Perceptions of the impact of childminding services on child, parent and family outcomes: research findings

1. Background and introduction

In March 2020, the Scottish Government commissioned Ipsos MORI Scotland to conduct qualitative research on perceptions of parents and childminders of the impact of childminding services on children and families using them. The research was paused in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic but restarted in November 2020. This report details the findings of that research.

Childminding in Scotland

Childminders are an important element of the childcare sector in Scotland and offer a unique experience of childcare for children and families. They provide care and learning in the childminder’s own home, generally in small groups with no more than six children at one time. In 2019, 4,752 childminders operated professional childminding services in Scotland, providing childcare for over 31,000 children. Childminders provide care for children of all ages; and in a single setting a childminder could be caring for infants, young children under five years of age, alongside older children of school age. Often a childminder can provide flexibility for parents or carers who need to manage work commitments, and may be used to provide wraparound care alongside nurseries or schools. Childminders are also consistently rated, through independent inspection by the Care Inspectorate, as providing high quality childcare across all quality criteria.

Childminding in the context of the early learning and childcare expansion

Funded early learning and childcare (ELC) is available to all three and four year olds and eligible two year olds.^[1] From August 2021, the entitlement increased to 1,140 hours a year (30 hours a week if taken during term time).^[2] The expansion of funded ELC, originally intended for August 2020, was paused in April 2020 to give local authorities the flexibility to focus on responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[3] The main aims of the ELC expansion are:

• children’s development improves and the attainment gap narrows
• parents’ opportunities to take up work, training or study increase
• family wellbeing improves through enhanced nurture and support.

In order to ensure that the funded ELC entitlement is delivered in high quality settings, the Scottish Government published Funding Follows the Child and National Standard for ELC Providers, including the more in-depth Operating Guidance, on 18 December 2018.^[4] The Funding Follows the Child funding approach aims to ensure that funded ELC is flexible to the needs of families – in other words, parents should be free to use their funded hours at any childcare provider/s who meet the National Standard, including childminders. The National Standard is the set of quality criteria that all funded providers in the public, private and third sectors need to meet to offer the funded entitlement.

In order to deliver funded hours, childminders will be expected to meet the same 10 criteria as other types of ELC provider. The National Standard Interim Guidance and Operating Guidance include more information on how these criteria will apply in a childminding setting.^[5]

Subject to local availability, Funding Follows the Child will also enable parents and carers to opt for a ‘blended model’, where the child’s funded hours are split between ELC providers. Blended models commonly involve a child spending part of their ELC day/week in a private or public sector nursery, and part with a childminder. Blended models can offer greater flexibility for parents and carers.

Background to the study

The current study was designed to complement the ongoing Scottish Study of Early Learning and Childcare (SSELC)^[6], which is evaluating the impact of the ELC expansion on children, parents and carers, and families. The SSELC is gathering quantitative data from formal group settings (i.e. local authority or private nurseries) only and does not include childminding services providing funded ELC.

Childminders can play an important role in supporting the aims of the ELC expansion. Childminding services are evaluated as high quality overall in Care Inspectorate setting quality assessments – for example, in 2019, 92% of childminding services were rated as good or better in all quality themes assessed, compared with 88% of day care of children services.^[7] Childminding services can also play a role in improving flexibility and accessibility for parents. Overall, if childminding services were to play a more prominent role in the ELC expansion, families could potentially have more choice about the type, location and hours of funded ELC they can access. Further, childminders will have an important role in future policy development, for example the extension of funded ELC to include younger children (for which provision will need to be different to that for three and four year olds) and the development of a new system of wraparound childcare.

There is already some existing evidence on the benefits of ELC provision by childminders. This includes: preliminary observational evidence from the 14 ELC Expansion Trials (including a perception from parents that increased access to opportunities, particularly outdoor learning, had a positive impact on their child’s learning and behaviour)^[8], a recent English study which found that, among children classed as moderately disadvantaged, more hours with a childminder (compared with ELC in group settings or informal care) was associated with fewer negative emotional symptoms^[9], and other studies, including several undertaken by Ipsos MORI, have found that childminders provide increased flexibility for parents, including wraparound care and pick up/drop off from nursery^[10].

Aims, objectives and research questions

Overall, however, there is a lack of evidence on provision by childminders and its impact on child, parent and carer, and family outcomes. This study aimed to develop the evidence base on the existing and potential impact of childminding services on child, parent and carer, and family outcomes, in the context of the ELC expansion. It has done this by assessing what aspects of childminding are considered to contribute to improving outcomes for children and their families in Scotland, according to childminders and parents and carers using childminding services.

More specifically, the research sought to answer the following questions from the point of view of childminders and parents and carers. These were amended slightly (largely to include the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic) and were confirmed when the contract was restarted in November 2020.

Childminder research questions

• What does good quality childminding mean to childminders? What are childminders’ perceptions of the benefits/outcomes for children as a result of receiving the services?
• Are there particular groups of children for whom childminding services / blended models are seen as especially beneficial (e.g. children with Additional Support Needs, younger children)?
• How do childminders think the childminding context supports / constrains improving children’s outcomes? (E.g. home-care environment, low adult to child ratios, support for transitions to group settings). In what ways has the COVID-19 pandemic affected their ability to support children’s outcomes?
• How do childminders think their services support parents and carers/families? In what ways has the COVID-19 pandemic affected their ability to support families?
• What are childminders’ future intentions? What impact has the pandemic had on their services? What impact has the pandemic had on childminders’ abilities to provide funded ELC? Has it created any long-term barriers for providing funded ELC in the future?

Parent / carer research questions

• What does good quality childminding mean to parents/carers? What do they look for from childminding services in terms of their children’s development? How do they see childminding compared to formal group settings?
• What are parent/carers’ perceptions of the benefits/outcomes for their children as a result of receiving the services? Are there particular groups of children for whom childminding services / blended models are seen as especially beneficial (e.g. children with Additional Support Needs, younger children)?
• How do parents/carers think using childminding services impacts them/their families?
• What are parents/carers’ future plans? Among parents/carers who have started using childminding services since the start of the pandemic, do they plan to continue using them, and why? Would they consider using childminding services as part of their children’s funded ELC? Among parents/carers who relied on children/family services that closed due to the pandemic, do they plan to return to these services and why?

Overview of the research design

A qualitative method was considered most appropriate to meet the above objectives and fully explore the experiences and views of participants. Given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, telephone in-depth interviews were chosen as the best way to gather the data (the original plan was to conduct some face-to-face and some by telephone). Interviews were completed in March and April 2021 with 26 childminders and 26 parents or carers. All of these lasted around one hour and were conducted by the authors of this report. The discussion guides used by the researchers can be found in Appendix 1.

The research was carried out in accordance with the requirements of the international quality standard for Market Research, ISO 20252.

Sampling

The aim in qualitative research is not to achieve a sample that is statistically representative of the wider population, but to include a range of participants in different circumstances in order to identify the range of different experiences. Sample plans were designed to enable this and the following tables show the profile of the participants.

Table 1. Profile of parents interviewed

Criteria
Using ELC funded hours?	No (some were not eligible yet)	12
	Yes – at least some with childminder	9
	Yes – but not with childminder	5
How long they have used their current childminding service	Since before March 2020	18
	Since March 2020	8
Age of children	Under 3 (this did not include any ‘eligible 2s’)	7
	3-4	19
Work status of parent interviewed	Full time	10
	Part time	10
	Self employed	1
	Education/Training	3
	Not working	2
Rurality	Urban	15
	Accessible rural	6
	Remote rural	5
SIMD (1 not known)	SIMD 1 (most deprived)	4
	SIMD 2	5
	SIMD 3	7
	SIMD 4	3
	SIMD 5 (least deprived)	6
From an ethnic minority group	Yes	4
Single parent	Yes	5
Child with additional support needs	Yes	3
Local authority	Parents from 14 different local authorities were included

Table 2. Profile of childminders interviewed

Criteria
Whether providing funded ELC	Yes	13
	No	13
Age of children currently caring for	Only pre-school	7
	Both pre-school and school age	19
Number of children currently caring for across a week	1-2	5
	3-4	5
	5+	16
Rurality	Urban	14
	Accessible rural	9
	Remote rural	3
SIMD[11] (4 not known)	SIMD 1 (most deprived)	1
	SIMD 2	2
	SIMD 3	6
	SIMD 4	6
	SIMD 5 (least deprived)	7
From an ethnic minority	Yes	1
Currently caring for child/children with additional support needs	Yes	7
Providing community childminding service	Yes	4
Local authority	Childminders from 17 different local authorities were included

Recruitment

Recruitment of childminders and parents was undertaken with the support of the Scottish Childminding Association (SCMA). Emails were sent out to SCMA members inviting them to take part, and asking them to forward on information to parents and carers so that they may also participate. Childminders and parents then contacted the research team directly and answered a screening questionnaire to check eligibility and, if eligible, arrange a suitable time for the interviews.

Communications provided reassurances about anonymity and that the study was not seeking to judge or rate individual providers (see Appendix 2). In order to meet some of the criteria in the sample plan, the SCMA sent further emails and social media updates to target groups where there had been a lower response (e.g. those in rural areas). This helped us recruit a broad mix of childminders and parents. While we invited parents and carers to participate, we did not manage to recruit any carers, nor did we speak to any fathers. Those that got in touch were all mothers of the children using a childminding service. All the childminders that took part were also female (this reflects the gender balance within the sector^[12]).

We refer to ‘parents’ rather than ‘parents and carers’ throughout the main findings of this report which is reflective of our sample.

Interviewing

Interviews took place over the telephone in March and April 2021 and were facilitated by members of the research team. Two discussion guides were used – one for childminders and one for parents (included in Appendix 1). These covered key questions and a number of more detailed prompts that were used as required to ensure all relevant issues were covered. Interviews were audio recorded (with permission from participants) for subsequent analysis. Participants were given £30 as a thank you for their time.

Analysis

The interview data were summarised into thematic matrices^[13] developed by the research team and drawing on the research questions. These thematic matrices were then reviewed to identify the full range of views and experiences on each issue. The research team then undertook analysis meetings to discuss findings and agree key points for this report.

Challenges and limitations

All research is subject to challenges and limitations. On this project, while communications from the SCMA garnered a very good response from childminders and parents, there were some groups that we were unable to recruit. Overall, our sample provides a good mix of experiences and circumstances, but ideally, we would have liked to have included the following: parents or carers of 2 years olds eligible for funded ELC, fathers, and male childminders.

Participants were self-selecting which may mean that the sample of parents is skewed towards those that are especially satisfied with their childminder (given we asked them to tell to us about the benefits of childminding). The sample of childminders may also be skewed towards childminders who are currently happy in their role and keen to talk about the benefits of childminding. While this does not negatively affect the quality of the data gathered, because our aim was to explore perceptions of good quality childminding and the potential positive impact of childminding, it should be kept in mind the sample will not be representative of all parents using childminders or of all childminders.

A further limitation of this research project is that it only included parents who were already using childminders. Exploring the perceptions of parents who are not using childminders, and may never have considered using a childminder, would be valuable in identifying further ways to promote childminding and to test and develop promotional materials.

It should also be noted that where the prevalence of a particular view is described in this report, using terms such as “some” or “a few”, this relates only to the sample of research participants and not the wider population of parents and childminders in Scotland.

While we have been able to look for indicative patterns in the data by demographic group (e.g. SIMD quintile, rurality), the data did not show any clear differences between or within groups. Analysis by local authority area was not possible because that would require much larger sample sizes across all 32 areas.

Perceptions of other types of childcare

This report describes the experiences and perceptions of childminding and other types of childcare held by childminders and parents. Participants were asked about the benefits of childminding in comparison to both informal care (mainly by grandparents) and nursery settings. It should be kept in mind that comments around other types of care were made in this context, by parents and professionals with a personal preference for childminding. Some comments from participants imply a criticism of nurseries (in particular). While some of the childminders interviewed had previously worked in nurseries, and some of the parents interviewed had experience of nurseries, their comments are based on their own personal experiences and perceptions and will not necessarily reflect other parents’ experiences or practice at all nurseries.

We are not attempting to objectively assess the relative merits of different types of childcare in this study. We also recognise that some of the perceived benefits of childminding may also be delivered in other settings.

Report structure and conventions

The remainder of this report is structured as follows:

• Chapter 2 discusses perceptions of how childminding supports children
• Chapter 3 examines perceptions of how childminding supports families
• Chapter 4 covers views combining childminding with other forms of childcare
• Chapter 5 looks at the impact of pandemic has had on childminders and parents
• Chapter 6 explores perceptions of funded ELC among childminders and parents
• Chapter 7 covers views on the promotion of childminding including perceived misconceptions about it as a profession, and makes recommendations based on these views

Each chapter includes a summary of main findings at the start. Interviewees are identified by some basic demographic information only in order to preserve anonymity. The views of childminders and parents are generally presented together in the following chapters, as there was little divergence between them. Where views are particularly from one group, this is highlighted in the text.