These are childcare groups set up and managed by a parents’ association. They are nearly all registered with the local family welfare service, CAF (Caisse d’Allocations Familiales), which pays the lion’s share of fees – the crèche management calculates any parental participation based on income and family composition. The majority of these crèches are happy to take infants on a regular or occasional basis, often operating 11 hours a day, and usually closed only on public holidays and for the month of August. Prior to opening, all of these establishments are visited by a team from the local authority’s PMI (Protection Maternelle et Infantile) department, which checks that health and safety standards as well as an appropriate infant-friendly environment are in order. They follow an early-learning ‘curriculum’ that feeds into the pre-school educational programme. Staff will include a director, who is normally a qualified health or education specialist, and a team of childcare professionals on a ratio of one employee per eight children who can walk, or per five children if they are not yet walking. These different options may be run by a local community authority, an association, a private company or a business. There are different types – and names – for this type of group childcare provision, including crèches collectives (nurseries or crèches), crèches d’entreprises (workplace nurseries), haltes-garderies (usually providing before and after-school care only), jardins d’enfants (kindergartens), micro-crèches (mini nurseries allowed take a maximum of 10 infants). However, in line with France’s ideology of ‘la responsabilité individuelle’ within its social welfare structure, parents are means-tested and so pay a percentage of the fees on a sliding scale according to their income.Īccueil collectif is open to all infants until they go to pre-school, known as école maternelle (usually at three years old but sometimes from two years old if toilet-trained), and to children up to six years old outside pre-school hours.
Nurseries and crèches, for example, are approximately 80% state-funded via local and regional authorities. What is different, however, is the availability and affordability for every family – something that lies at the heart of France’s ‘politique familiale’, meaning that family is seen as key to overall social inclusion. In fact, the options available are not so very different from those in the UK. When it comes to childcare, France is seen around the world as having one of the best systems. We take a look at the different childcare options available from childminders to after-school clubs
France has the reputation of having one of the best childcare systems in the world.
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