Public policies and Early Childhood Education

Abstract

SUMMARY The paper presents the distinguishing attributes of the Swedish family support system. This system fulfils two major functions and is organized according to at least four different principles. The Swedish family policy is very comprehensive in its nature, trying to include as many families as possible. The programs are, as far as possible, general and not selective, and offered by the public as opposed to private services. One part of the family support system is the day care system. A study is presented in which children and families are followed from early age up to age 16. The children's intellectual and socioemotional development are related to background variables and the age when they first entered public day care. Those children who started very early — between 6 and 12 months of age — developed as a group more positively on all measured aspects of development than those who started at a late time or did not have any public day care at all.