Statistics Publication Notice: Education and Training Series: Pre-School and Childcare Statistics 2010

Introduction and Main Findings

Scotland's Chief Statistician today published Pre-school and Childcare Statistics 2010, which presents new statistics on childcare centres and childminders registered with the Care Commission, and childcare centre staff.

The main findings are:

• As at January 2010, there were 4,125 registered childcare centres, a decrease on the 4,274 of January 2009. Of these centres, 4,056 were operating, 63 fewer than in 2009. ( Table 1)
• At January 2010, there were 2,615 centres that provided local authority funded pre-school education, 30 fewer than in 2009. ( Table 1)
• At January 2010, there were 1,613 whole time equivalent ( WTE) GTCS registered teachers providing pre-school education under a regular arrangement, 25 WTE fewer than in 2009. ( Table 28)
• At January 2010, 74% of pre-school children had access to a GTCS registered teacher during census week, a 4 percentage points increase compared with 2009. ( Table 24)
• At January 2010, 94% of local authority pre-school centres had GTCS registered teachers who provided pre-school education under a regular arrangement, compared with only 36% of partnership centres. ( Table 30)
• At January 2010, 74% of the childcare workforce had a childcare qualification at SVQ level 3 or above, an increase of 1 percentage point compared with 2009. ( Table 15)
• At January 2010, 27% of childminders had a childcare qualification at SVQ level 3 or above, an increase of 2 percentage points compared with 2009. ( Table 21)

Childcare Centres and Services (Tables 1-10)

• As at January 2010 there were 4,125 registered childcare centres, a decrease on the 4,274 of January 2009. Of these centres, 4,056 were operating, 63 fewer than in 2009 ( Table 1, Table 2).
• There were 2,615 centres that provided local authority funded pre-school education at January 2010, 30 fewer than at January 2009 ( Table 1).
• The number of registered childminders increased from 6,039 in January 2009 to 6,066 in January 2010. If inactive childminders are excluded, this figure is 5,559. ( Table 1, Table 19).
• The main service for 60% of operating childcare centres was a nursery. Eighty per cent of all operating centres provided an outdoor play area ( Table 2, Table 5).
• A total of 201,180 children attended childcare centres during census week, and 28,640 attended childminders. These figures may include some multiple counting as children are counted once for each centre and/or childminder they attend ( Table 9).
• The percentage of centres that had a plan or strategy detailing how they will meet the requirements for registration with the SSSC rose from 76% in January 2009 to 81% in January 2010. These figures are based on the centres that returned full census forms ( Table 10).

The Childcare Workforce (Tables 11-18)

• There were 26,010 paid staff working directly with children in childcare centres in January 2010, of which 85% were permanent and 50% were part time ( Table 12).
• Just under a third of centres used unpaid volunteers working directly with children at January 2010 ( Table 18).
• At January 2010, 99% of active childminders were female ( Table 19).
• At January 2010, over three quarters of currently active childminders worked 30 or more hours per week and 15 per cent worked more than 50 hours. Most childminders (77 per cent) worked more than 40 weeks per year. These figures are derived from the Care Commission's December 2009 Annual Returns and are outwith the scope of National Statistics ( Table 19).
• At January 2010, the percentage of childminders with a childcare qualification at SVQ level 2 or above increased by three percentage points to 32 per cent and the percentage with SVQ level 3 or above increased by two percentage points to 27 per cent compared with 2009 ( Table 21).
• The number of managers of Day-care and Pre-school Education centres, together with the number of paid staff working directly with children in 2010 was 30,480 ( Table 13).
• At January 2010, 15% of the childcare workforce were managers ( Table 13).
• At January 2010, 95% of the childcare workforce in 2010 were female ( Table 13).
• At January 2010, 84% of the childcare workforce had a childcare qualification, the same as in the previous year. Eight two percentage of childcare workforce had a childcare qualification at SVQ level 2 or above, the same as in the previous year. The percentage with a childcare qualification at SVQ level 3 or above increased by 1 percentage point to 74% ( Table 15).
• Childcare staff working in public sector childcare centres were more qualified than those in the private or voluntary sectors. At January 2010, 87% of staff in public sector centres had childcare qualifications at SVQ level 3 or above, compared to 69% in private and 59% in voluntary centres ( Table 16).
• At January 2010, nearly two thirds of childcare staff who were managers had childcare qualifications at SVQ level 4 or above ( Table 16).
• At January 2010, there were 1,250 staff of all levels working towards a childcare qualification at SVQ level 4 or equivalent, and a further 1,310 staff of all levels were working towards a degree level childcare qualification (or equivalent). This compares to 1,190 staff of all levels working towards a SVQ level 4 or equivalent childcare qualification, and 940 staff working towards a degree or equivalent level childcare qualification in 2009 ( Table 17).

Pre-school education (Tables 22-31)

• At January 2010 there were 2,762 centres that provided pre-school education following the Scottish 3-18 Curriculum for Excellence. Of these, 2,615 centres were local authority or partnership pre-school providers, a fall of 1 per cent compared with January 2009 ( Table 22).
• At January 2010, there were 107,420 children registered for pre-school places funded by the local authority ( Table 23).
• At January 2010, 96% of children eligible, or 99,690 in total, were registered for the ante-pre-school or pre-school year of pre-school education, similar to the previous year. This figure is based on a series of estimations and some children may be counted more than once if they are registered to receive local authority funded pre-school education at more than one centre ( Table 23).
• At January 2010, 74% of pre-school children had access to a GTCS registered teacher during census week, a 4 percentage point increase compared with the previous year. This includes children whose access was to a teacher providing only ad hoc or occasional support to the centre during census week ( Table 24).
• At January 2010, there were 9,230 whole time equivalent ( WTE) staff providing pre-school education in local authority and partnership centres ( Table 26).
• The January 2010 Census enables us to estimate the actual physical number of GTCS registered teachers who provide pre-school education under a regular arrangement, whether employed by the centre or shared with other centres. This has resulted in the following:
• There were 2,970 GTCS registered teachers in posts providing pre-school education under a regular arrangement in January 2010. This compares with 2,880 in 2009. Please note that this includes multiple counting if a teacher works in more than one centre and this comparison is affected if there is a change in the level of multiple counting.
• These 2,970 posts were filled by an estimated 2,610 GTCS registered teachers. This compares with 2,590 in 2009 and is the second time the actual number of GTCS registered teachers providing pre-school education under a regular arrangement has been able to be calculated.
• The Whole Time Equivalent ( WTE) of all GTCS registered teachers providing pre-school education under a regular arrangement in January 2010 was 1,613 WTE, which is 25 WTE fewer than in 2009.
• See Table 28 for further details.
• At January 2010, information for 2,455 individual GTCS registered teachers was provided. This showed that 93% of them were female and 4% were male. The gender for the remaining GTCS registered teachers was not provided. ( Table 29)
• In addition, the 2,455 individual GTCS registered teacher records showed that the average (median) age of GTCS registered teachers was 48 years old. However, the age for 10% of GTCS registered teachers was not provided ( Table 29).
• At January 2010, 70% of pre-schools had GTCS registered teachers who provided pre-school education under a regular arrangement, whether employed by the centre or shared with other centres, an increase of 2 percentage points from 2009 ( Table 30).
• However, by type of provider shows that 94 per cent of local authority centres compared with 36 per cent of partnership centres had GTCS registered teachers who provided pre-school education under a regular arrangement ( Table 30).