Government's investment in childcare centres : the financial impact on the related stakeholders

Abstract

The necessity for Government to supply childcare facilities emerged from the continuous pressure of local and foreign institutions to increase the female employment rate of Malta and kick off the economy. During these past years, the government has been investing millions of public funds in the opening of childcare centres in order to assist families to juggle their work and family commitments. However, the objective of this study is to go deeper than that and discover if this financial investment is paying off for the government being the service provider. It is the scope of this study to find out if this provision of childcare is leaving the desired impact, not only on the state but also on the families, the service users. Hence, the research took off by analysing the extent of the demand received by the government before and after the enactment of the childcare centres. This study proceeds with an evaluation of other states' family policies in regards of childcare and the extent of influence they have on the families' lifestyles. Consequently, with the intention to get the holistic opinions and views of all service users, families were presented with questionnaires that helped to identify various concerns. In order to obtain more information about the childcare provision and to clear some disputes that emerged from the feedback of the parents, a face to face, semi-structured interview was conducted with the senior official at the Foundation of Educational Studies, the foundation entrusted by the government to manage these childcare centres. Ultimately, the research came to an end by yielding a set of conclusions and recommendations that counter satisfactorily the uncertainties that instigated this study.