PART 3: CHILDREN'S OUTCOMES - EDUCATION

Education Outcomes
Enrolment in early childhood care and education :: Attendance at school :: Transfer to second-level education :: Achievement in reading literacy, mathematics and science
Health Outcomes
Birth weight :: Breastfeeding practice :: Chronic health conditions and hospitalisation :: Disability :: Abuse and neglect
Social, Emotional and Behavioural Outcomes
Participation in decision making :: Reading as a leisure activity :: Use of tobacco :: Alcohol use :: Drug use :: Sexual health and behaviour :: Self-esteem :: Self-reported happiness :: Youth suicide :: Physical activity :: Youth homelessness :: Nutritional habits

Enrolement in Early Childhood Care and Education*

Participation in high-quality early childhood care and education can have positive effects on children's cognitive, language and social development, particularly among children at risk. ²³

Measure

The percentage of children under 13 in various early childhood care and education arrangements.

Key findings

In 2005, other than a parent/guardian, the main childcare arrangement for families with pre-school children was paid carer (12.1%) and unpaid relative (11.5%) (see Table 37 and Figure 11).
In 2005, primary school children were more likely (78.5%) to be cared for by a parent/guardian than pre-school children (59.7%).
In 2005, 10.1% of families with pre-school children used a créche/Montessori as their main type of childcare arrangement. This compares with only 1.3% of families with primary school children using this as their main source of childcare.

Table 37: Percentage of families and main type of childcare arrangement (2002 and 2005)

	Pre-school children		Primary school children
Main type of childcare	2002	2005	2002	2005
Parent/guardian	62.1	59.7	78.0	78.5
Unpaid relative	10.5	11.5	9.2	9.7
Paid relative	4.6	4.5	3.2	2.6
Paid carer	12.0	12.1	7.5	6.5
Crèche/Montessori	9.3	10.1	1.4	1.3
Other	1.6	2.2	0.8	1.3
Total	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0

Source: Childcare Module, Quarterly National Household Survey, CSO

Download Table 37 Microsoft Excel file

The mean attendance level among students in post-primary schools was 91.6% in the 2004-2005 school year (see Table 39). This translates to 14 days' absence on average for each student.

Figure 11: Main type of childcare arrangement for families (2005)

Source: HBSC Survey

Download Figure 11 Microsoft Excel file

Technical notes
Questions on childcare (including the main source of childcare, its cost and the hours involved) were included in a module attached to the Quarterly National Household Survey in Quarter 4 2002 and Quarter 1 2005. These questions were asked of all households in which there were primary school-going children or pre-school children.

Childcare was defined as types of childcare arrangements usually made by parents/guardians on a regular weekly basis during the working day (e.g. Monday to Friday, 7am-7pm, or similar, as applicable to the household).

Respondents were asked to indicate from the following categories the main type of childcare for their pre-school and primary school-going children:

Categories	Responses
Parent or guardian	Child minded at home by me/partner
Unpaid relative	Unpaid relative or family friend in your/his/her own home
Paid relative	Paid relative or family friend in your/his/her own home
Paid carer	Paid childminder in your/his/her home, or au-pair/nanny
Créche or Montessori	Work-based créche Naoínra Créche or nursery Montessori school Playgroup, pre-school or sessional childcare
Other	Homework club, after-school activity-based facility Special needs facility, activity camps

^*No update available since the 2006 State of the Nation's Children report.

²³National Audit Office (2003) Early Years: Progress in developing high-quality childcare and early education accessible to all. Report by the Comptroller and Auditor-General. London: HMSO.

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