Childcare will be a critical element of next week's Budget. Kate Holmquist visits Copenhagen to see what the Danish system offers
In Copenhagen, TV 2 anchorwoman Caroline Tantholdt is delivering her 18-month-old son Emil for a day in the Kastelsgarten, a children's nursery in an expensive, middle-class residential area - the Danish version of Dublin's Ranelagh. Like most urban working parents in Denmark, Caroline lives in a flat and makes short trips by bicycle, with Emil seated on the back in his one-piece snow suit and cycle helmet.
Kastelsgarten, an "integrated institution" with nursery and kindergarten for about 100 children aged one to six, was Caroline's first choice when she applied to the local municipality for day care shortly after Emil was born. This popular, purpose-built day care centre is larger than most and sits in the middle of a small, green city square; Caroline's only complaint is that it has a waiting list, so Emil was 16 months old before he started there. Caroline was able to take further paid leave while waiting for the place and her employer was supportive, which is typical in Denmark, where maternity leave and benefits enable mothers to remain in the home for the first year. Additional forms of leave and holiday time are used by most mothers to extend their time at home until their children are 16-18 months old.
"I think your choice of day care partly depends on the temperament your child has," says Caroline. "I chose Kastelsgarten because it is large and I wanted Emil to be with other children his age with a lot of things going on. I also liked that Kastelsgarten has a lot of green space around it, so Emil can go out if he chooses to. We like children to be children as long as possible in Denmark, and Kastelsgarten is an integrated institution with a kindergarten, so he can stay here until he is age six."
Nearly eight out of 10 mothers work outside the home in Denmark. "Being a full-time mother by choice doesn't exist," says Caroline. "Why waste your education? There's no guilt about working full-time. I have a very good job, working 10 to 12 days a month, and the Kastelsgarten is flexible. On days off, they don't mind if I can drop Emil late, collect him early or keep him home with me if I want to."
Emil's best friend in Kastelsgarten, and at home, is 18-month-old Frederik Kjaergaard, whose mother, Mette Kjaergaard, a human resources manager, says: "If a mother stays at home, where is her life? What about her education? The mother would be lonely at home and the child wouldn't meet new friends, since all children are in day care."
Mette and Caroline believe their sons are far better off being nurtured by trained teachers at a ratio of one adult to three children, in a specially designed children's environment where they are fed fresh organic food prepared by trained chefs. And the cost for all this nurturing, love and attention? Little more than €300 per month - and parents never pay more than 33 per cent of the cost.
It may be only a two-hour flight away, but this is a world apart from the Irish experience of high fees, uneven quality, untrained childminders who can quit at short notice and informal arrangements with hard-pressed family and friends.
The Danish system of childcare is generally regarded as the best in the world - but it comes at a cost. The Danes pay 50 per cent tax.
It is difficult to compare like with like when looking at government spending on childcare in different European countries. But according to the latest available statistics from the OECD, compiled for 2001, Denmark devotes 2.3 per cent of GDP to childcare for children aged 0-6, compared with 0.07 per cent in Ireland, a figure that rises to 0.32 per cent of GDP when the expense of junior and senior infants classes (0.25 per cent of GDP) is included. (Since 2001, the Irish Government has invested €500 million in childcare facilities.) The often-quoted figure of 0.4 per cent of GDP being devoted to childcare here also includes home helps, because in many OECD countries publicly subsidised childcare includes carers who look after children in their own home.
"Danish pedagogy prizes freedom and individuality," says Jon Fogt, manager of Kastelsgarten, where the staff of 30 includes seven men, all of whom receive four years' specialist education in pedagogy and are paid on a par with primary school teachers and nurses. "We have no straight lines, no sitting quietly because the teacher tells you to, no uniforms, no rules," he says. "It's all about personal choice and thinking through the consequences of your choices. We believe that this liberal ethos creates more responsible children," he explains.
Socialisation of children to be responsible citizens is the bedrock of Danish pedagogy, but at the same time they believe that childhood should last as long as possible, so formal schooling in literacy and mathematics doesn't begin until age seven. Before that, the emphasis is on creative play, self-discovery, interacting with nature, building self-esteem, discovering that actions have consequences and learning communication skills, Fogt says.
Gender equality is important too. "It's very important for children to discover both male and female values, because we do think differently," says Fogt. "During free time outdoors, the male pedagogues will be saying, 'Go ahead, climb the tree', while the females will be calling, 'Be careful!' Women think with their hearts, while men are doers. What we share is our concern for children. We men are not threatened by the power of women in Denmark because we're used to equality. We think it's okay."
Across in the south-west of the city, in a working-class area that has a bad reputation for yobbish behaviour, childcare manager Jens Kjarsdal also believes in the importance of male role models in nurseries, particularly with Denmark's high rate of marriage breakdown and lone parenthood. After 35 years as a teacher, starting in 1968 when universal day care began, Kjarsdal says he still "burns for the job". His childcare institution, Barnehuset, is as beautifully designed as Kastelsgarten and is also situated in a green park that once belonged to the Crown, which means that the green space is as unpolluted as the organic food the children are fed, he says proudly.
The centre has an annual budget of 8 million Danish kroner (€1.1 million) for 100 children, and each of the six head teachers has an individual budget to spend on equipment. "Small children can't choose their day care so we have to make the best we can for them," Kjarsdal says. "We have a saying in Denmark, 'Every child is a project', which means that we are interested in nurturing the intellectual, social and emotional development of the child. We want to create happy children with happy memories of their years in Barnehuset, who make good friendships that will last them the rest of their lives. A sense of community and belonging is very important in a big city like Copenhagen."
Barnehuset is in a working-class area which has a bad reputation, and where about 20 per cent of residents are foreign.Despite this, Kjarsdal says: "We don't have many social problems here because we are teaching the children to integrate into Danish society and to share Danish values. Here, children are accepted for their own minds and feelings, but that means they must also accept the other person's mind and feelings. We hope the new generation of teenagers will be better, because as children they will have been listened to by their parents."
Helping parents to learn positive parenting skills is an important aspect of Danish pedagogy. Parents sit on management committees in all-day care centres and teachers meet regularly with parents to discuss their children's progress.
Pedagogy has been extended in Denmark to the realm of the "day mother", who looks after no more than three children aged between one and three in her own home (at four, children go on to nurseries and kindergartens). Day-care mothers in Copenhagen are paid €2,500 per month directly by the municipality and are entitled to pensions. They form networks of five, which meet once a week in purpose-built "play houses" and playgrounds where the children socialise together, while the day mothers discuss child development issues and plan activities. A teacher meets them jointly once a month and also visits their homes. Resources available to the day mothers include free buses for taking children on group outings. A new and growing trend is the day mother nursery, where day mothers care in a group for children rather than in their own homes. Relatively uneducated by Danish standards, day mothers are encouraged to participate in courses and workshops to improve their skills.
Ulla Hansen, a teacher and manager of a playhouse where day mothers and children gather, displays a day mother book, with the photo of one of the children in her care on the cover. The child's milestones, experiences, pictures, stories and words are recorded in the book, which is being used as documentation for government research into day mothering, but is ultimately handed over to parents as a record of two years in their children's lives. "The parents love it," says Hansen.
Parents are strongly represented on Daycare Steering Committees, which discuss the goals and progress of the day mother teams, which are expected to achieve certain standards and, in turn, are allowed 46 per cent of their earnings tax free to cover their capital costs.
"The most important quality in a day mother is common sense," says Hansen. "Many have reared their own children and they can offer children a family atmosphere, where there is less noise, less stress and more one-to-one attention. That's not to say that day mothers are better than nurseries. Parents choose a type of childcare from a list of options, just as they would choose a family doctor."
As for the doctors, increasing numbers of them are women and they are among the parents who use Vartov, a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week nursery overlooking Tivoli gardens in the centre of Copenhagen. Lone Rasmuss, mother of 18-month-old Storm, is a hospital doctor married to a doctor, and she travels with Storm by bicycle. Most days, she is able to collect Storm at 5pm and on her days off she keeps him with her at home. When both she and her husband are working nights, Storm spends the night at Vartov, where a special unit with its own bedroom, living room and bathroom has been created for overnight stays. "Both grandmas live a three-hour drive away, so we have no one to leave Storm with if we both have to work nights."
Fransiska Tvede, teacher and manager, says that parents never use the 24-hour nursery as a babysitting service so that they can enjoy nights or weekends away. "You would never leave your child in an institution for the sake of your social life. Danish people would not do that. The family is strong in Denmark, very tight. Parents protect their children and, later on, children will protect their parents," she says.
Tvede had only 12 weeks' maternity leave when she had her own children 30 years ago and she says that while childcare policy has improved beyond recognition in that time, many Danish parents are stressed by having to earn two incomes to buy houses outside the city, which involve long commutes and leaving their children in day care 11 hours per day. According to Tvede, "a small minority of right-wing extremists believe that young children should be cared for full-time in the home by a parent.
"We believe that children are happiest together with other children. Young parents today are very, very lucky compared to my generation. It's a natural way of life to work and pay taxes. That's why, in Denmark, we are the happiest people on Earth and we are pleased to pay 50 per cent tax because we have free education, elderly care and medical care. It's a question of being satisfied with life."
Kate Holmquist travelled to Copenhagen on a cultural visit organised by the Danish embassy in Dublin
Great Danes: facts and figures
315
The euro cost per month of childcare in Copenhagen per child up to 6 years of age paid to the municipality. Discounts for subsequent children. Reduced cost or no cost to low income parents.
81
The percentage of children aged 6-9 who participate in the free 'leisure time' care before and after school, both in school buildings and after-school facilities.
2.4
The rate of child poverty in Denmark, the lowest of the 24 OECD countries, compared with 15.7 per cent in this State, which has the fifth highest reate in the OECD region.
77.2
the percentage of mothers of children under 16 working outside the home (not including mothers in education). The level in the Republic is 52 per cent.
1,700
the amount of child benefit in euros all families receive per child, per year. There is no lone parents allowance in Denmark, in accordance with the OECD's believ that such a payment encourages lone parents to remain unemployed. Full-time mothers in the home get no state payment, but are seen as benefiting from being tax exempt while still enjoying free state services, such as education and healthcare.
12
The number of months paid maternity leave Danish mothers get. They can then take additional, optional leave supported by employers. Only 3 per cent of babies under the age of one are in creches.
Source: OECD.