Early learning and childcare - parents' views and use: survey findings 2022
Findings from a survey undertaken to explore use of, and views on, early learning and childcare (ELC) services among parents and other primary carers of children in Scotland who have not yet started school.
This document is part of a collection
Footnotes
1. That is, those with experience of care, children of care‑experienced parents, and those who have a parent(s) on qualifying benefits: Funded early learning and childcare - mygov.scot.
2.Including their entitlement to funded ELC, paid for childcare/ELC and informal childcare provided by friends or family.
3. The survey was open to all primary care givers of children who have not yet started school. For brevity within the report, we shall use the term 'parents'.
4. Funded early learning and childcare - mygov.scot
6. Set out in Scottish Government's, 'Early learning and childcare expansion programme: evaluation strategy', published in 2022.
7. Parents' views and use of early learning and childcare: report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
8. Possible options included using data from the Universal Health Visiting Pathway - as this includes all families - or using National Records of Scotland (NRS) birth records as a sample frame, or using re-contact details for families with children under six who had taken part in existing Scottish Government surveys. We were advised that due to pressures on NHS Scotland following the Covid-19 pandemic it would not be appropriate to ask Health Boards to undertake the sampling of parents, while there are disadvantages with using birth records such as the proportion of addresses that may be out of date.
9. Scottish Household Survey: childcare topic report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
10. Summary Statistics For Schools In Scotland 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
11. These are respondents who had participated in the 2020 Scottish Household Survey, had a child under six at the time of the 2020 survey, and had given permission to be contacted to take part in further research. Progressive was given access to the contact information for 289 respondents for the purpose of this research study. See the method appendix for further details.
12. A larger telephone sample would have been ideal, but numbers were constrained by the sample available from the SHS.
13. Population data sourced as follows: ELC - Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland 2021; SIMD – Scottish Government SIMD 2020v2 (two year olds and 3-4 year olds); Urban Rural Classification 2020 Scottish Government
14. Summary Statistics For Schools In Scotland 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
16. Urban Rural Classification - Scotland - data.gov.uk
17. Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 (legislation.gov.uk)
18. Note: Responses on use given on this question will differ slightly to those on subsequent questions. In part this is because the standard definition of eligibility for funded ELC is given prior to later questions; and partly because later questions are typically asked only of one child in each age band.
19. See previous footnote - responses on use given on this question will differ slightly to those on subsequent questions.
20. 4% of under 2s using funded ELC seems a little high: generally, children under 2 are not entitled to funded ELC, although local authorities can exercise their discretion. The ELC Census suggests the actual figure would be in the region of 1%. It is unclear if this question was ambiguous/ parents misunderstood it, or there was a bias in the sample.
21. See table A11 in the appendix.
22. N.B. Responses on use given on this question will differ slightly to those on subsequent questions.
23. For brevity, unless otherwise stated, the examples quoted are means for during term-time. Means are quoted as hours per week.
24. As noted in the Appendix tables: 19% of parents had a two year old child. Of these 267 (17% equivalent to 17% of two year olds in the sample) of were eligible for funded childcare and 225 (equivalent to 15% of all two year olds in the sample) have used funded since August 2021.
25. The Nets 'capture' or summarise all the responses under the relevant heading, including those not shown on the table.
26. Based on responses to the Q6 later on, would suggest that just 80% of this group use at least some of their hours, with just over 50% using at least 20 hours a week.
27. The Nets shown 'capture' or summarise all the responses under the listed headings.
28. Funded ELC does apply to private settings as well as local authority settings. It is unclear why the private nursery in this case was not registered with the scheme.
29. The Nets shown in the small box 'capture' or summarise all the responses under the listed headings, even those not mentioned on the table because they fall below the 5% threshold.
30. The survey asked for total spend on childcare for children in each age-band. Obviously, some families will have more than one child the age band. 'Per child' costs were calculated by assuming costs were spread evenly across all children in each age band. Across the survey as a whole this made only a small difference to the average spend and cost distributions. Therefore, given the 'per child' costs were estimates, the total costs have been used in this report.
31. In this section of the survey we sought the views of parents with children aged under two and parents with two year olds not currently eligible for funded ELC.
32. Possible options included using data from the Universal Health Visiting Pathway - as this includes all families - or using NRS birth records as a sample frame, or using re-contact details for families with children under six who had taken part in existing Scottish Government surveys. We were advised that due to pressures on NHS Scotland following the Covid-19 pandemic it would not be appropriate to ask Health Boards to undertake the sampling of parents, while there are disadvantages with using birth records such as the proportion of addresses that may be out of date.
33. Scottish Household Survey: childcare topic report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
34. Summary Statistics For Schools In Scotland 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
35. These are respondents who have participated in the Scottish Household Survey and given permission to be contacted to take part in further research. Progressive was given access to these contacts for the purpose of this research study.
36. Datastore (careinspectorate.com)
37. Please note that this research method does not use probability sampling, which means that we cannot provide statistically precise margins of error or significance testing. Statistical testing and margins of error should therefore be treated as indicative, based on an equivalent probability sample. This is common practice in market research and is useful in providing an indication of where differences are meaningful.
38. ELC - Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland 2021; SIMD – Scottish Government SIMD 2020v2; Urban Rural Classification 2020 Scottish Government. Based against children aged 3-4 years.
Contact
Email: socialresearch@gov.scot
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