This book explains the differences between European countries in the supply and forms of public child care and preschool provisions by reference to the historical context in which these forms originated and to the institutional constraints underlying their development.

'This book is a welcome addition to the literature on Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC)...The historical perspective and the depth of analysis will extend the shelf-life considerably...Chapters are informative and useful on their own. However, reading the whole collection has great benefits...The book is an inspiration to explore these themes further against the backdrop of the useful perspectives and theoretical framework it introduces.' - Social Policy

Autorentext
MEIKE SOPHIA BAADER is Professor at the Pedagogical Institute of the University of Hildesheim, Germany, and a member of the Board of the Early Childhood Excellence Centre THOMAS BAHLE teaches Sociology at the University of Mannheim, Germany. At the time of writing his contribution for this book he was Marshall Fellow at the London School of Economics ANETTE BORCHORST is Associate Professor at the Department of History, International and Social Studies, Aalborg University, Denmark EVA MARIA HOHNERLEIN is Senior Researcher at the Max-Planck-Institute for Foreign and Comparative International Law in Munich, Germany BLANCHE LE BIHAN is Researcher at the Laboratory for the Analysis of Social and Health Policies at the School of Studies in Public Health at Rennes, France CLAUDE MARTIN is Senior Researcher at the Centre National de Recherche Scientifique at the University of Rennes, France, and Director of the Laboratory for the Analysis of Social and Health Policies of the School of Studies in Public Health MICHELLE NEUMAN is Senior Program Officer with the Open Society Institute's Early Childhood Program, USA HELEN PENN is Professor of Early Childhood at the University of East London, UK and co-director of its International Centre for the Study of the Mixed Economy of Childcare URSULA RABE-KLEBERG is Professor of Pedagogy and the Sociology of Education and Director of the Institute for Early Childhood Education and Care at the University of Halle-Wittenberg, Germany PIRKKO-LIISA RAUHALA is Reader in Social Work and Social Policy at the University of Helsinki, Finland INGO K. RICHTER is Emeritus Professor of Constitutional and Administrative Law and Honorary Professor at the University of Tübingen, Germany KIRSTEN SCHEIWE is Professor of Law at the University of Hildesheim, Germany MARGARETE SCHULER-HARMS is Professor of Public Law, especially Public Economic Law and Environmental Law at the Helmut-Schmidt-University in Hamburg, Germany CELIA VALIENTE is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Sociology at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain HARRY WILLEKENS teaches Legal Sociology at the University of Antwerp, Belgium and Law at the University of Hildesheim, Germany

Inhalt
Introduction; K.Scheiwe& H.Willekens Public Child Care in Europe: Historical Trajectories and New Directions; T.Bahle How and Why Belgium Became a Pioneer of Preschool Development; H.Willekens Public Child Care and Preschools in France: New Policy Paradigm and Path Dependency; C.Martin & B.Le Bihan Child Care in Spain After 1975: The Educational Rationale, the Catholic Church, and Women in Civil Society; C.Valiente The Paradox of Public Preschools in a Familist Welfare Regime: The Italian Case; E.Hohnerlein Public and Private: The History of Early Education and Care Institutions in the UK; H.Penn Danish Child-Care Policies within Path-Timing, Sequence, Actors and Opportunity Structures; A.Borchorst Child Care as an Issue of Equality and Equity: The Example of the Nordic Countries; P.Rauhala The Politics of (De)centralisation: Early Care and Education in France and Sweden; M.Neuman Slow Motion: Institutional Factors as Obstacles to the Expansion of Early Childhood Education in the FRG; K.Scheiwe Private Family and Institutionalised Public Care for Young Children in Germany and the U.S., 1857-1933; M.Baader Maternalism and Truncated Professionalism: Historical Perspectives on Kindergarten Teachers; U.Rabe-Kleberg Money Matters: Experiments in Financing Public Child Care; M.Schuler-Harms Basic Legal Principles of Public Responsibility for Children; I.Richter