public policy & private delivery: the puzzle of public-private partnerships for childcare susan...
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Public Policy & Private Delivery:The Puzzle of Public-Private
Partnerships for Childcare
Susan PrenticeSociology, University of Manitoba, Canada
“The Mixed Economy of Childcare: Risks and Opportunities”
International Centre for the Study of the Mixed Economy of Childcare
September 10, 2007
University of East London
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Chantel Patterson, age 22, and son Israel, 6 age months, in 2005
Hopper’s Crossing, Australia
Quality Considerations
Canadian overview: Summary: Everywhere, non-profits produce a higher
quality of care” Advantage about 10 percent, after controlling
US Quality advantage to not-for-profit overall
Yet, poorer quality care in church/faith-based sub-sector
Australia Staff perceptions of quality within not-for-profit, small
chain and corporate childcare
Overall Quality Concerns
Canada “physically safe environments with caring,
supportive adults are the norm in the majority of centres. However,… the majority of the centres in Canada are providing care that is minimal to mediocre..”
UK Of all childcare settings, 4 percent are
inadequate, and 39% at lowest passing grade (‘satisfactory’)
Regulations & Compliance
Shaping the regulatory environment Domains, targets and effectiveness of the commercial and not-for-profit
lobbies Historical authority Respective role in framing policy discourser
Regulatory Compliance Manitoba - 1988 - 2004: 90 percent not-for-profit provincially Licensing orders (N=43):
• Non-profit rate: 0.23 percent annually• For-profit rate: 3.9 percent annually
Suspension and refusals (N = 5)• 100 percent for-profit
ECE Labour Force
US 752nd of 770 professions by pay 30% overall turnover rate (45% in commercial
chains; 35% in independent for-profits)
Agenda Wages and benefits, training, quality by finely-
grained auspice Publicly-delivered childcare Cross-national studies
Public-Private Co-production
Supply of spaces determined by market
Market is small, services scarce Space for 15% of children in Canada
Frustrated political capacity• “an early learning and care system for the 21st century”
Public-Private Partnership
Stable architecture Lessons for new privatizing domains?
Ethical audit Access & territorial justice
Distributional effects Access & ‘widening participation’
Stratification effects
Financial Accountability
Financial Demand and supply-side financing Tax system Trade agreements Corporate concentration
Private profits largely derived from public funding “…The child care business is the best business I’ve ever seen in my
life. The government pays subsidies, the parents pay you two weeks in advance, and property prices keep going up.”
Political Accountability
Democratic accountability and governance Representational structures
Conflicts of interest ABC example: close links to Liberal party
Public, or merit, good
Bearspaw Daycare Centre, Alberta & ABC Learning in Hopper’s Crossing, Australia….
Content and context for the puzzle of public-private partnerships under neo-liberalism