Childcare

The Workers’ Party calls for a universal system of childcare and early childhood education which is accessible to all parents including those working unsociable hours and those living in rural areas.

The Workers’ Party views market provision of childcare as producing unequal access and limiting opportunities for parents, particularly those in less well-off communities, to return to education or prepare for work.

The Workers’ Party supports a state-funded, high-quality childcare system encompassing infant care, early childhood education, care before and after school, and care during school holidays.

We believe that childcare policies must be built around families and children’s educational development and welfare and not as a system to ensure ‘women can work when needed’.

A market-based childcare model produces haphazard, unplanned and patchy provision.

Therefore the Workers’ Party calls for

• The provision of enhanced parental care options for children under one in line with international best practice, including parental leave supported by the state and employers
• The development of a model of education and care for preschool children covering the stages from three months to two or three years, and from two or three to four or five years
• The development of a model of education and care for pre-school children with disabilities
• The development of appropriate ‘before and after school’ as well as ‘school holiday’ childcare provision

The public bodies and frameworks responsible for regulation, quality and curriculum in early childhood education and care must be adequately funded.

The service should be publicly funded and delivered locally through local-authority and education structures.