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Early childhood services: evolution or revolution?
Author(s) -
Pugh Gillian
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
children and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.538
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-0860
pISSN - 0951-0605
DOI - 10.1002/chi.762
Subject(s) - economic shortage , government (linguistics) , early childhood , economic growth , service (business) , early childhood education , public policy , child care , political science , public administration , public relations , business , economics , psychology , medicine , nursing , marketing , developmental psychology , linguistics , philosophy
This paper considers what progress has been made towards the development of a coherent national policy on services for young children under eight and their families. Since the election of a ‘new’ Labour government in 1997, services for children and families have been higher on the public agenda than at any time in living memory. Much has been achieved, through additional funding, expansion of services, and a more coordinated approach to service provision. But there is still a severe shortage of day care places for children under three, too few appropriately trained staff, a heavy reliance on short term funding, and no agreement on the overall policy on and purpose of early childhood services. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.