DOES%20DAYCARE%20AFFECT%20COGNITIVE%20DEVELOPMENT??

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DOES DAYCARE AFFECT COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT??
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Whats daycare??

• TEMPORARY
• NOT WITH A FAMILY MEMBER
• OUTSIDE THE HOME

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And what do you mean by COGNITIVE?
How knowledge is organised
What the individual can do
How they do it
THINKING SKILLS
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Whos going to criticise daycare?

• BOWLBY
• He claimed that permanent use of daycare would
  lead to
• permanent damage to the emotional health of a
  future generation
• (WHO, 1951)

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So what??

In December 2004 Chancellor Gordon Brown
announced the Governments plan to extend paid
parental leave from 6 to 9 months.

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• There were also commitments to make available
  part-time places in nurseries for every 3yr old
  and to put a childrens centre in every community
  to provide care services.

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What does research say?

• ANDERSSON (1992)
• AIM-
• To investigate the effects of day care on
  cognitive development
• PROCEDURE-
• Andersson (1992) conducted a longitudinal
  study in Sweden. Over 100 children (from both
  lower, middle class families and one parent
  families) were assessed at age 8 and 13.
  Cognitive and socio-emotional competence was
  rated by their classroom teachers and IQ test
  data were collected.

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• FINDINGS
• Andersson found that school performance was
  rated highest in those children who entered day
  care before the age of 1. School performance was
  lowest in those who didnt have any day care. The
  best performance also came from the children with
  the highest socio-economic status.
• CONCLUSIONS
• This suggests that day care is not harmful in
  terms of development and may even be beneficial.

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Is it that simple??

• Can we generalise the findings from this study to
  the wider population??
• NO! In Texas the same study found that teachers
  and parents rated childrens emotional health as
  much poorer that those who did not have extensive
  childcare experiences. (Vandell and Corasaniti,
  1990)
• Sweden spends lots of money on its daycare

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Quality matters -

• Low staff/child ratio
• Carers have high quality training
• One to one verbal interaction

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Is there any more research??

• YES! Have a look at the cards sort them into
  piles of
• Research that shows a negative effect on
  cognitive development
• Research that shows no effect
• Research that shows a positive effect on
  cognitive development

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Is it all good?

• NO . think about
• SAMPLE SIZE
• RESEARCH METHOD
• YEAR OF STUDY
• MEASUREMENT OF COGNITIVE ABILITY
• INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES
• CULTURE
• CAUSE AND EFFECT
• QUANTITATIVE or QUALITATIVE DATA
• DEMAND CHARACTERISTICS