• 160 likes • 379 Views
Healthy eating and physical activity in early childhood services: Enhancing policy and practice in Victorian family day care and long day care. Project History. August-November 2002 Review of all children's organised settings November 2002 EWVP places focus on FDC & LDC & includes
E N D
Healthy eating and physical activity in early childhood services:Enhancing policy and practice in Victorian family day care and long day care
Project History August-November 2002 Review of all children's organised settings November 2002 EWVP places focus on FDC & LDC & includes physical activity January-May 2003 Consultations, research, analysis, draft report June-July 2003 Feed back on report August 2003 Preparation for publication & dissemination
Scope of Family Day Care and Long Day Care • 17.4% of all Victorian 0-5 years olds attend centre or family based care on a full or part time basis • 64,800 Victorian children attend in FDC & LDC • 20,400 in family day care programs • 44,400 in long day care centres • The majority of children attend less than full time or under 34 hours per week (80% in LDC & 87% in FDC) • ABS Child Care Survey 1999
Overview of Early Childhood Services Long Day Care Centres Number Management arrangements Size Family Day Care Programs Number Management arrangements Location Size
Key Featuresof Family Day Care • Flexibility • Style of care • Relative affordability • Relatively low level of qualified staff • Relative lack of regulation • Shrinking in size as a sector • A relatively coherent sector
Key Features of Long Day Care • Style of care • Tighter regulatory framework • Relatively high proportion of qualified staff • Relatively more costly to parents • Variety of management arrangements • Under significant pressure
The Framework for the Analysis 1.Opportunities for encouraging and enhancing the adoption and implementation of healthy eating and physical activity policy in FDC and LDC 2. Barriers that inhibit the capacity of FDC and LDC to adopt and implement healthy eating and physical activity policy 3. Strategic action required to support healthy eating and physical activity policy and practice in FDC and LDC
Opportunities in the Broad Community Environment • Government emphasis on early years • Government commitment to obesity prevention • Rising community awareness • Increasing knowledge base
Lack of awareness, appropriate behaviour and organisational change Lack of continuity and sustainability of previous efforts Lack of credible, accessible, information Dominance of risk management framework Barriers in the Broad Community Environment
Opportunities in the Early Childhood Sector • Regulatory and accreditation frameworks • Role of early childhood sector as interface • Commitment of staff to children’s wellbeing • Recent resource development
Barriers in the Early Childhood Sector Sector overload Skills and knowledge gaps Lack of specialist paediatric information Lack of culturally relevant resources/training Lack of linkage to other service systems Tendency to be child not family centred Challenges in communicating with parents Difficulties in involving parents
Opportunities in FDC & LDC Settings • The nature of FDC: coherency, community sector, close relationships between carers and families, reach to low-income diverse families • The nature of LDC: market forces, qualified staff, long periods in care, relationship between staff and families
Barriers in FDC & LDC Settings • The nature of FDC: diverse, dispersed, self employed, deficits in regulations, policy development, qualifications, training, knowledge of resources • The nature of LDC: diversity; lack of access to nutrition information, issues in relation to training and cooks, physical activity policy development, impact of food safety, and competing time and resource priorities
Strategic Action Required in the Broad Community Environment • Action to develop a community environment that supports and stimulates healthy eating and physical activity policy and practices in early childhood settings • Action to increase the availability of accessible, consistent and accurate information and advice about healthy eating and physical activity
Strategic Action Required in the Early Childhood Sector • Action to raise the profile, status and capacity of early childhood sector • Action to increase early childhood sector access to dietetic and nutrition services • Action to enhance the adoption of healthy eating and physical activity policies and practices in early childhood services • Action to ensure adequacy of data and research on healthy eating and physical activity in early childhood sector
Strategic Action Required in Family Day Care and Long Day Care Settings • Action to increase the capacity of workers in FDC and LDC to adopt & implement HE and PA policy and programs • Action to ensure effective HE and PA resources are accessible, to LDC and FDC workers