Understanding the measures parents take in choosing childcare and what influences their choice.

Examples of our Work - Education and Training Market Research

Background

The Children’s Workforce Development Council aims to improve the lives of children, young people, their families and carers. Key objectives are to ensure that those who work with children and young people have the best possible training, qualifications and support and that childcare organisations work together more closely. Their work covers a range of sectors including early years. PCP undertook quantitative research on behalf of this childcare organisation to update their understanding of factors influencing parental choice of Early Years childcare.

Objectives

• To gain a clear understanding of what factors influence parents’ choice of Early Years childcare.

• To gain an understanding of the attitudes of parents towards the mix of staff employed by Early Years childcare organisations in terms of gender, age, ethnic background and level of qualification and experience.

• To understand awareness of, and attitudes towards, Early Years Professionals.

• To assess who would be most likely to consider training as an Early Years Professional and what factors are most likely to influence this choice.

Methodology

An online quantitative survey was conducted among 1000 parents who had at least one child in a nursery or other Early Years setting or who planned to use Early Years childcare within the next two years. The sample included quotas for graduate parents and for Black Minority Ethnic (BME) parents to ensure that these two groups were adequately represented for analysis purposes.

Outcome

The survey highlighted that six in ten nurseries did not have a male member of staff of any kind but that parents thought it was important to have a more representative nursery work force. Just over half of parents questioned and 66% of single parents thought that men and women had different skills to offer young children in their care. The majority would welcome more men working in their childcare setting and felt that male carers were important role models for their children. The findings were published in a range of national and regional press.