Pre-school and Childcare Statistics 2007

Statistics Publication Notice: Education and Training Series: Pre-school and Childcare Statistics 2007

This publication presents statistics on all pre-school and childcare centres registered with the Care Commission, registered childminders and childcare centre staff. It also presents revised figures on the number of registered centres in 2006. Headline messages are:

In January 2007 there were 4,457 registered childcare and pre-school education centres, of which 4,315 (96.8 per cent) were operating. There were 6,020 registered childminders, of whom 5,510 (92 per cent) were active.
Over half of centres operating (2,412) said that their main service was a nursery. A further 774 centres said their main service was an out of school club, and 574 centres said their main service was a playgroup.
Of all registered pre-school and childcare centres, 42.3 per cent were in the public sector, 24.0 per cent were in the private sector, 32.4 were in the voluntary sector, and for 1.4 per cent the sector was not known.
In January 2007 there were 32,648 staff working in pre-school and childcare centres in Scotland, of which 27,984 worked directly with children.
Eighty per cent of childcare centre staff had at least one childcare qualification, and 65 per cent had a qualification at SVQ level 3 equivalent or above.
Thirty four per cent of active childminders had a childcare qualification, while 18 per cent had a childcare qualification at SVQ level 3 equivalent or above.
In January 2007 there were 2,750 local authority or partnership pre-school education providers in Scotland.
Fifty five per cent of local authority or partnership pre-school education centres had at least one General Teaching Council for Scotland registered teacher.
Approximately 97.4 per cent of children eligible for free pre-school or ante-pre-school education were registered with local authority or partnership pre-school education centres. Children are counted once for every pre-school centre they attend, so this figure may include some double counting.

CHILDCARE CENTRES AND SERVICES (Tables 1-9)

1.1 In January 2007 there were 4,457 registered childcare and pre-school education centres, of which 142 (3.2 per cent) were closed or not operating. Of the 4,315 active centres, 38.0 per cent were run from school premises and 28.8 per cent had their own dedicated premises. ( Table 1, Table 6)

1.2 Over half of these centres (2,412) said that their main service was a nursery. A further 774 centres said their main service was an out of school club, and 574 centres said their main service was a playgroup. ( Table 1)

1.3 Most centres were in the public and voluntary sectors (42.3 per cent and 32.4 per cent respectively, with 24.0 per cent run privately). These proportions varied a great deal between local authorities - in Eilean Siar 82 per cent of the 38 centres were in the voluntary sector, whereas in the Orkney Islands 86 per cent of the 29 centres were publicly run. ( Table 3)

1.4 There were 2,550 centres that provided a nursery, of which 2,412 described nursery as their main service. The majority of nurseries (61 per cent) were in the public sector. Almost half (47 per cent) of centres whose main service was a nursery were based in school premises. (Tables 1, 4, 6)

1.5 There were 704 centres that provided a playgroup, of which 574 described playgroup as their main service. Most playgroups (79 per cent) were in the voluntary sector. The majority of centres whose main service was a playgroup (57 per cent) were run from premises other than school premises or their own dedicated premises. (Tables 1, 4, 6)

1.6 There were 1,118 centres that provided an out of school club, of which 774 described out of school club as their main service. Almost half (47 per cent) of out of school clubs were in the voluntary sector. Almost half of centres whose main service was a out of school club (48 per cent) were run from school premises. (Tables 1, 4, 6)

1.7 There were 480 centres that provided a breakfast club. None of these described breakfast club as their main service. Breakfast clubs were split evenly between the public, private and voluntary sectors. ( Table 1, Table 4)

1.8 There were 307 centres that provided a crèche, of which 168 described crèche as their main service. The largest proportion (43 per cent) of crèches were in the voluntary sector. Forty three per cent of centres whose main service was a crèche had their own dedicated premises. (Tables 1, 4, 6)

1.9 There were 195 centres that provided a children/family centre, of which 132 described children/family centre as their main service. The majority (59 per cent) of children/family centres were in the public sector, and 71 per cent of children/family centres were in the most deprived third of areas. The majority of centres whose main service was a children/family centre (60 per cent) had their own dedicated premises. (Tables 1, 4, 6)

1.10 There were 38 centres that provided a sitter service, of which 20 described sitter service as their main service. No sitter services were in the public sector. ( Table 1, Table 4)

1.11 There were 803 centres that provided a holiday play scheme, of which only 88 described holiday play scheme as their main service. Half (49 per cent) of holiday play schemes were in the voluntary sector. ( Table 1, Table 4)

1.12 There were 788 centres that provided family support. Sixty two per cent of family support facilities were in the public sector. Half (51 per cent) of family support facilities were in the most deprived areas. ( Table 4)

1.13 There were 374 centres that provided professional health care. Most professional health care facilities (74 per cent) were in the public sector. A higher proportion of professional health care facilities were in the most deprived areas than in the least deprived areas (38 per cent compared to 25 per cent). ( Table 4)

1.14 There were 81 childcare centres that provided services wholly or primarily in the Gaelic medium. ( Table 4)

1.15 Most childcare centres (71.7 per cent) provided an outdoor play area. ( Table 4).

1.16 A total of 205,690 children attended childcare centres during census week, an increase of 3.5% on census week 2006. This figure may include some double counting, as children are counted for each centre they attend. ( Table 9)

STAFF OF CHILDCARE CENTRES (Tables 10-16)

1.17 In January 2007 there were 32,648 staff working in pre-school and childcare centres in Scotland, of which 27,984 worked directly with children. ( Table 11, Table 12)

1.18 A fifth (20.5 per cent) of staff working directly with children had management responsibility. ( Table 11)

1.19 Two fifths (40.0 per cent) of staff not working directly with children had management responsibility. ( Table 12)

1.20 Overall, 87.1 per cent of staff working directly with children and 95.4 per cent of other staff were permanent. ( Table 11, Table 12)

1.21 Of the centres that returned full forms, 85.3 per cent were aware of the National Strategy for the Development of the Social Services Workforce in Scotland, 87.6 per cent had staff who will have to be registered with the SSSC and 69.0 per cent had a plan or strategy detailing how they would meet the requirements for registration. ( Table 10)

1.22 In January 2007 there were 876 vacancies in childcare centres, of which 799 were for staff working directly with children. ( Table 11, Table 12)

1.23 Ninety seven per cent of childcare staff working directly with children were female and 55 per cent were aged between 25 and 45 inclusive. A quarter (25 per cent) of the workforce was over 45. ( Table 13)

1.24 Eighty per cent of staff working directly with children had at least one childcare qualification, unchanged from September 2005. Seventy six per cent of staff had a qualification at SVQ level 2 equivalent or above, a rise of eight percentage points since 2005, and 65 per cent had a qualification at SVQ level 3 equivalent or above, a rise of six percentage points since 2005. ( Table 14)

1.25 Staff in nurseries and in public sector centres were more likely than other staff working directly with children to have childcare qualifications, at 85 per cent and 90 per cent respectively. Staff in the least deprived areas were less likely than average to have childcare qualifications, at 72 per cent. ( Table 15)

1.26 Staff working directly with children whose highest non-childcare qualification was a degree were much less likely to have childcare qualifications (62 per cent) than those with other or no non-childcare qualifications (around 80 per cent). ( Table 15)

1.27 Twenty seven per cent of staff working directly with children were working towards childcare qualifications. Twenty per cent were working towards qualifications at SVQ level 3 equivalent or above. ( Table 14)

CHILDMINDERS (Tables 1, 9-14)

1.28 In January 2007 there were 6,020 registered childminders, of which 5,510 (92 per cent) were active. ( Table 1) This continues the decreasing trend of recent years, from 6,211 in 2003.

1.29 Almost half (47 per cent) of registered childminders were located in the least deprived areas and less than a fifth (17 per cent) were located in the most deprived areas. ( Table 1)

1.30 In census week 2007 childminders looked after a total of 24,760 children, an increase of four per cent on 2006. ( Table 9)

1.31 Ninety six per cent of active childminders were female and one per cent were male. Two per cent of childminders did not state their gender. ( Table 13)

1.32 Seventy one per cent of active childminders were aged between 36 and 55 inclusive. Less than one per cent of the childminders that responded were under 25. ( Table 13)

1.33 Seventy nine per cent of active childminders had been registered for two years or more, and almost a third had been registered for more than ten years. ( Table 13)

1.34 More than half (53 per cent) of childminders worked upwards of 40 hours in a typical working week, and three quarters worked 41 or more weeks of the year. ( Table 13)

1.35 Thirteen per cent of childminders had other jobs apart from childminding. ( Table 13)

1.36 Thirty four per cent of childminders had a childcare qualification, while 18 per cent had a childcare qualification at SVQ level 3 equivalent or above. Eight per cent of childminders were working towards a childcare qualification, but more than half (52 per cent) had done another form of childcare training during the year. ( Table 14)

PRE-SCHOOL EDUCATION (Tables 17-22)

1.37 In January 2007 there were 2,750 local authority or partnershjp pre-school education providers in Scotland, marginally less than in 2006. Fifty four centres reported provided pre-school education in Gaelic, four centres more than in 2006. ( Table 17)

1.38 There were 1,537 local authority pre-school education providers and 1,213 providers in partnership with the local authority. A total of 75 centres were funded in other ways or did not respond to the question on how pre-school education was provided. As in 2006, these centres have been excluded in this publication. ( Table 17)

1.39 In January 2007 there were 2,110 pre-school teachers registered with the General Teaching Council for Scotland ( GTCS), a slight increase on 2006. The percentage of pre-school education providers with at least one GTCS registered teacher decreased slightly, to 54.6 per cent. ( Table 18)

1.40 As of January 2007 there were 111,720 registrations for pre-school education registrations in Scotland. This figure includes 12,910 registrations of children aged under 3, an increase of more than 50 per cent since 2006, and 4,390 registrations of children deferring entry to primary school. ( Table 20)

1.41 As of January 2007 there were 42,490 registrations for the ante-pre-school year of pre-school education, an increase on 2006. This is approximately 95.3 per cent of all children eligible, a slight decrease on 2006. ( Table 21)

1.42 In January 2007 there were 51,930 registrations for the pre-school year of pre-school education, slightly more than in 2006. This represents approximately 99.2 per cent of all children eligible, also slightly up on 2006. ( Table 21)

1.43 The majority of all pre-school education registrations (73,020) were at local authority run providers. ( Table 20)

REVISIONS TO 2006 DATA

1.44 This year, data from 2006 on the number of pre-school and childcare centres, and consequently the number of children attending these centres, has been revised. Appendices 4.1 and 4.2 show the revised numbers of centres. Details of the changes made can be found in the background notes.

The following map is available:

Map 1: Pre-school education registrations as percentage of children eligible for pre-school or ante-pre-school year.

The following charts are available:

Chart 1: Management sector of operating pre-school and childcare centres, January 2007
Chart 2: Management sector of centres by main service type, January 2007
Chart 3: Highest held childcare qualification of childminders, January 2007 and 2006
Chart 4: Highest held non-childcare qualification of childminders, January 2007 and 2006
Chart 5: Highest held childcare qualification of childcare workforce, January 2007 and September 2005
Chart 6: Highest held non-childcare qualification of childcare workforce, January 2007 and September 2005
Chart 7: Percentage of pre-school education providers that are local authority run, run in partnership with the local authority, and other, by local authority, January 2007

The following tables are available:

BACKGROUND NOTES

1 This publication provides information about pre-school education centres, children's daycare centres and childminders registered with the Care Commission. The methodology is the same as in 2006, although the statistics for 2006 have been revised in this publication (see paragraph 17). Figures from publications prior to 2006 are, for the most part, not comparable to those from 2006 and 2007.

2 Historical statistics, notes on the background to the surveys, the questionnaires, guidance notes, and related publications can be found at www.scotland.gov.uk/childrenstats .

3 Census week was the week beginning 22 January 2007. Childminders also answered the survey for this week.

4 The response rate to the Pre-School and Childcare Census was 82 per cent. The 813 centres that did not return a questionnaire were sent a letter to ask them their main service type, the total number of children attending during census week, and whether or not they provided pre-school education in partnership with a local authority. Of these, 386 responded and 285 did not respond. The remaining 142 centres responded to say they had closed or were not currently operating.

5 Figures for the numbers of children attending during census week, numbers of staff, and staff and registrations in pre-school education have been imputed for those centres that did not return forms or did not complete these questions. If the centre had responded to the question in 2006, the 2006 figures was used. If this was not available, centres were assigned either the median or mean figure (depending on the distribution) derived from those centres that did respond to the question.

6 There were 144 centres that reported providing pre-school education but did not say whether they were local authority or partnership run, or neither. Of these, 86 centres reported providing pre-school education as a local authority or partnership centre in 2006. In tables 17-23 these have all been classed as providing pre-school education in partnership with the local authority rather than as a local authority centre. This was because most were in the private or voluntary sectors, and those in the public sector could not be identified as based in schools. Those in the public sector have been categorised as "public - other".

7 It has not been possible to publish figures for the number of staff and students or volunteers providing pre-school education. This is due to problems with the processing of the staff data provided by centres, which have yet to be resolved. Figures on pre-school staff numbers will be released as an update to these statistics as soon as they are available.

8 This year the Pre-school and Childcare Workforce Survey, previously carried out in September 2005, was combined with the census. 988 of the centres contacted for the census were sampled and asked to distribute survey forms to every member of their staff who worked directly with children. The sample was stratified by management sector and main service type, excluding public and private playgroups and private family centres (as there are very small numbers of these) and any unknowns. 793 centres returned at least one survey form (80 per cent), with 4,802 individual responses. Responses were weighted by sampling probability estimated from the census returns and grossed up to 27,277, the total number of childcare staff from the Census, excluding those in the types of centres mentioned.

9 For the Childminders Survey 1,192 registered childminders were sampled, of which 777 (65 per cent) returned completed forms. A further 27 responded to say they had quit childminding, but did not return the form. Responses, including the 27, were grossed up to 6,020, the total number of childminders in Scotland at the beginning of February 2007 according to the Care Commission. The sample was stratified by urban-rural and area deprivation.

10 Because the figures reported for childminders and the characteristics of childcare staff are based on samples, they are best understood as estimates with some level of statistical error surrounding them. For this reason all childminder and staffing figures have been reported to the nearest 10 and confidence intervals should be considered when using the figures. Appendix 2 provides a rough guide to the confidence intervals for childminders and Appendix 3 provides a rough guide to those for centre staff. For example, where a figure of 900 is presented for childminders the 95 per cent confidence interval is 141, so the true number probably lies between 900 - 141 and 900 + 141 (in the range 759 to 1,041).

11 The figures in Tables 14 and 15 show the numbers of childcare staff and childminders with qualifications at the level equivalent to the SVQs shown below.

Childcare qualifications:

SVQ1: Or SGA Care Intermediate 1, National certificate units, City & Guilds foundation, BTEC, Skills for Work (Early Education & Childcare) Int 1
SVQ2: Or PDA (classroom/learning assistants), NVQ2, SGA Care Intermediate 2, SCOTVEC modules, ACT, National Certificate module, City & Guilds craft, Skills for Work (Early Education & Childcare) Int 2.
SVQ3: Or a higher grade, NVQ3, GNVQ3/ GSVQ3, NNEB, SNNEB, City & Guilds adv. Craft, ' AS'/'A' levels, ONC/ OND, National Certificate Group Award in Early Education & Childcare (Higher).
HNC: HNC only
SVQ4: Or advanced higher, HND, PDA (Early Education & Childcare), DCE, Diploma in Education, RSA adv. Diploma
Degree: B.Ed or other degree directly relevant to childcare, or PGCE
Non childcare qualifications:
SVQ1: Or standard/'O' grades (max grades 3-4), interm.grade1, City & Guilds foundation, BTEC
SVQ2: Or standard/'O' grades (grades 1-2), NVQ2, interm.grade 2, City & Guilds craft
SVQ3: Or a higher grade, NVQ3, GNVQ3/ GSVQ3, City & Guilds adv. craft, ' AS'/'A' levels, ONC/ OND, HNC
SVQ4: Or a HND, advanced higher, RSA adv. Diploma
Degree: Bachelors or Masters degree not directly relevant to childcare

12 Definitions of the services provided:

Nursery: This category includes daycare and pre-school centres for children aged 5 or under including local authority pre-school classes and nurseries; private and voluntary daycare nurseries including centres providing pre-school education in partnership with the local authority; and community and workplace nurseries. The services will normally be used by parents on a regular rather than a drop-in basis and be provided for at least the school term.

Playgroup: These provide sessional or daycare for children aged 5 or under. Most are run by groups of parents with parent-led committees, although some may be owned by individuals or organised by other voluntary bodies or by the local authority. They rely heavily on parents/carers who volunteer their services although they may employ paid staff, e.g. a play leader or assistant. Some playgroups will provide pre-school education in partnership with the local authority.

Out of school club: Out of school clubs offer care for school age children in the absence of parents or carers from the end of the school day until parents can collect their children, and also before school starts.

Breakfast club: This is a specifically designated breakfast club that is likely to provide a meal and will take place before school hours.

Crèche: A crèche provides 'drop in' care for children in order to enable adults to engage in activities such as further education, shopping or attending a meeting.

Children/family centre: Child and family centres provide services similar to those available in community nurseries and nursery centres. Daycare/education is provided along with a range of support services for families which can be adapted to meet local needs. They are usually managed by voluntary organisations or by the local authority's social work or education department.

Sitter service: A sitter service provides childcare in the family's own home from early morning until late evening seven days a week.

Holiday play scheme: Holiday play schemes cater mainly for school age children and provide opportunities for children to participate in a broad range of supervised leisure and educational activities during school holidays.

Family support services / outreach / parent's support group: This should be taken to mean services which offer parents opportunities to assist their child's development and achieve greater satisfaction in their role as parents, provide support to parents which will assist in providing a healthy upbringing for their child, promote self-esteem and personal confidence in both children and parents and provide opportunities for parents to acquire skills which lay the basis for more extensive training or subsequent employment.

Professional health care: Services provided by professional health staff such as midwives, health visitors, speech therapists, psychologists, doctors and dental practitioners including antenatal care, postnatal care and support, child health clinics/screening and support groups where these are run by health professionals.

Gaelic provision: Services wholly or primarily in the Gaelic medium.

Outdoor play area: Self explanatory - any area out of doors available to the children attending the centre, which may also be shared with others or available to the wider community.

13 Further information about the additional data sources used can be found through the following links:

Care Commission: http://www.carecommission.com/

General Register Office - Scotland: http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk

Rurality: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/rural/seurc-00.asp

Area deprivation: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/SIMD/StatisticalCompendium .

14 The categories of urban-rural were derived from the Scottish Executive classifications published in June 2004. This provides a mapping from individual postcodes to six categories of rurality. Individual pre-school and childcare service providers were assigned to one of these categories based upon the category in which they are located. Urban areas are settlements over 10,000 population. Small towns are settlements of between 3,000 and 10,000 people. Rural areas are settlements of less than 3,000 people. There are six childcare and preschool centres that do not have an urban-rural classification because they are not situated in residential areas.

15 The categories of deprivation were derived from the Scottish Executive classifications published in October 2006. This provides an indicator of deprivation for each of the 6,505 data zone areas of Scotland. The category "least deprived" denotes the 33.33 per cent least deprived data zones, "most deprived" is the 33.33 per cent most deprived data zones and "intermediate" makes up the remaining 33.33 per cent. Individual pre-school and childcare service providers were then assigned to one of these categories based upon the data zone in which they are located.

16 Whole time equivalent is the total number of hours worked by all staff members divided by the number of hours considered to be the standard full-time week.

17 Following publication of the "Pre-school and Childcare Statistics 2006", it was discovered that 112 centres that did not respond to the 2006 census had been excluded from the publication. These centres have now been added to the dataset and all data affected has been revised. This mostly affects the figures for the number of centres by main service provided, and the revised data are presented in Appendices 1 and 2, with updated attendance figures presented alongside the 2007 figures in Table 9. Childminder and pre-school education figures are unaffected. Enquiries about how the rest of the data are affected should be directed to Rosie Telford, using the contact details below.

18 For public enquiries ( non-media) about the information contained in this Statistics Publication Notice, or for more detailed information, please contact:

Rosie Telford,

Children, Young People and Social Care Statistics,
The Scottish Government
Mail point 26, 1-B South, Victoria Quay,
Edinburgh. EH6 6QQ.

Telephone 0131 244 0314
e-mail children.statistics@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.

For media enquiries, please contact Brendan Rooney on 0131 244 2960 Scottish Executive web site ( www.scotland.gov.uk).

19 This is a National Statistics publication. National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the National Statistics Code of Practice. They undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs. They are produced free from any political interference.

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