Nursery World - Lines of enquiry

Information services are battling a lack of awareness of their existence. Annette Rawstrone reports When faced with the daunting task of choosing childcare, there's one solution for many parents - to phone a friend. Despite all Early Years Development and Childcare Partnerships (EYDCP) being obliged to operate a Childcare Information Service (CIS), the majority of parents are still not accessing the facility, or are unaware of its existence.

When faced with the daunting task of choosing childcare, there's one solution for many parents - to phone a friend. Despite all Early Years Development and Childcare Partnerships (EYDCP) being obliged to operate a Childcare Information Service (CIS), the majority of parents are still not accessing the facility, or are unaware of its existence.

Respondents to a small-scale research project by Foluke Ajayi and Viv Moriarty at the Institute of Education, University of London, most frequently consulted other parents, family, friends and neighbours when they needed childcare. Despite saying they were concerned about different settings' reputations, few of the parents had used the booklets and directories made available by their local authority and preferred to rely on informal sources of information.

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