Child development research is more extensive and more sophisticated in the United States than in any other country in the world. US policy makers have access to more and better information about the factors known to enhance or impede good child development than those in almost any other country. Nonetheless, the United States lags far behind almost all the major advanced industrialized countries with regard to supply, quality, and affordability of out-of-home child care services for children under the age at which compulsory school begins (5, 6, or 7 years).
This paper provides a brief overview of child care internationally, primarily in northern and western Europe, the leaders in this field. The objective is to document the availability and quality of child care services and related policies in these countries. The paper begins by defining the terms that will be used in discussing child care internationally. The major focus is on identifying and describing the policy choices that the advanced, industrialized, western countries have made regarding child care for young children of different ages (preschoolers and infants).
DEFINING THE TERMS
The child care programs I will describe include preschools (kindergartens, prekindergartens, compensatory early-education programs, nursery schools); day-care centers (nurseries, creches); and family-day-care-homes (both regulated and unregulated). Relative care, occasional baby-sitting, and care provided within a child's own home are not included in this discussion, nor are programs for children with special needs (handicapped children). Nor, because of space limitations, are before- and after-school programs covered.
The major cross-national differences have to do with the financing of services and the extent of the role of the public sector; the predominance of the education, health, or social welfare system in delivering the services; the proportion of children of different ages served by these programs; whether services are limited to the children of working mothers; and the quality of the care provided.
Child care and child development in Thailand, Sweden, and Israel--their relevance for the United States.