Chapter 5: Exploring the Pathways: Family Decision-Making in Choosing Institutionalised 0–3 Education and Care in Barcelona, Spain

Government and councils in Catalonia have adopted a clear-cut 0–3 education and care model involving bolstering the network of public nursery schools and thereby increasing the number of public places available alongside the existing private options. The goal is to increase the availability of formal early childhood education, serving the dual purpose of enabling parents to work while providing education and care for young children. Enrolment rate at the age of two rose by 10 percentage points between 2003 and 2017 and since then it has remained at 60%. From 2017, a sliding-scale fee system was introduced in Barcelona and other cities to reduce economic barriers to accessing public nursery schools. However, this policy has not led to a corresponding rise in enrolment rates for this age group. Our analysis concentrates on mothers opting for school-based services, with the goal of identifying the factors that influence the use of institutionalised early childhood education and care (ECEC) services in Barcelona. Our findings reveal that sliding-scale pricing has increased the enrolment of children of mothers with low incomes in public nursery schools, while the quality of services has attracted middle and upper-class families. Nevertheless, public ECEC services are not adapted to meet the needs of working-class mothers who, although they are not in socially vulnerable situations, cannot afford private nurseries. In sum, family circumstances, primarily factors related to social class, employment status, and the availability of family support, are linked to the likelihood of choosing school-based public ECEC services.