A New Deal For Children?: Re-forming Education And Care In England, Scotland And Sweden

A NEW DEAL FOR CHILDREN? Reforming education and care in England, Scotland and Sweden Bronwen Cohen, Peter Moss, Pat Petrie and Jennifer Wallace A NEW DEAL FOR CHILDREN? Re-forming education and care in England, Scotland and Sweden Bronwen Cohen, Peter Moss, Pat Petrie and Jennifer Wallace First published in Great Britain in June 2004 by The Policy Press University of Bristol Fourth Floor Beacon House Queen’s Road Bristol BS8 1QU UK Tel +44 (0)117 331 4054 Fax +44 (0)117 331 4093 e-mail [email protected] www.policypress.org.uk © Bronwen Cohen, Peter Moss, Pat Petrie and Jennifer Wallace 2004 Reprinted 2007 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 978 1 86134 528 8 paperback Bronwen Cohen is Chief Executive of Children in Scotland, Edinburgh, and a Visiting Professor at the Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London. Peter Moss is Professor of Early Childhood Provision, Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London. Pat Petrie is Professor of Education, Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London. Jennifer Wallace is Research Officer at Children in Scotland, Edinburgh. The rights of Bronwen Cohen, Peter Moss, Pat Petrie and Jennifer Wallace to be identified as authors of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the 1988 Copyright, Designs and Patents Act. All rights reserved: no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of The Policy Press. The statements and opinions contained within this publication are solely those of the authors and not of The University of Bristol or The Policy Press. The University of Bristol and The Policy Press disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any material published in this publication. The Policy Press works to counter discrimination on grounds of gender, race, disability, age and sexuality. Cover design by Qube Design Associates, Bristol. Front cover: photograph supplied by kind permission of www.third-avenue.co.uk Printed and bound in Great Britain by Athenaeumpress Ltd, Gateshead. Contents Acknowledgements iv List of abbreviations v Glossary of terms Part One: International comparisons of social and educational reforms: background and contexts one Introduction two Contexts Part Two: Bringing childcare services into education three England vii 3 17 47 four Scotland 89 five Sweden 135 Part Three: A comparative overview and future directions six Cross-national comparisons 181 seven Endnotes 201 References 213 Appendix: Fieldwork 227 Index 231 iii A New Deal for children? Acknowledgements This book is based on a research study funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (R000239373) and we would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the Council. Many people helped us in undertaking the research. Lisbeth and Bjorn Flising from the University of Göteborg helped us plan, and also supported, our Swedish fieldwork. Helen Fraser, Linda Kinney and Rod Harrison (Scotland), Gillian Pugh and Collette Kelleher (England) and Lisbeth Flising and Bjorn Flising (Sweden) commented on our case study chapters – though the fina