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Children at the Centre? The Childcare Act 2006
Author(s) -
Linsey Alison,
McAuliffe AnnMarie
Publication year - 2006
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.1099-0860.2006.00057.x
Subject(s) - legislation , government (linguistics) , work (physics) , family life , child protection , child development , child care , political science , economic growth , sociology , public administration , public relations , psychology , nursing , medicine , developmental psychology , law , economics , gender studies , engineering , mechanical engineering , philosophy , linguistics
The Childcare Act 2006 is the first piece of legislation of its kind in the UK, and is a significant development for the early years sector and childcare services more broadly. Ensuring every child has the best start in life is one of the guiding principles of the Government's 10‐year strategy for childcare, but the strategies for implementation do not always appear to place the child so firmly at the centre. The childcare agenda is primarily focused on the needs of parents and families to respond to changing working patterns and balancing work and family life.