Arranging childcare in two Nordic countries: A comparison of ECEC start in Iceland and Sweden
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20377/jfr-896Keywords:
Childcare, Parental leave, Iceland, Sweden, Care gapAbstract
Objective: The study examines the age children in Iceland and Sweden start Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) and how children’s starting age is associated with parents’ use of paid parental leave and their characteristics.
Background: While children in Iceland have no legal rights to ECEC following the end of paid parental leave, in Sweden there is a continuum between paid parental leave and publicly subsidised ECEC. The leave period is also shorter in Iceland than in Sweden. The article addresses how these policy differences reflect the transition from paid parental leave to ECEC-start in the two countries.
Method: The study uses survey data, collected among parents in Iceland and Sweden.
Results: Children in Iceland have an earlier ECEC start than children in Sweden. This earlier start, however, has to do with the number of children being placed in family day care while waiting for a place in the public run preschools. Mothers in Iceland stretch the parental leave for a longer period than mothers in Sweden do, and in Iceland, there were variations in ECEC start depending on mothers’ labour force participation before childbirth and marital status, but not in Sweden.
Conclusion: The lack of preschool at the end of paid parental leave creates challenges for a certain group of parents in Iceland, a situation parents in Sweden do not have to face.
References
Act on preschools no. 90/2008. https://www.althingi.is/lagas/nuna/2008090.html
Act on maternity/paternity and parental leave no. 95/2000. https://www.althingi.is/lagas/134/2000095.html
Arnalds, Á. A., Duvander, A-Z., Eydal, G. B., & Gíslason, I. V. (2021). Constructing parenthood in times of crisis. Journal of Family Studies, 27(3), 420-435. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13229400.2019.1634622
Arnalds, Á. A., Eydal, G. B., & Gislason, I. V. (2013). Equal rights to paid parental leave and caring fathers. The case of Iceland. Stjornmal & Stjornsysla, 9(2), 323–344. DOI: https://doi.org/10.13177/irpa.a.2013.9.2.4
Bergqvist, C. & Nyberg, A. (2001). Den svenska barnomsorgsmodellen. Kontinuitet och förändring under 1990-talet. In Välfärdstjänster i omvandling: antologi från Kommittén Välfärdsbokslut. SOU 2001:52 (pp. 239-287). Fritzes. https://www.regeringen.se/contentassets/4290f10242114e75ab1420502a9c3a59/del-1-t.o.m.-kap.-2-valfardstjanster-i-omvandling
Björnsdóttir, A. & Jóhannsdóttir, Þ. J. (2023, May 23). Menntun starfsfólks í leikskólum. Heimildin. https://heimildin.is/grein/17836/
Broddadóttir, I., Eydal, G. B., Hrafnsdóttir, S., & Sigurðardóttir, S. (1997). The development of local authority social services in Iceland. In J. Sipilä (Ed.), Social care services the key to the Scandinavian model (pp. 51-76). Avebury. https://www.routledge.com/Social-Care-Services-The-Key-to-the-Scandinavian-Welfare-Model/Sipila/p/book/9781138346093 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429437519-4
Duvander A-Z. & Johansson, M. (2012). What are the effects of reforms promoting fathers’ parental leave use? Journal of European Social Policy, 22(3), 319-330. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0958928712440201
Duvander A-Z. & Viklund, I. (2014). Kvinnors och mäns föräldraledighet. In K. Boye & M. Nermo (Eds.), Lönsamt arbete - familjeansvarets fördelning och konsekvenser. SOU 2014:28 (pp. 23-61). Fritzes.
Duvander, A-Z. & Nyberg, A. (2023). Diversity of childcare policies in Nordic welfare states. In M. Daly, N. Gilbert, B. Pfau-Effinger, & D. Besharov (Eds.), International Handbook of Family Policy: A life course perspective. In print. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197518151.013.31
Duvander, A-Z., Eydal, G. B., Brandth, B., Gíslason, I. V., Lammi-Taskula, J., & Rostgaard, T. (2019). Gender equality: parental leave design, men’s participation and evaluating effects. In P. Moss, A-Z. Duvander, & A. Koslowski (Eds.), Parental leave and beyond: Recent development, current issues, and future directions (pp. 187-204). Policy Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1332/policypress/9781447338772.003.0011
Ellingsæter, A. L. (2006). The Norwegian childcare regime and its paradoxes. In A. L. Ellingsæter & A. Leira (Eds.), Politicising parenthood in Scandinavia. Gender relations in the welfare states (pp. 121–144). Policy Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46692/9781847421593.006
Ellingsæter, A. L. & Leira, A. (Eds.) (2006). Politicising parenthood in Scandinavia. Gender relations in the welfare states. Policy Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46692/9781847421593
Eurostat. (2022). Eurostat database. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database
Eydal, G. B. (2000). Nordic childcare policies and the case of Iceland. In A. Pfenning & B. Thomas (Eds.), Families and family policies in Europe: Comparative perspectives (pp. 104–126). Peter Lang. https://www.peterlang.com/document/1091522
Eydal G. B. & Gíslason I. V. (2008). Paid parental leave in Iceland – history and context. In G. B. Eydal and I. V. Gíslason (Eds.), Equal Rights to Earn and Care – Parental Leave in Iceland (pp. 15-44). Félagsvísindastofnun Háskóla Íslands.
Eydal, G. B., Gíslason, I. V., Rostgaard, T., Brandth, B., Duvander, A-Z, & Lammi-Taskula, J. (2015). Trends in parental leave in the Nordic countries: has the forward march of gender equality halted? Community, Work & Family, 18(2), 167-181. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13668803.2014.1002754
Eydal, G. B. & Ólafsson, S. (2008). Family policy in Iceland: An overview. In I. Ostner & C. Schmitt (Eds.), Family policies in the context of family change. The Nordic countries in comparative perspective (pp. 109-127). Verlag fur Sozialwissenschaften. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-90895-3_6
Eydal, G. B. & Rostgaard, T. (2011). Gender equality revisited – Changes in Nordic childcare policies in the 2000s. Social Policy & Administration, 42(2), 161-179. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9515.2010.00762.x
Eydal, G. B., Rostgaard, T., & Hiilamo, H. (2018). Family policies in the Nordic countries: aiming at equality. In G. B. Eydal & T. Rostgaard (Eds.), Handbook of family policy (pp. 195-208). Edward Elgar. https://www.elgaronline.com/display/edcoll/9781784719333/9781784719333.xml DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781784719340.00024
Forsäkringskassan. (2013). Föräldraledighetens betydelse för fördelning av betalt och obetalt arbete. Forsäkringskassan. https://www.forsakringskassan.se/download/18.7cd2923018425d8c4fc371/1667230818774/ojamstalld-arbetsborda-socialforsakringsrapport-2013-9.pdf
Gíslason, I. V. (2012). Leave policies development in Iceland. In S. Parrikoski & J. Lammi-Taskula (Eds.), Parental Leave Policies and the Economic Crisis in the Nordic Countries (pp. 30–36). National institute for health and welfare. https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe201205085239
Grönlund, A., Halldén, K., & Magnusson, C. (2017). A Scandinavian success story? Women’s labour market outcomes in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. Acta Sociologica, 60(2), 97–119. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0001699316660595
Ingólfsdóttir, E. S. & Gíslason, I. V. (2016). Gendered solutions to the care gap issue in Iceland. NORA - Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, (December), 1–14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08038740.2016.1241826
ISSP research group. (2016). International social survey programme: Family and changing gender roles IV - ISSP 2012. [Data file]. GESIS data archive.
Istenič, M. Č. (2007). Attitudes towards gender roles and gender role behaviour among urban, rural, and farm populations in Slovenia. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 38(3), 477-496. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3138/jcfs.38.3.477
Matysiak, A. & Weziak-Białowolska, D. (2016). Country-specific conditions for work and family reconciliation: An attempt at quantification. European Journal of Population, 32(4), 475-510. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10680-015-9366-9
Ministry of education and culture. (2011). Icelandic national curriculum guide for preschools. https://www.government.is/library/01-Ministries/Ministry-of-Education/Curriculum/adskr_leiksk_ens_2012.pdf
Nieuwenhuis, R., Yerkes, M., Backman, L, & Strigén, J. (2022). Early childhood education and care (ECEC): A focused review of reform impact studies. European Union.
Nordic statistics. (2020). Family and care. https://www.nordicstatistics.org/nordic-gender-equality-indicators/
Nordic statistics. (2022). Family and care. https://pxweb.nordicstatistics.org/pxweb/en/Nordic%20Statistics/
OECD. (2016). Who uses childcare? Background brief on inequalities in the use of formal early childhood education and care (ECEC) among very young children. https://www.oecd.org/els/family/Who_uses_childcare-backgrounder_inequalities_formal_ECEC.pdf
OECD. (2022a). Education at a glance 2022: OECD Indicators. OECD Publishing.
OECD. (2022b). OECD family database. http://www.oecd.org/els/family/database.htm
OECD. (2022c). OECD.Stat. https://stats.oecd.org/
Olivetti, C. & Petrongolo, B. (2017). The economic consequences of family policies: Lessons from a century of legislation in high-income countries. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31(1), 205-230. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.31.1.205
Regulation on the operation of preschools no. 225/1995. https://www.reglugerd.is/reglugerdir/eftir-raduneytum/menntamalaraduneyti/nr/3291
RUV. (2023, March 15). Leita allra leiða til að brúa bilið og boða mótmæli. RÚV. https://nyr.ruv.is/frettir/innlent/2023-03-15-leita-allra-leida-til-ad-brua-bilid-og-boda-motmaeli
SÍS. (2011). Leikskólar – gjaldskrár – reglur. https://www.samband.is/media/leikskoli/Uttekt-a-gjaldsk-og-afsl,-leikskola.pdf
Sibley, E., Dearing, E., Toppelberg, C. O., Mykletun, A., & Zachrisson, H. D. (2015). Do increased availability and reduced cost of early childhood care and education narrow social inequality gaps in utilization? Evidence from Norway. International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy, 9(1), 1-20. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40723-014-0004-5
Símonardóttir, S. & Gíslason, I. V. (2018). When breast is not best: Opposing dominant discourses on breastfeeding. The Sociological Review, 66(3), 665-681. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0038026117751342
Skóla- og frístundasvið Reykjavíkurborgar. (2018). Viðhorf foreldra barna hjá dagforeldrum 2017-2018. Skrifstofa sviðsstjóra – tölfræði og rannsóknir. https://reykjavik.is/sites/default/files /svid_skjol/SFS/145_8.1_skyrsla_for_dag_2018.pdf
SOU. (1972a). Förskolan. Del 1. Betänkande avgivet av 1968 års barnstugeutredning. Allmänna Förlaget.
SOU. (1972b). Förskolan. Del 2. Betänkande avgivet av 1968 års barnstugeutredning. Allmänna Förlaget.
Statistics Iceland (2021). Children in pre-primary schools. https://www.statice.is/statistics/society/children/children-education/
Swedish National Agency for Education. (2020). Barn och grupper i förskola. http://skolverket.se/statistik-och-utvardering/statistik-i-tabeller/forskola/barn-och-grupper
Thévonon, O. (2011). Family policies in the OECD countries: A comparative analysis. Population and Development Review, 37, 57-87. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2011.00390.x
Valentova, M. (2013). Age and sex differences in gender role attitudes in Luxembourg between 1999 and 20008. Work, Employment and Society, 27(4), 639-657. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017013481638
Viklund, I. & Duvander, A-Z. (2017). Time on leave, timing of preschool – The role of socioeconomic background for preschool start in Sweden. In H-P. Blossfeld, N. Kulic, J. Skopek, & M. Triventi (Eds.), Childcare, early education and social inequality: An international perspective (pp. 67-88). Edward Elgar. https://www.elgaronline.com/display/edcoll/9781786432087/9781786432087.xml DOI: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781786432094.00012
Yerkes, M. & Javornik, J. (2018). Creating capabilities: Childcare policies in comparative perspective. Journal of European Social Policy, 29(1), 1-16. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0958928718808421
