Eurofound
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What is Eurofound?
Eurofound is a European Union body, one of the first to be established to work in specialised areas of EU policy. Specifically, it was set up by the European Council (Council Regulation (EEC) No. 1365/75 of 26 May 1975 and subsequent amendments), to contribute to the planning and design of better living and working conditions in Europe.
What does Eurofound do?
Eurofound's core business is both research and communicating the results of that research. It carries out research and development projects, to provide data and analysis for informing and supporting the formulation of EU policy on working and living conditions. Eurofound has a network of experts throughout Europe who conduct research on its behalf including assessing the current national situations, the preparation of case studies and national reports and the conducting of surveys.
Eurofound childcare initiatives
Developing support to parents through early childhood services
Parenting support is usually implemented as part of a wider framework of child welfare or family policies. Current (2011-2012) Eurofound research will document case studies in seven Member States, explaining how the concept of parenting support is understood across Europe and presenting good practice of early childhood centres offering these educational and social supports. The results will be published in the last quarter of 2012. A development workshop on this theme was held in Brussels on 27 November 2009 – the workshop report is available at http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/htmlfiles/ef1034.htm
Childcare for school children: Employment development in the EU
Childcare is moving to the forefront of social policy within the EU. Yet the childcare sector in many countries is not considered to be an attractive area to work in. If more and better qualified staff are to be drawn to childcare, reform is needed.
One of the research areas that have been neglected in the past has been the out-of-school care for school children (5-12). In order to highlight the current situation and to show up some best practices across the EU, the Foundation has studied the childcare sector across the EU 25.
The research shows up the great disparities existing in this sector across the participating countries and the varying approaches taken by the member states.
In-depth analysis carried out in six countries as well as case studies can be found in the national reports:
Out-of-school care services for children living in disadvantaged areas
The above research has been extended to examine formal childcare provision for school age children living in disadvantaged areas and communities.
The main providers of out-of-school care are the public and the voluntary sectors, including community and parent-led organisations. However, in disadvantaged areas, it is unlikely that the receipt of fees will be sufficient to finance out-of-school care. It is important, therefore, to look at the options for providing such care and for maximising its benefits.
The research focused on six Member States and the following reports are now available:
The main objective of the research was to assess the impact of the different approaches implemented in each Member State and to establish which measures were successful, why they were successful, and what lessons they provide for policymakers and key actors.
A consolidated report drawing together the findings of the national research is available here.
Families and childcare services
To further explore the issue of care services for children a seminar was held in Ankara, Turkey on 5 June 2008. It was jointly organised by Eurofound and the Turkish Ministry of Labour and Social Security. Discussions at the seminar centred around similarities and differences between families and childcare systems in Turkey, EU and other OECD countries. The conference report is now available here.
