wellbeing Denmark – ‘Care’ or ‘Pedagogy’… Contested concepts

Theory, practice and profession, widespread and long established in continental Europe – but ‘invisible’ in English, lost in translation pædagogik is based on the Greek word paidagogike or paideia. Modern meaning is opdragelse og dannelse (education and cultural formation), an essential Danish way of thinking and not easily translated Pedagogy aims at improving learning and developing options on behalf of ideals of individuals and society ‘Care’ services are ‘pedagogical services; ‘care workers’ are ‘pedagogues’ Pedagogy in Denmark

‘When talking about children, most of the time we use the word nevelés, which does not have an English equivalent. Its meaning is close to ‘upbringing’, and it involves the concepts of both care and education. It expresses that care and education are inseparable concepts. When you provide care, you also teach children directly and indirectly’ Όvόno – kindergarten teacher kindergarten pedagogue Pedagogy in Hungary

Dignity Mentioned frequently in relation to good care for older people in England, and Spain Barely mentioned at all in Sweden, where good care was largely in place A reflection of differing policies in place to provide ‘good’ care – or conceptualisations of older people? Concepts with differing salience

Cross-country vignette asked of care workers: An old lady does not want to be showered because she does not want to show her naked body. (Sweden) An elderly client refuses to be helped with having a bath, because he is too shy to show you his body naked. (England) A cautionary note…

Rationale for cross-national work – making the familiar strange? valuing difference? Building a team and a proposal – shared concepts? Build understanding of different concepts - making space to explore concepts? Language – multi-lingual researchers? Large translation budgets? Methods that use non-verbal languages and reveal differing perspectives? Ways to compare – some thoughts…

‘The issues related to language differences, the complexity and costs of translations, the importance of working within a certain linguistic geography all have much greater significance than partnerships had allowed themselves to admit in their original enthusiasm…This has led to a pragmatism of settling for more commonly spoken languages and for the English language predominantly with all the associated exclusionary consequences…

…There is always the need to get results, to be pragmatic, to overcome language difficulties as barriers, and not enough time and space to explore the subtleties of meaning through non-comprehension …This seems to hold up the work, those representing lesser spoken languages come to regard this as their personal problem…And yet, it would be precisely the non-understanding which could give us the most valuable clues to differences in meaning, to the need for further clarification of familiar terms and concepts, to the transformation of taken-for-granted perspectives into creative, shared knowledge’ Walter Lorenz, 1999

Care work in Europe: how do we compare?