A postdoctoral student at the University of Saskatchewan has found no difference in the quality of child care whether it is delivered by a co-operative, nonprofit or for-profit centre.
Catherine Leviten-Reid said it is because child care is a heavily regulated activity in Canada. Every province has detailed laws about staff training, staff-child numbers, space for children to play and type of activities.
While outlining her research findings at a Nov. 21 seminar for the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives in Saskatoon, Leviten-Reid said she was surprised at the result because “there is a pervasive sense that co-ops should do it better.”
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In only one area did she find a marked difference between for-profit centres and the co-op or nonprofit models – parental involvement.
She said more parents in co-op child care bring snacks, mend toys, help with laundry, mow the lawn, organize social events or do fundraising. Most of these activities are voluntary rather than mandatory.
However, Leviten-Reid said few parents can be found in the centre during the day, no matter which model of child care is used, because most of them work full time.
She also said governance makes a big difference in parental involvement. Parents made up 74 percent of board membership at co-op centres compared to 55 percent at nonprofit centres and only one or two parents on the boards of for-profit centres.
Leviten-Reid said the more parents on a centre’s board, the more likely the quality of care will be high.
She said co-op centres tend to require parents to attend their annual general meetings, while for-profit centres sometimes didn’t hold AGMs every year.
In Canada, provinces have different requirements for child-care centre governance. In Saskatchewan, 99 percent of the centres are co-operative and its rules require at least half of each board to be made up of parents. Alberta, Ontario and New Brunswick are silent on the need for parental involvement.
Leviten-Reid said 70 percent of child-care centres in Canada are for-profit. Her study did not find major differences in the care children received, but she said the co-operative model helps build social capital and involves everyone in the task of looking after children.
For-profits can easily be sold. She said an Australian multinational called ABC Child Care had offered to buy four Canadian independent centres.
She also said child-care workers, who tend to be women, are generally poorly paid and are subsidizing the delivery of child care for society.
