This dissertation examines the evolution of Britain’s and Canada’s early childhood education and child care (ECEC) sectors, especially the growing number of policy initiatives adopted in both countries over the past thirty years. I contend that policy coalitions in both countries have been able to promote gradual but nevertheless important policy changes by grafting new purposes onto inherited institutions. The result of these incremental changes has been ECEC systems that often appear incoherent and disjointed. The dissertation also explores how Canada and Great Britain have increasingly followed distinct trajectories. In particular, I demonstrate that while a growing proportion of ECEC services are provided by the commercial sector in Britain, Canada has instead increasingly relied on the non-profit sector to deliver such services. I contend in this dissertation that differences between the two cases are the result of distinct policy coalitions that have emerged in both countries. I make the case that the character of these coalitions and their capacity to promote, institutionalize, protect and further their policy preferences are the result of, first, the sequence of policy development and, second, the territorial organization of the welfare state in both countries. In short, as a result of the federal nature of Canada, Canadian child care activists were able to ensure the early institutionalization of a regulatory framework that constrained the expansion of for-profit services. By the time Britain adopted a national framework, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, on the other hand, the for-profit sector had already established a strong presence. Covering more than one hundred twenty five years of policy development in both countries, this dissertation draws both on extensive archival research and on interviews with policy-makers and ECEC activists.

This dissertation examines the evolution of Britain’s and Canada’s early childhood education and child care (ECEC) sectors, especially the growing number of policy initiatives adopted in both countries over the past thirty years. I contend that policy coalitions in both countries have been able to promote gradual but nevertheless important policy changes by grafting new purposes onto inherited institutions. The result of these incremental changes has been ECEC systems that often appear incoherent and disjointed. The dissertation also explores how Canada and Great Britain have increasingly followed distinct trajectories. In particular, I demonstrate that while a growing proportion of ECEC services are provided by the commercial sector in Britain, Canada has instead increasingly relied on the non-profit sector to deliver such services. I contend in this dissertation that differences between the two cases are the result of distinct policy coalitions that have emerged in both countries. I make the case that the character of these coalitions and their capacity to promote, institutionalize, protect and further their policy preferences are the result of, first, the sequence of policy development and, second, the territorial organization of the welfare state in both countries. In short, as a result of the federal nature of Canada, Canadian child care activists were able to ensure the early institutionalization of a regulatory framework that constrained the expansion of for-profit services. By the time Britain adopted a national framework, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, on the other hand, the for-profit sector had already established a strong presence. Covering more than one hundred twenty five years of policy development in both countries, this dissertation draws both on extensive archival research and on interviews with policy-makers and ECEC activists.

This thesis reports on a study into the decision-making that takes place within the six monthly statutory review of the cases of children in the care or under the supervision of the Local Authority. The research had four aims: 1. To develop a typology of review decisions whereby decisions taken in reviews could be classified according to their salient features. 2. To ascertain the level of the subsequent implementation of the decisions taken in reviews and to consider what factors contribute to or hinder their implementation. 3. To identify the functions of statutory reviews and the perceptions of the members of social work teams of the functions appropriate to reviews. 4. To consider the role and the importance of statutory reviews within the context of overall child care practice. The empirical research was undertaken in three social work area offices within one local authority. Information was gathered from almost three hundred reviews. The researcher, having first read the case record, attended two consecutive six-monthly reviews on the child. The social workers involved in these reviews were questioned on their opinions on reviews in general and on each review attended. Those 'researched' reviews gave rise to almost nine hundred review decisions, which were analysed according to the typology of decisions, and the level of their subsequent implementation was assessed. This study was designed as a policy-orientated study. Hence the research is presented first, within the broad context of developments in child care policy since the war, and second, in relation to the literature on statutory sreviews arising both from research studies and from policy documents. Furthermore, the concluding chapter points to the policy implications that may be drawn from the research findings, together with suggestions for policy changes.