Women’s Equality Network (WEN) Wales – New Report

Thank you for sharing the headline findings from our research on childcare in Wales with the Children, Young People and Education Committee earlier this year.

We are pleased to now share the final report Transforming Early Childhood Education and Care in Wales and would be grateful if you could bring this to the Committee’s attention.

New report Transforming Early Childhood Education and Care in Wales launched

Our findings and recommendations are informed by quantitative and qualitative research with over 780 parents in Wales, a comprehensive review of recent proposals for ECEC reform, interviews with expert stakeholders within local authorities, the third sector, and the early years sector and a substantial review of academic and other studies.

The report covers the following areas:

· What is ECEC for?

· The ECEC landscape in Wales

· The relationship between parental employment, poverty mitigation, and child development

· Does Wales’ ECEC system meet key policy objectives?

· What helps or hinders meeting ECEC objectives?

· How Wales can do better

It identifies five key principles for effective ECEC, together with a number of recommendations to implement these:

1. Target investment where it has the biggest impact

2. Leverage funding to ensure provision is high-quality, sustainable and equitable

3. Provide the right number of hours

4. Ensure flexibility to meet families’ needs

5. Provide integrated services

Read the full report and executive summary.