Scottish Study of Early Learning and Childcare: Phase 5 Report

Child, parent and household characteristics

This chapter examines the characteristics of the sample. At the time of data collection, these four- and five-year-olds would mostly have been receiving funded ELC for around two years, but in some cases longer if the children were eligible for funded ELC at age two. It was not, however, a requirement, for a child to have been received funded ELC for two years to take part. Eligibility was based on age of the child at the time of study fieldwork.

ELC settings in the most deprived areas were deliberately oversampled (see Appendix B), so unweighted data are only representative of those attending settings in deprived areas and those attending settings in other areas separately. Therefore, the figures presented in this chapter should be taken as being representative of the sample only, rather than of the relevant population of four- and five-year-olds as a whole. For some measures, the same data was reported by both the parents and the child's keyworker. Where that is the case, figures from each respondent type are reported.

Characteristics of the Phase 5 sample

The majority of parents completing the parent questionnaire were female (91%) and the mean age of parent respondents was 36. Parent questionnaires were returned for equal numbers of boys and girls (50% each), although slightly more boys than girls were represented in the keyworker data (52% and 48% respectively).

Table 2.1 provides a summary of the household composition. Just over four fifths (81%) of parents responding to the survey were living in couple parent households, with the remaining 19% living in single parent households. Less than three in ten (28%) had only one child aged under 16 living in the household, 53% lived with two children and the remaining 20% had three or more children living in their household. A quarter (25%) of households had a child aged less than 3 years old.

Base: All respondents (parent questionnaire, Phase 5, unweighted)

Over half (53%) of parents were the main carer of the participating four- or five-year-old, with a further 46% saying they shared care equally with someone else in their household. One percent shared care equally with someone else outside of their household.

Table 2.2 shows the proportion of households in different income groups. Eleven percent of households had annual equivalised incomes of less than £13,500 (the lowest 10% decile of equivalised household incomes)^[16], whilst 7% had incomes of £78,500 or more (the highest 10%/decile).

Base: All respondents (parent questionnaire, Phase 5, unweighted)

In terms of area deprivation, 27% of responding parents lived in areas amongst the 20% most deprived and 16% lived in areas amongst the 20% least deprived (Table 2.3). By comparison, 46% of the children attended settings in the most deprived areas.^[17]

Base: All respondents (keyworker and parent questionnaire, Phase 5, unweighted)

The vast majority of parents were White (91%) with 78% identifying as White Scottish. In over four fifths of households (84%) English was the only language spoken at home. Fourteen percent of households spoke English and other languages at home and 2% only spoke other languages at home.

Over half (52%) of parents had a university degree or other higher education or professional qualification. A further fifth (18%) had an HNC/HND or other equivalent post-school qualifications and 10% had a Higher, Advanced Higher, SVQ Level 3 or equivalent as their highest level of education. Only 3% of parent respondents reported having no educational qualifications.

Figure 2.1: Highest parental educational qualification

Base: All respondents (parent questionnaire, Phase 5, unweighted)

For information about parental employment and about parent's health conditions, see the chapter on Parent Outcomes.