The child care workforce: current conditions and future directions

Abstract

At a time of major expansion in `child care' services, the workforce becomes a major issue. Drawing on a number of linked studies of the child care workforce, the article first provides an analysis of the situation of the current workforce, including the highly gendered nature of the work, low pay and high job satisfaction, and how the work is understood. It then considers whether, at a time of increasing demand for workers in both child care and social care work and increasing alternative job opportunities for women, the current situation is sustainable in the longer term. Finally, the article contrasts the reformatory approach of current government policy with a transformatory policy involving another way of understanding and structuring the work, and the emergence of a new `core' early childhood worker to work with children from 0—6 years. This is discussed in the context of the recent integration of responsibility for child care and early education within the education system, and in relation to workforces in other countries that have adopted this integrated approach to policy and provision.