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Standards, Regulation and Development of School‐age Day Care and ‘Open Door’ Services 1
Author(s) -
Petrie Pat
Publication year - 1996
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 - 10.1111/j.1099-0860.1996.tb00472.x
Subject(s) - subject (documents) , unit (ring theory) , day care , service (business) , public relations , service provider , good practice , business , sociology , political science , medicine , medical education , public administration , nursing , psychology , marketing , library science , engineering , computer science , engineering ethics , mathematics education
The subject is play and day‐care services for school‐age children. The paper draws on research carried out by the author and colleagues at Thomas Coram Research Unit (TCRU). It reports a survey of 120 services, randomly sampled, from 20 local authorities in England and Wales. This provides data about the standards to be found in such services when they became subject to registration and inspection under the Children Act 1989, and identifies shortcomings with regard to material resources and practice. The paper then draws on two case studies, and reports and discusses the problems met by local authorities in carrying out their new duties under the Act. These included their inexperience of services for over fives, the lack of resources available to improve services and the transient nature of holiday play schemes. It covers ways in which registration personnel used the Act to raise standards, eg ‘counselling out’, making requirements and conditions, and advising and resourcing service providers. The concluding discussion points to the need for further policy development in this area.