ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the policy context that determines how Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is organised and governed, and the amount of support provided for service provision across five countries: Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Ireland and Norway. It explores the changing face of early childhood management in the twenty-first Century. The chapter demonstrates that regardless of the country involved, governments are primarily concerned with two parallel objectives: enabling parents to balance work and family responsibilities and ensuring the quality of early childhood education and care provision. It explores the manner in which ECEC services are subsidised in one way or another in the countries examined. In the most countries, ECEC services are subsidised in one way or another and there are large differences between countries, with parents paying as little as 9 per cent of the cost of ECEC in Australia and up to 40 per cent in Ireland.
