Is child care good for children?
It depends. Research shows that while high quality child care positively influences children's development and learning, poor quality care is shown to have negative effects on children - regardless of social class. The effects of high or poor quality child care may be long-lasting. Therefore, quality in child care matters very much - for children, their parents, our communities, and, perhaps most importantly, for our society as a whole.
This fact sheet addresses questions like:
- What is high quality child care?
- What factors promote high quality?
- What does research tell us about regulation, auspice and funding?
- What does research say about: adult to child ratio, stability/consistency of caregiving, group size, staff/caregiver training in early childhood education, wages and working conditions, health, safety and physical environment
- What about parental choice?