Early Childhood Education and Care Services, and Parents’ Work–Life Balance

Abstract

Parents’ work–life balance represents a major challenge, especially for those who have young children. The present article aims to identify the perceptions of parents relating to the purpose of early childhood education and care (ECEC) services, care responsibilities, and factors that affect the balance between caring responsibilities for children and the professional career of parents. Using a database with 825 parents, who have children aged between 0 and 6 years enrolled in the ECEC system (nurseries, kindergartens), we performed a descriptive statistical analysis and a logistic regression to identify factors that affect the balance between caring responsibilities and career. The results indicate an appreciation of the usefulness of ECEC services (nurseries/kindergartens) by parents and underline the importance of parents’ involvement in the activities of ECEC services. Results also show that three factors affect the balance between caring responsibilities for children and professional career as follows: the residence area, the educational level, and the proximity to ECEC services. The need to develop ECEC services in Romania is correlated with the work–family balance field. Policymakers should focus more on structural changes and the development of early childhood education and care services, as well as the expansion of such services in both rural and urban areas.

Keywords

• early childhood education and care services
• work–life balance
• quality of family life