Policy Brief: Parental Leave and Early Years

Do improvements in parental leave or subsidised Early Years provision lead to better development outcomes for children? This is the question that is put forward by Nabanita Datta Gupta and Jonas Jessen in a new report from SNS, Centre for Business and Policy Studies in Sweden. It reviews evidence from a number of casual studies focusing on the long-term effects on children exposed to either maternal care or ‘childcare’ in early childhood. This report shows evidence of changing demands among parents for Early Years over time and the effects on cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes on children. It also looks at the role of Early Years quality, parental time use, and socio-economic differences.

Main Findings

The report found that parents in most European countries support the idea that mothers of small children should be able to continue working. With an increasing demand for labour in these countries, demand for high-quality Early Years is also likely to increase. The report also found that when alternative care in society, such as informal care or centre-based care, is of low quality, then expanding maternity leave has positive outcomes for children. However, when alternative care is of high quality, then expanding maternity leave has barely any positive effects. Formal Early Years provision benefits children from disadvantaged backgrounds most and including children from both advantaged and disadvantaged backgrounds has been shown to improve social skills and social mobility.

The report also points out that the quality of care is crucial, with attending low quality Early Years having a negative long-term impact on a child’s development. Although attending Early Years leads to parents spending less time with their children, the time spent on stimulating parenting activities is not decreased. Some children, even in countries with universal Early Years provision, are still under-represented in Early Years settings, such as children from ethnic minorities and those whose parents have a low level of education. The report also states that further research is required on optional attendance hours, optimal starting age, and determinants of Early Years quality.

Impact of Parental Leave

A study on the impact of an extension of maternity leave in Austria showed that it had positive outcomes on children who would otherwise be in informal Early Years care. It had no impact on long-term education outcomes such as increased scores on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) or attending higher education. However, if formal Early Years care was available, the extension had no impact on children’s outcomes.

Research that looked at the impact of maternity leave extension in 1984 in Denmark showed that it had no impact on long-term educational outcomes for children. This might be explained by Danish parents who send their children to Early Years are better at making compensatory investments of either time, effort, or goods when they are at home with their children. On the other hand, Danish Early Years provision is of high quality and therefore neutral compared to maternal care. Another explanation is that the reform took some pressure off the Early Years system. With less children in Early Years, services could take the time and resources available to improve the quality of care they provide.

Another study about a 2002 maternity leave reform in Denmark found similar results regarding the impact on educational outcomes. However, it also found that the reform had a positive impact on socio-emotional skills and emotional stability. There were also some studies that found extending maternal leave had a negative impact. Research into an extension in 2000 in Canada, found that it had a negative impact on the cognitive skills of four- and five-year-olds.

Impact of Early Years

A study that analysed Danish data sought to discover the impact that attending Early Years has on a child’s behaviour. The study found that the behaviour of children at the age of seven, is not much different between those who attended centre-based Early Years and those who didn’t. However, the behaviour of children aged seven, who were in informal care, was worse than those who were looked after at home. Although both informal and centre-based Early Years are regulated in Denmark, informal caregivers have limited pedagogical training beyond high school.

Research on Early Years in Oslo has shown that it has positive effects on all children. The positive effects are most pronounced for children from disadvantaged backgrounds. These positive effects include higher test scores in languages and mathematics. In other word, children from lower socio-economic background experience a less enriching environment when not at centre-based care. A study on Early Years care in Japan showed that for children of less educated parents, attending Early Years settings reduced behavioural problems. Children of highly-educated parents display similar outcomes.

Ireland

This report does not mention Ireland, nor does it include any studies on parental leave and Early Years here. The 2023 Early Childhood Ireland Barometer shows that 79% of the Irish public agrees that every child should be guaranteed access to high-quality and inclusive Early Years education and care. The Barometer also revealed that 65% of adults think that parents should be financially supported to stay at home with their child for the first 12 months of the child’s life. It also shows that 58% agree that all employers should be legally obliged to top-up wages when parents of new babies are on maternity or paternity leave.

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If you have any questions regarding this report or any of the findings in our latest Barometer, please contact our policy team.