Figure G.3 Public spending on childcare and early education servicesa,b 2009 a spending’ refers to spending for children aged under three. spending’ refers to ‘Childcare ‘Preprimary spending on preschool institutions (typically for children aged 35) b For Spain, only aggregate spending data is presented. Source: OECD (2012a). Broadly speaking, market driven systems (including in the the United States, Canada, and are typified by more private provision and user Netherlands, Australia New Zealand) pays charging, whereas less market driven systems (including in and France, Sweden are typified by more public provision and taxpayer funding. That said, even in Norway) countries where markets are prominent, the provision of preschool is generally shouldered more by the public sector. As figure G.4 shows, with the exception of public Japan, expenditure per pupil outstrips private expenditure in preschools in OECD economies, although the and still had private funding contribute over Australia, Korea, US Spain onequarter of their total expenditure. universal preschool system is quoted as an example of substantial France’s government involvement in ECEC provision. It is underpinned by a legal entitlement of all children to attend pre–school and is characterised by universal access, public organisation and free of charge schooling (Dumas and Lefranc 2010; PC 2011). As a consequence, almost every French child aged three to five attends a preschool service. Preschool premises are owned and managed by French municipalities with staff hired and paid through the Ministry of Education of the French central Government (Grun 2008). The use of formal childcare services for children under preschool age in France has grown markedly in recent years in 2003, less than 30 per cent of children aged under three — were enrolled in formal care services, but by 2010, this had increased to about 50 per cent
Figure G.3 Public spending on childcare and early education servicesa,b 2009 a ‘Childcare spending’ refers to spending for children aged under three. ‘Preprimary spending’ refers to spending on preschool institutions (typically for children aged 35) b For Spain, only aggregate spending data is presented. Source: OECD (2012a). Broadly speaking, market driven systems (including in the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand) are typified by more private provision and user pays charging, whereas less market driven systems (including in France, Sweden and Norway) are typified by more public provision and taxpayer funding. That said, even in countries where markets are prominent, the provision of preschool is generally shouldered more by the public sector. As figure G.4 shows, with the exception of Japan, public expenditure per pupil outstrips private expenditure in preschools in OECD economies, although Australia, Korea, the US and Spain still had private funding contribute over onequarter of their total expenditure. France’s universal preschool system is quoted as an example of substantial government involvement in ECEC provision. It is underpinned by a legal entitlement of all children to attend pre–school and is characterised by universal access, public organisation and free of charge schooling (Dumas and Lefranc 2010; PC 2011). As a consequence, almost every French child aged three to five attends a preschool service. Preschool premises are owned and managed by French municipalities with staff hired and paid through the Ministry of Education of the French central Government (Grun 2008). The use of formal childcare services for children under preschool age in France has grown markedly in recent years — in 2003, less than 30 per cent of children aged under three were enrolled in formal care services, but by 2010, this had increased to about 50 per cent