Early childhood education and upbringing: An empirical study on ideals and realities in eight European countries

Abstract

SUMMARY New general lines of development in contemporary Europe challenge traditional norms related to family life and child upbringing. The number of mothers in the labour force is constantly growing as well as the proportion of young children in different forms of outside-family settings for education and care. New ideals and new forms of living have affected and challenged the interior family life as well as the relation between the family and the state. To describe, analyse and compare the ideals and the contextual circumstances of early child education and upbringing, data of two independently launched studies (EUR- and ISSP-project) concerning child upbringing norms and ideals, mothers' views on public childcare services and general tendencies in family ideology and norms in eight European countries have been examined. The results indicate contextual differences between the compared national samples, related to for example socio-economic circumstances, family policies, and supply and content of public childcare services. The official aims and means of family policies are in some, but not all, cases reflected by micro level activities, depending on their concordance with private norms and ideals.