The proposal to introduce an establishment ban for educational care, ie day care mothers and family day care centers, does not seem to be able to become a reality. Only the Left Party wants an end to educational care.
A broad parliamentary majority says no to the proposal from the government’s investigators. On Monday, the consultation period expires.
Also professionals within the pedagogical care, believes that the inquiry’s proposal is going in the wrong direction.
– What I notice more and more that those who apply may have had their child in preschool first and then they think that it is far too large groups, far too much staff turnover, too many substitutes. Then there are actually those who explicitly think that children should have a slightly freer upbringing, not just teaching. They think it is too upset in the preschool, says Ewa Rabรฉn who runs a family daycare.
It’s raining and the children in Ewa Rabรฉn’s garden in the Stockholm suburb of Bromma are collecting water in buckets to make geggamoja in the sandbox. She has six children in her business and is also involved in an interest association for private family day care centers in Stockholm.
She believes that the inquiry that came at the beginning of the summer on how the quality and equivalence of leisure centers and educational care should increase draws the wrong conclusions. The investigator recommends the introduction of an establishment stop for pedagogical care on the grounds that this type of childcare does not adequately prepare the children for school.
But instead of stopping a largely functioning business, the quality requirements and control should increase, Ewa Rabรฉn believes.
– We think that this investigation came to the conclusion that many municipalities have no guidelines or requirements at all. So we really think that the investigation scolds the municipalities more than us, so it is the wrong body to strike against if it is us who are stopped, she says.
There are barely two percent of children of preschool age who have educational care, ie daycare or family daycare. Yet it is an issue that raises debate. Until the consultation period expires, none of the government parties want to say where they stand on the issue, but as it looks now, there is no support in the Riksdag for a stop to establishment.
The Sweden Democrats, the Moderates, the Center Party, the Liberals and the Christian Democrats are all against a stop.
Gudrun Brunegรฅrd is the school policy spokesperson for the Christian Democrats. Like Ewa Rabรฉn, she instead wants to increase control of this activity by the Swedish Schools Inspectorate taking over supervisory responsibility. An establishment stop would reduce the freedom of choice, says Gudrun Brunegรฅrd
– Secondly, it would mean that the children who would have had the opportunity to get their child care in a home-like environment are instead referred to preschool groups where the vast majority of municipalities have very big problems keeping the guidelines set by the National Agency for Education, says Gudrun Brunegรฅrd .
That’s just the size on the children’s groups in the preschool that runs the Left Party and the school policy spokesman Daniel Riazat that as the only party want an establishment stop of educational care and a total stop for all such activities that are conducted privately.
The investigation shows that there are shortcomings in terms of both suitable premises and the right competence in this business, he says. Instead of spending time and money on increasing control, he wants the resources to be spent on improving the regular preschool.
– Since the school, preschool and other parts of the education system have been subjected to a privatization, it has also led to a lot, a lot more work and additional costs to just review and to ensure quality. I mean instead, the resources should be spent on running a good business for the children, to expand the staff.
There are still a lot of parents who want their children to go to a smaller group of children, why should they not be allowed to do so?
– We want the children’s groups in preschool to decrease in general, says Daniel Riazat.
Source: ICELAND NEWS
