What does the evidence say about childcare in Scotland?

The budget brings promises from the UK Govt for childcare subsidies to help couples with joint incomes who are "working hard, who are feeling the squeeze" and to "assist women back into the workforce". Similarly, the SNP have pledged to increase state-paid childcare for all three and four- year olds, again to "help people, especially women, to move into the workforce", if it was elected within an independent Scotland.

Those with an interest in research on families and relationships may question whether these announcements skim over some of the tough issues facing families, particularly those families struggling to get into work. The recent launch of the Scotland's Outlook campaign to raise awareness of the extent of poverty across Scotland, followed by the Scottish Government's publication of a new poverty strategy does help to widen the lens to look at the many contributing factors affecting many parents ability to enter the paid workforce.

CRFR reflects on what the evidence says about childcare and working families:

• Most families in Scotland use childcare in the early years[1]. This tends to be a mixture of informal (typically grandparent) and formal providers for their childcare arrangements[2]. The support provided by grandparents should not be underestimated, with many grandparents involved in childcare or babysitting on a regular basis. We know that work is important to women and families. Evidence from GUS shows that most mothers of young children who are in paid work, work part-time[3]. Mothers value work highly, not only for its economic contribution, but also for personal identity, social contact and as an important message for their children[4]. Most working parents with children under 5 believe that their employment is not detrimental to their enjoyment of family life nor to their ability to raise their child(ren).[5][6] 
• The focus on childcare costs is not misplaced - accessing available, affordable and quality childcare remains a key concern for parents combining caring and working[7][8]. But all is not equal. Factors associated with poverty can add up to make it tougher for families. Lone parent families and re-partnered families are more likely to have no parent in employment than couple families[9]. Lone mothers[10], families living on low incomes[11] and families affected by disability[12] are particularly affected by lack of affordable and suitable childcare.
• Work, does not in itself, protect families from poverty, particularly when there is only one worker in the household. Families in deprived areas often require quite complex childcare arrangements to make work a possibility[13].
• Parents from low-income areas tend to have low levels of social support and are least likely to access formal services[14].
• People living in rural areas and areas of higher deprivation are less likely to be able to access childcare services than those in urban areas[15]. 
• Living in child friendly communities and having a reasonable level of resources, such as access to outdoor play, are also very important to outcomes for children[16].
• Flexibility in childcare provision needs also to be matched by flexibility in workplace practices and employment opportunity: 
• Parents working full-time and those in lower supervisory or technical occupations were more likely to say that their employment had a negative impact on family life[17].
• Parents face competing demands on their time relating to their responsibilities as parents and employees. This is experienced through the difficulties of balancing work and family life and results in a sense of harriedness, of feeling constantly busy, tired and stressed.[18]
• Lone mothers of children of all ages are more likely to experience employment barriers. Low qualifications, lack of confidence, family health issues, lack of training and transport are other barriers they face[19].
• Parents of disabled children face particular barriers around employment, including inflexible employers, and especially a lack of affordable and appropriate childcare[20], which are not addressed in the consultation document.
• The debate on childcare should also consider the behavioural and cognitive benefits for children. Attending nursery or pre-school is important for our young children. Evidence from GUS shows that non-parental childcare in the early years is beneficial to a child’s cognitive development, in small effect[21]. However, universal policies which seek to improve children’s cognitive ability and school readiness in the pre-school period will not benefit all children equally.
• The level of parents’ education qualification is a driver in a child’s cognitive ability at ages 3 and 5. Any strategies aimed at improving school readiness via a pre-school setting need to include, for disadvantaged children, strategies which seek to influence the child’s home environment and parenting experiences at the same time[22].
• Similarly, lone parents, younger mothers, parents with lower educational qualifications and parents from more deprived socio-economic communities had lower levels of participation in their children’s school activities – both in terms of homework once they had started school and in the number of activities they attended at the school. This has been shown to be associated with lower educational achievement for children[23]
• Lastly, there is very little known about children’s views and experiences of their parent’s work. Qualitative research carried out in Scotland found that there are clear challenges in negotiating how work and family life balance out[18].
• Work is typically justified by the financial gains, rather than any of the social or personal benefits for parents, when helping children to understand why work is part of everyday life.
• ‘Home’ is an important space for children, and was described as a more natural space where they have greater freedom to be themselves. This was contrasted with the more collective and organised nature of after-school clubs.
• This brings challenges in keeping clear boundaries between home and work, and importantly how available they are to their children when at home – particularly for parents who also work from home.
• Parents expressed feelings of guilt and anxiety about not being able to give 100% to either work or family, and are constantly trying to meet the demands of both sides.
• Children are aware of the impact of work on their parents’ emotional and physical state, and do support their parents by complying with routines, helping with chores, looking after themselves and young siblings.
• However, families were creative in realising some of their aspirations, with holidays and weekend highlighted as times when children’s wishes could be better met, opportunities to reap some of the financial rewards of employment and overall family well-being achieved.

Are you involved in research that can contribute to this debate? We are interested to hear from others invovled in research on families and relationships. Please leave a comment below, tweet us at @CRFRtweets or email us at kirsten.thomlinson@ed.ac.uk.

 

 

[1] Bradshaw P. and Wasoff F. (2009) Growing Up in Scotland: Multiple Childcare Provision and Its Effect on Child Outcomes. Edinburgh: Scottish Government.

[2] Jamieson, L., Warner, P. and Bradshaw, P. (2012) The involvement of grandparents in children’s lives. Growing Up in Scotland Topic Research Findings no.1/2012. Edinburgh: Scottish Government.

[3] Bradshaw P, Cunningham-Burley S, Dobbie F, McGregor A, Marryat L, Ormston, R. and Wasoff F. (2008) Growing Up in Scotland: Sweep 2 Overview Report, Edinburgh: The Scottish Government.

[4] Backet-Milburn K, Cunningham-Burley S, and Kemmer D (2001) Caing and providing: Lone and partnered working mothers in Scotland. London: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

[5] Bradshaw P, Cunningham-Burley S, Dobbie F, McGregor A, Marryat L, Ormston, R. and Wasoff F. (2008) Growing Up in Scotland: Sweep 2 Overview Report, Edinburgh: The Scottish Government

[6] Backett-Milburn, K., Harden, J., Maclean, A., Cunningham-Burley, S. and Jamieson, L (2011) Work and family live: the changing experiences of ‘young families’. Timescapes final report, project 5. 

[7] Bradshaw P, Cunningham-Burley S, Dobbie F, McGregor A, Marryat L, Ormston, R. and Wasoff F. (2008) Growing Up in Scotland: Sweep 2 Overview Report, Edinburgh: The Scottish Government

[8] McKie, L., Gregory, S. and Bowlby, S. (2004) Caringscapes: the experiences of caring and working. CRFR research briefing No.13. Edinburgh: Centre for Research on Families and Relationships.

[9] Growing Up in Scotland (2009) Non-resident parent summary report. Growing Up in Scotland Topic Research Findings no. 1/2009. Edinburgh: Scottish Government.

[10] Backet-Milburn K, Cunningham-Burley S, and Kemmer D (2001) Caring and providing: Lone and partnered working mothers in Scotland. London: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

[11] McKendrick J, Cunningham-Burley S and Backett-Milburn K (2003) Life in low income families in Scotland: Research report. Edinburgh: Scottish Executive 

[12] About Families (2012) Parenting on a low income. Edinburgh: Centre for Research on Families and Relationships.

[13] Barnes, M., Chanfreau, J. and Tomaszewski, W. (2010) The circumstances of persistently poor children summary report. Growing Up in Scotland topic research findings no.1/2010. Edinburgh: Scottish Government. 

[14] About Families (2012) Parenting on a low income. Edinburgh: Centre for Research on Families and Relationships. 

[15] Growing Up in Scotland (2009) Parenting and the neighbourhood context summary report, Growing Up in Scotland Topic Research Findings no. 3/2009. Edinburgh: Scottish Government.

[16] Growing Up in Scotland (2009) Parenting and the neighbourhood context summary report, Growing Up in Scotland Topic Research Findings no. 3/2009. Edinburgh: Scottish Government.

[17] Bradshaw P, Cunningham-Burley S, Dobbie F, McGregor A, Marryat L, Ormston, R. and Wasoff F. (2008) Growing Up in Scotland: Sweep 2 Overview Report, Edinburgh: The Scottish Government 

[18] Harden, J., Backett-Milburn, K., MacLean, A., Cunningham-Burley, S. and Jamieson, L. (2013) Home and away: constructing family and childhood in the context of working parenthood. Children’s Geographies, 11(3):298-310. 

[19] About Families (2012) Parenting on a low income. Edinburgh: Centre for Research on Families and Relationships.

[20] About Families (2012) Parenting on a low income. Edinburgh: Centre for Research on Families and Relationships.

[21] Growing Up In Scotland (2009) Multiple Childcare Provision and its Effect on Child Outcomes Summary Report. Growing Up in Scotland Topic Research Findings no.4/2009. Edinburgh: Scottish Government. 

[22] Bradshaw, P. (2011) Changes in child cognitive ability in the pre-school years, Growing Up in Scotland Topic Research Findings no.2/2011. Edinburgh: Scottish Government.

[23] Bradshaw, P., Hall, J., Hill, T., Mabelis, J. and Philo, D. (2012) Early experiences of primary school – parental involvement in school activities. Growing Up in Scotland Topic Research Findings no.3/2012. Edinburgh: Scottish Government. 

 

 

Parenting and Support

Given the recent launch of  the Scottish Government's National Parenting Strategy, we asked About Families project manager, Karen Mountney to highlight some of the key findings from the latest report looking at how families seek and experience support from family, friends and formal services.

"We know that parents manage better when they have sufficient and effective support. Social support can buffer the effect of stresses and difficulties which can arise from being a parent or other areas of life such as relationship conflict or financial difficulties, and help to bolster parents’ self-esteem and sense of efficacy. In terms of formal support, effectively engaging parents with support services and interventions is recognised as a key factor in successfully resolving problems and effecting positive change in families’ lives. However, those parents who are most in need of services, including those who lack support from family and friends, are often the least likely to access them.

Key findings from the report include:

• What support is for: how families define their own problems or needs can be different from service providers’ definitions. People weigh up the costs and benefits of seeking support, and using professional family support is sometimes felt or seen as failing by some parents.
• Family and friends: parents see support from family and friends as the natural first port of call. However this can be variable and can bring its own problems. Not wanting to impose, considering grandparents too infirm to care for children, lack of money, negative attitudes from families, having complex support requirements, and life events such as separation are all important factors in the level of support available.
• Barriers to using services: families can face a range of practical, material, social and cultural barriers to accessing and engaging with services. Families affected by disability, those from minority ethnic communities, and fathers, can face particular barriers.
• Family context: parents generally want to receive help if it is appropriate to their needs. Most barriers to engaging with services are not of parents’ making; numerous factors, such as stress, poverty, ill-health, and social isolation, can combine to undermine parents’ involvement in services.
• What do we know about supporting parents and families? Much of the existing research on engaging parents in formal services is from the perspective of service providers rather than those using services. Evaluations of services often assess attendance and completion rates rather than outcomes for parents and families. There is little research which explores the characteristics or perspectives of non-service users. It is not clear how social support can be best enhanced for those parents who need it. Most research relating to parenting and support focuses on white, non-disabled, women. Generally, different family forms are not referred to."

You can download About Families briefings and reports and see updates on development work at: http://aboutfamilies.org.uk/.

Developing evidence into action

Our About Families project has developed an innovative 'evidence to action' process which supports voluntary and statutory organisations to use research when they are developing services. Topics are selected with project partners, based on the challenges facing the parents they work with. We gather and present the evidence and then work with the organisations to create and implement action plans to develop services based on this evidence. The involvement of service users is a central element to this approach.

Key findings from our reports have been published in previous blogs (Is Scotland the best place to bring up children; Two-thirds of families worse off compared to last year) and are available from our website (www.aboutfamilies.org.uk), but as we progress we wanted to share some examples of what we and our partners have achieved during the 'action' phase.

The About Families evidence topics:

• Parenting teenagers: relationships and behaviour
• Together and apart: supporting families through change
• Parenting on a low income
• Parenting and support (to be published end October 2012)

Heart to Heart
Heart to Heart provide confidential support to men and women who have been affected by divorce or separation. About Families worked with Heart to Heart to help them develop services which were more responsive to the needs of parents who have experienced relationship difficulties. We worked specifically on developing a toolkit which volunteers and staff at Heart to Heart will use to support parents. Together, we developed an online survey to gain more understanding about the views and experiences of parents and held a focus group with parents who had used Heart to Heart services. We took the key themes which came out of this work, issues such as anger, communication, forgiveness, anxiety and looking forward, to link them to the key findings from 'Together and Apart: Supporting families through change', within the toolkit.

Mentor
Mentor provides support to kinship carers and their families in Edinburgh and the Lothians. About Families worked with Mentor UK to explore how the evidence from 'Parenting teenagers: relationships and behaviour' and from 'Together and apart: supporting families through change' related to kinship care families. We discussed the key findings with families to learn how they relate to their experiences, and to explore coping strategies. A booklet was produced - each section within the booklet is based on research findings and explores the findings in relation to kinship care, as well as giving example coping strategies for Mentor volunteers to share with the families they work with.

Scottish Book Trust
The Scottish Book Trust early years programme delivers 'Bookbug', Scotland's national book gifting programme. The Trust is currently rolling out an assertive outreach programme to reach vulnerable children and families and those living in the most deprived communities across Scotland. About Families worked with Scottish Book Trust and You First to explore how evidence from 'Parenting on a low income' could help develop training for practitioners working with vulnerable families. Young parents were asked to reflect on Bookbug, as well as to talk about some of the key findings from the report. They discussed issues such as, the lack of choice facing families living on a low income; stigmatisation; the practical difficulties in accessing services; not knowing what is available or what to ask for; being labelled as inadequate parents. As a result of considering these issues and finding out the views of young parents, the Scottish Book Trust has developed the training they give to professionals working in local communities.

For more information on the About Families project please contact Karen Mountney, k.mountney@ed.ac.uk 

Researching the lives of disabled children and young people: are they any different from non-disabled children?

The vast majority of disabled children and young people in the western world live at home with their families, most attend mainstream schools, and disabled children have the same rights to inclusion and equal treatment as non-disabled children and young people. Yet, they often remain left out – from generic children’s research, from policy-making about children’s services and, in their everyday lives, from inclusion in friendship groups and social and sporting activities.

So begins the editorial of the current special issue of Children & Society, dedicated to highlighting the views, experiences and opinions of disabled children and young people through the presentation of cutting-edge research and examination of current issues at policy level. Including the views of families affected by disability in mainstream research and literature is something that CRFR is keen to promote; it forms a central aim of the About Families project to support the development of evidence-based parenting services, and disability issues feature in research agendas across our work.

Considerable progress has been made in the last 20 years. The voices of disabled children and young people are increasingly included in research across a range of disciplines and the focus of research has shifted more recently to consider aspects of family functioning, relationships between families and professionals, transition to adulthood, identity, friendships and social lives. These topics feature in some of the papers included in the journal.  The publication of this special issue within a generic children’s journal marks an important achievement in itself – and we echo the editorial team when they express their hope that it won’t be necessary or appropriate to continue publishing work relating to disabled children in separate literature or within the confines of special issues. What this issue succeeds to do, and what has emerged from the About Families project is that the challenges, preferences and issues facing disabled children as they go through their lives remains largely the same as non-disabled children, albeit many disabled children face additional practical and social barriers to achieving their goals.

CRFR is delighted to welcome this special issue and congratulates everyone involved in its publication.

The contents include:

·         Editorial: Researching the Lives of Disabled Children - Kirsten Stalker

·         The challenge and challenging of Childhood Studies? Learning from disability studies and research with disabled children - Kay Tisdall

·         Theorising the lives of disabled children: How can disability theory help? - Nick Watson

·         Everyday segregation amongst disabled children and their peers: a qualitative longitudinal study in Norway - Borgunn Ytterhus

·         Understanding disabled childhoods: What can we learn from population studies? -  Eric Emerson

·         Rights of Disabled Children and their Families: a decade of policy change - Janet Read, Clare Blackburn and Nick Spencer

·         Working on well-being: researchers' experiences of a participative approach to understanding the subjective well-being of disabled young people - Bryony Beresford

·         Other Voices, Other Rooms: Reflections on talking to young men with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and their families about transition to adulthood - David Abbott

·         Disabled Children's Voices: The nature and role of future empirical enquiry - John Carpenter and Roy McConkey

·         Practice Piece: Sixth Sense: The Disabled Children and Young People's Participation Project - Rosemary Murray.

Access the special issue at: ‘The Everyday Lives of Disabled Children and Young People: New developments in research and policy’, Special issue: Children & Society, 26 (2012) http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/chso.2012.26.issue-3/issuetoc

All papers from the ESRC seminar series which led to the special issue are available from: http://www.strath.ac.uk/humanities/schoolofappliedsocialsciences/socialwork/esrcseminarseries/

Learn more about About Families at: http://www.aboutfamilies.org.uk/.

Is Scotland the best place to bring up children?

Parenting Across Scotland has published a new collection of essays about parenting in Scotland. Entitled 'Scotland: the best place in the world to bring up children', the publication puts forward proposals from leading researchers about how to make Scotland a world-leader in parenting. Two CRFR staff members contributed essays about their projects:

Parenting young children

Growing up in Scotland (GUS) is tracing the lives of thousands of children across Scotland from birth to the teenage years and beyond. This information can tell how  parents are parenting, what influences parenting and how parenting styles impact on children. Findings include:

• Home learning environment: Most parents of children under five are providing a good 'home learning environment: at age 22 months, 79% of children were read to every day, 58% sang songs  while 28% had the opportunity to paint or draw every day. However, children from less advantaged households were doing these activities less frequently. Children taking part in more activities scored higher on cognitive ability tests, even after other socio-demographic factors were taken into account.
• Discipline techniques: While one third of parents in Scotland had used smacking by the time their child was aged four, only 13% of parents agreed that it was a useful technique.
• Parenting support: A quarter of parents with a child under one said that they found it difficult to know who to ask for help or advice about being a parent. Young mums were more likely to say they did not like classes or groups.
• Parenting and children's health: A lack of parenting skills were associated with poorer health and health behaviours amongst children. In particular, high levels of parent-child conflict were associated with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.

By Lesley Kelly, CRFR and Paul Bradshaw, ScotCen Social Research: Growing up in Scotland. 

Parenting teenagers: relationships and behaviour

Calls to helplines indicate that parents of teenagers often struggle and feel isolated, particularly with behaviour and relationship issues. The About Families project has highlighted a number of themes emerging from research about the key issues for parents of teenagers:

• Conflict: Conflict between parents and teens is not necessarily a bad thing and can play a useful role in teenagers' development. It is how often, with whom, and why conflict happens that is most important, along with how parents manage their own behaviour. Conflict with friends, which usually involves some attempt to limit the damage and preserve a friendship, can help teenagers to learn how to manage conflict and develop emtional responses.
• Communication and relationships: Teenagers who are communicated with and involved in family decisions are more competent in making decisions about their lives and less likely to engage in problem behaviour.
• Moving to independence: It is natural for parents to feel some anxiety as teenagers become more independent. However, problems can arise if this anxiety makes them act in a way which is instrusive or inhibits a teenager's exploration of new environments and relationships. Parents may manager better when they see becoming independent as a healthy part of adolescent development.
• Parent satisfaction: How happy parents feel about their parenting is linked to how they view the development of their teenagers.
• Parenting together: Parents agreeing about their approach to parenting is more important than who does what, or how much each is involved. Both parents of disabled teenagers are likely to be involved in all areas of their teenagers life.
• How much do parents about their teenagers?: There are differences between mothers and fathers in how they find out about their children's lives. Howevere, how much they know could be the result of what teenagers choose to tell them rather than what they try to find out. Ensuring a teenager feels comfortable about sharing information cold be more effective in deterring them from problem behaviour than trying to control their activities.
  Although some parents of disabled teenagers think that more detailed communication is necessary, generally the issues are thought to be the same, regardless of disability.

By Karen Mountney: About Families

Two-thirds of families worse off compared with last year

Coinciding with this year’s budget announcement, research suggests nearly two-thirds of families find paying their bills is harder now than it was a year ago.

A third of households with children said they had suffered a significant downturn in their finances over the last 12 months, a sharper decline in fortune than homes with no children.

The survey was commissioned by Parenting Across Scotland, who are working with the University’s Centre for Research on Families and Relationships and Capability Scotland as part of the About Families partnership.

More than a thousand individuals in Scotland were asked if their household found it more or less difficult to pay bills such as mortgage, rent, council tax, TV licence or landline telephones compared to this time last year. The survey discovered that 61 per cent of households with children find it harder.

One third (32 per cent) of households with children found it a lot more difficult, significantly more than households without children (24 per cent), said the survey by TNS-BMRB.

The About Families partnership has produced a new report, Parenting On A Low Income. It found that specific family types, such as single parents and large families, are at most risk of sliding into poverty.

The report found that two-thirds of families affected by disability (64 per cent) said that the additional costs related to living with a disability impacted family life and increased stress.

Researchers found that cutting back harms parenting, there is little evidence that low income families mismanage their money, and most people living below the poverty line do not live in deprived areas.

The report calls for more affordable childcare to be made available.

Sarah Morton, Co-Director of the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships, said:

“We know that the experience of living in poverty is overwhelmingly negative and has a range of impacts on families, including damage to health and well-being and restricted opportunities.  Current and future changes to welfare are forecast to increase child poverty, as well as poverty amongst families affected by disability. By gathering research evidence on this topic we hope that those delivering services will be better able to reflect on how living on low incomes affects family life and well-being, and develop effective ways to support parents to manage the many stresses it brings.”

Alison Clancy, Project Officer for Parenting Across Scotland, said: 

“Undoubtedly the economic downturn and welfare changes are having an adverse affect on family finances.  This survey finds that the scale of the challenge faced by families in Scotland is great.  Financial difficulties have an impact on the emotional well-being of families and can lead to family breakdown and stress.  We should and must continue to invest in families and children, we need to ensure that all Scotland's children are assured of an equal chance of health, well-being and economic prosperity.”

For more information about the project and to download the research reports please visit www.aboutfamilies.org.uk