Is Daycare Good or Bad for Children?

Daycare is any form of non-parental care, for example care provided by nurseries or childminders.

The EPPE Project

The EPPE project ran from 1997-2003 and was Europe’s largest longitudinal investigation into the effects of pre-school education on childhood.

It aimed to look at the impact of preschool provision on a child’s intellectual, social and behavioural development and to see whether attendance could reduce social inequalities. It also looked at if some types of settings were better than others.

They studied 3000 children from a wide range of backgrounds including those who went to some form or daycare and as a control, children who stayed at home. 144 centres took part, including playgroups, day nurseries, private day nurseries, nursery schools and centres which combined education and care. The children were assessed at the age of 3 or 4 and then again at the start of school – the researchers used observations and interviews with parents and practitioners.

It was found that high quality care improved social, intellectual and behavioural development. The earlier a child starts daycare, the better their intellectual development will be. Children also had better sociability, independence and concentration the longer they had been in daycare.

Disadvantaged children were better off in good quality care, especially if they were with children from a range of social backgrounds.

A strength of the EPPE project is that it was carefully planned to include children from all social backgrounds and it had a longitudinal design that used many different research methods. However, it was a government funded project so it possibly reflected government policy and generalising the results to beyond the UK might not be possible.

Other Research into Effects of Daycare

Andersson found that daycare increases popularity and social skills.

Harrison and Ungerer found that returning to work when a baby is less than 5 months old with commitment and confidence in daycare increases the chances of a secure attachment.

Belsky and Rovine found that too long spent in daycare was harmful for children and using the strange situation concluded that it increased the chances of the child having an insecure attachment. Belsky also concluded that good quality daycare can lead to better cognitive and language abilities, but that problem behaviour occurs if too long is spent there.

Ramey et al followed children from low-income, socially deprived backgrounds at a daycare centre designed to provide social and medical care as well as educational opportunities. The children entered the centre at a very young age (almost all by 3 months) and at age 1 they were not different from a control group on measures of IQ but soon after the home care group declined and the daycare group ended up with superior cognitive and social measures.

Evaluating the Use of Daycare

Social skills and peer relations make children popular

Some studies show that daycare increases the chances of children having a secure attachment with their main caregiver

Feminists say that the mother has the right to work, rather than feeling they have to stay at home and look after their child.

Daycare can provide better care for children who are from disadvantaged backgrounds.

However, it may not fulfil the child’s needs, especially if they have complex needs or a developmental disorder.

There is separation involved and if it continues for too long a period of time there may be deprivation or other attachment issues.

There is a higher risk of insecure attachment if a child is in daycare.

Aggressive behaviour can be caused, especially if children copy bad behaviour from the other children around them.