Nurseries are turning the children in their care into 'thugs' and are causing 'long-term damage', or so recent sensationalist newspaper headlines would have us believe. But what are these claims based on and is there cause for concern?
The terror tot stories were sparked off by findings from two longitudinal studies - the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care, that tracks the development of more than 1,300 children in nurseries in ten towns and cities across the US, and the Effective Provision of Pre-school Education (EPPE) project that looks at the effects of pre-school education on more than 3,000 British three- and four-year-olds.
Evidence from both studies identified similar findings cropping up, that where long hours in group care are started early in life there is a higher risk of children developing anti-social behaviour. The NICHD study found this 'problem behaviour' manifested itself in children becoming 'disobedient' and 'aggressive'.
A summary of EPPE findings states, 'High levels of "group care" below the age of three (and particularly before the age of two) were associated with higher levels of anti-social behaviour at age three. This effect was largely restricted to children attending local authority and private day nurseries where substantial numbers of children attended from infancy.'
But the research also found, 'When children who show anti-social behaviour, at age three, attend a high quality setting between the ages of three and five years, their level of anti-social behaviour decreased.'
Professor Pam Sammons, co-director of the EPPE project based at the Institute of Education, University of London, stresses that it is only a 'slightly raised incidence in anti-social behaviour with a 1.5 per cent increased chance of children starting pre-school under 12 months developing this.
'It is one area that came up less favourably but we found positive effects such as peer sociability, reduction in anxious behaviour, improved independence and concentration when starting school, increased co-operation and ability to follow instructions and improvement in areas such as language and pre-reading.'
Elevated risk
But why have both studies found a slightly elevated risk of children developing anti-social behaviour?
'There are various theories why this is so,' says Professor Edward Melhuish, Birkbeck University of London. 'One view is that with both the British and American research there is a situation where staff turnover tends to be high. It is therefore difficult for young children to establish a stable caregiver/child relationship. The young children do not get a sufficient responsive interaction with their caregiver.
'Gestures are only familiar to those who spend a lot of time with the child. If their gestures are not working, under the circumstances a child may develop other strategies to get attention, this could result in anti-social behaviour such as hitting other children. This is not the known reason but it is a reasonable interpretation.'
The children's family situation can also be an important factor. 'Two or single-parent families where parents are in paid employment when children are very young, may experience a great deal of stress as a result of having to keep a daycare package going under difficult circumstances,' says Eva Lloyd, senior lecturer in early childhood studies in the School for Policy Studies at Bristol University.
'The NICHD study which identified adverse effects of early daycare beyond a certain number of hours, did in fact state that it was difficult to untangle the effects of early group daycare per se from possible effects of altered family dynamics.'
Psychologist and early years consultant Jennie Lindon says, 'Even if nursery care is excellent, children need to form close relationships within their own families. If parents do not spend enough time with their baby or toddler then they do not get to build up crucial interactions. It can be especially difficult to be a sensitive parent at the end of a tiring day.
'One of the things that happens with longer hours spent in daycare is that parents have to be especially focused to make the best of the shorter amount of time to build good relationships with their child.'
Aggressive imagery
Early education pioneer and retired American nursery teacher Vivian Gussin Paley questions whether nurseries with children who display anti-social behaviour are asking the right questions. She says, 'My own questions would be: Is there ample time during the day for children to rechannel aggressive imagery into imaginative dramatic play, where the roles children choose can be examined and improved over time?
'Do we offer further opportunity for reflection in terms of story dictation and story acting, and conversations about hurt feelings and acts of kindness? Do we provide big spaces for running and climbing, and quiet times for being read to, talked and listened to, in an unhurried, intimate setting?
'Finally, can we put aside concerns about standards and testing and evaluate instead how well we are doing as a community in showing respect and affection for each child, in a non-punitive, emotionally supporting environment?
'If we begin discussing the above with one another, with the children and their families, the problems that surface in full day childcare will lend themselves to more sensitive and kindly solutions.'
The research agrees that the risk of children developing anti-social behaviour is much lower in good quality nurseries.
Peter Elfer, senior lecturer in early childhood studies at Roehampton University of Surrey, says the debate raised by the longitudinal studies should be continued by questioning what makes this good quality care - what are the permitting circumstances necessary in order to enable nursery staff to provide sensitive, responsive and consistent care to children? What patterns of nursery organisation and management best facilitate such care?
Good quality
Mr Elfer is currently working on in-depth studies of different nurseries to try to identify the characteristics of a quality nursery.
'The research has some way to go and themes are being revised and refined as the work proceeds,' he says, 'But it does seem that nurseries that have staff who enjoy children more, spend more time with them, are prepared to provide individual keyperson care rather than mainly team care, set the kind of routines and boundaries that help children feel secure rather than punished, notice and affirm children's interests and preoccupations rather than leave them, tend to be nurseries who have managers who do each of these things, at an adult level, for their staff.'
This good quality childcare does not come cheap. Ms Lloyd questions whether, instead of creating more childcare places, extending free nursery education to two-year-olds and encouraging parents back to work, the Government should look at other options.
'There is the key issue of pay and employment conditions in group daycare, which jeopardise quality. If the Government subsidises quality day care for under-twos, it will have to put lots of money into it to make it good,' she says. 'Possibly the amount of money needed would be even more than would be needed if we were to fund extended parental leave and thereby offer more choice to parents of very young children.'
Ms Lindon agrees. 'We need a political agenda that says we should put children at centre stage, that their needs are not relegated to the wings, as less important than getting mothers into employment and meeting Government targets for reducing poverty. It is a complex business,' she says.
'If we put children at centre stage then we have to take on board the reservations that long hours of daycare, particularly if not well done, are not a good experience for children.'
Parental choice
Ms Lloyd believes that many parents would much rather stay at home with their young children. 'If we ask parents what they want, they say that they would like more choice to take paid extended leave in the first years of a child's life. The Government is ignoring what parents are saying in a series of representative surveys, such as those being conducted by the National Centre for Social Research, and qualitative studies funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
'It is very disappointing that the Government said in the recently published Department for Education and Skills' Five-Year Plan that it would do no more than "look further" into the possibilities for extended and paid maternity and paternity leave. It has got plenty of research on the subject already and it should act on that. Policy makers often use research opportunistically and in addressing such issues the interests of children in their own right often end up at the bottom of the list of priorities.'
Further information
* EPPE information can be found at: www.ioe.ac.uk/schools/ecpe/eppe/index.htm
* The NICHD research is located at: www.nichd.nih.gov
* For further information on '5,000 hours: Organising for intimacy in the care of babies and children under three attending full-time nursery', contact Peter Elfer at Roehampton University of Surrey, tel: 020 8392 3367 or e-mail p.elfer@roehampton.ac.uk.
