2022 – 2026 | FWO
Research description
Early childhood education and care (ECEC) aims to provide benefits to young children, their parents, and society at large. Providing quality and accessibility for all children forms an essential pillar in ECEC. However, children of migrant families fail to enjoy equal access and quality in childcare, as can be observed by various studies and in the statistics provided by the Kind en Gezin. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate the obstacles and challenges children of Turkish economic migrants and Syrian refugees face, which prevent them from successful participation in childcare programs. Doing so sheds light on interactions between family, household, and policy characteristics and their influence on childcare services take-up. Thus, we will provide a better understanding of (i) the multilevel determinants of perceived quality and accessibility of the childcare services as well as take-up in Europe and Belgium, (ii) dynamics of the search process of migrant parents with diverse childcare needs, and (iii) how knowledge gaps and informal procedures shape the trajectories. This research employs a mixed methodological approach within a participatory design. Two statistical methods are used respectfully during the quantitative analysis: a multivariate and multilevel analysis using datasets provided by EU-SILC and EQLS. Concurrently, the qualitative analysis consists of interviews with a total of 60 family members from both migrant groups and 20 members in childcare services.
