Regional Provision of Early Childhood Education and Care - A Sub-National Policy Analysis in Federal and De-centralised Countries

This research builds on an ever-growing body of comparative research on work-care reconciliation policies by examining variations of early childhood education and care (ECEC) within European countries. While the heterogeneity of welfare typologies is increasingly discussed, the regional variation within countries has received less attention. This research's unique approach is a multilevel analysis, considering not only the national legislation but also the regional provision. The latter is important to understand the diverse gender and social inequalities within countries. Parents or caregivers seek ECEC within a limited spatial area. Residing in different geographical areas within a country implies that they are not engaged in competition for spots and are confronted with different childcare provisions. By drawing on previous analysis to measure the de-familialism of family policies as well as the ideal types of childcare services, this research develops an understanding of regional variance and similarity. In analysing the regional policy implementation leading to different accessibility and availability of ECEC, the study aims to provide an overview of regional childcare provision. Therefore, enabling an understanding of how these create an environment, restrictive or enabling, women’s employment participation or family changes. In the comparative welfare state research, criticism of an exclusive focus on nation-states has become more prominent. Therefore, this research focuses on the local provision of childcare, as an illustration of the disparity between national policy design and regional implementation and utilization. Several regions surpass the requirements, but others have inadequate structures and resources to comply with the standards. The inaccessibility and unavailability of childcare become even more pronounced in decentralised or federalised countries. There is a wide range of research on the divergence of the expansion of ECEC provisions. Nevertheless, regional divergence cannot only be attributed to differences in party politics or female representation, since structural and economic factors play a crucial role. Of relevance for this research is the change in welfare states towards a multilevel governance. Previous research on childcare policies has shown that the provision decided at the national level cannot always be implemented at the local level, often depending on political power or cost (Schober, 2020). This study focuses on the implementation of work-family policies, concentrating on public and private childcare until elementary school. The goal is to illustrate the regional availability and accessibility of the early childhood education and care (ECEC) provision. Preliminary results show the dominant East-West divide in Germany. Additionally, the heterogeneity of ECEC provision at the regional level can be found in the de-centralised countries, Italy or Spain, as well as the federal cases of Germany or Austria. Some regions offer more childcare facilities, creating opportunities for changes in care and employment practices. In other regions with more limited provisions, greater gender and social inequalities can occur. Lastly, the comparison between federal and de-centralised systems will be considered to create a deeper understanding of the limitations or possibilities of sub-national policies in multilevel states.