Familienpolitik für junge Eltern zwischen Leitbild und Alltag – Elterngeld (Plus) und Kinderbetreuungs-Rechtsanspruch auf dem Prüfstand

Ahrens, Regina

doi:10.1007/978-3-658-16032-6_11

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…In the first year of their lives, however, children rarely attend early childhood provisionthey are usually cared for within the family (parents, grandparents, siblings) (Autorengruppe Bildungsberichterstattung, 2018). The parental allowancewhich is enshrined in law (income-dependent on up to 100% of the previous net income of the main parent carer) and is paid for the duration of the first year of the child's lifemakes it possible for the parents to look after the children (Ahrens, 2017). If, therefore, we look only at children between the ages of one and three, we see that on average every second child in this age group attends an early childhood centre.…”

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confidence: 99%

Learning stories, pedagogical work and early childhood education: a perspective from German preschools

Knauf

2019

Education Inquiry

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Over the past 200 years, early childhood provision in Germany has primarily been oriented towards the goal of work-care reconciliation. Even though there is a long tradition in Germany of education-oriented approaches, the primary goal has always been care. The extensive development of early childhood centres for children under three years of age over the past 10 years is likewise driven by the goal of reconciling career and family life. However, the issue of improving young children's education has also become more important. This is clear from the German federal states' education plans, which are a curricular guideline for the form and content of work in early childhood centres. The education plans show, however, that there is a lack of clarity in terms of how education is understood. Two different understandings of education are implicitly competing with one another: the school-based, normative and the social constructivist understanding. This contribution illustrates this dichotomy by means of the key pedagogical processes of observation and documentation. A subsequent empirical analysis of learning stories from Germany confirms that there is an unclear and contradictory understanding of education in pedagogical practice too.

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confidence: 99%

Learning stories, pedagogical work and early childhood education: a perspective from German preschools

Knauf

2019

Education Inquiry

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“…Additionally, during parental leave, the parent in parental leave has been allowed to work up to 30 hours per week for pay, though the resulting income reduces the leave benefit. In 2015, another reform of the parental benefit policy (see for example Ahrens, 2017) made the combination of part-time work and parental leave even more flexible and rewarding as it reduced the financial loss that came along with paid work while receiving parental benefits. Furthermore, the new reform has been aiming at promoting more gender-equal divisions of paid and unpaid work as a bonus was introduced for if both parents work part-time (between 25 and 30 hours) simultaneously for four months.…”

Section: Policies Affecting the Division Of Paid Work Housework And C...mentioning

confidence: 99%

You – me – both of us? : Insights into German couples’ plans and practices of dividing paid work, housework, and childcare at the transition to parenthood

Dechant¹

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The present study focused on the question of why couples change their division of paid and unpaid labor when they become parents. The knowledge of changes during the transition to parenthood is well-established in previous research and quite stable in various countries. Extending this knowledge, the aim was to examine how couples, on the point of becoming mothers and fathers, perceived and explained these changes in their division of employment and housework, in what way they anticipated them, and how they explained unexpected changes. This analysis was done for West German couples as the western part of Germany is an example for the combination of a conservative welfare state that supports the male breadwinner norm, and parenthood ideals that increasingly suggest fathers’ active involvement in childcare and mothers’ labor market activity. In order to gain insight into couples’ decision-making processes, a qualitative research design was used. Both partners in fourteen couples were interviewed twice, once during the woman’s pregnancy and once about one year later. During the first interview, partners were asked about their current division of paid work and housework and its history. More importantly, they were asked about their plans concerning the division of paid work, housework, and childcare within the first year after the child’s birth and their reasoning for these plans. Following-up on the first interview, the second interview focused on the actual present division of paid work, housework, and childcare, and on changes since the previous interview. The interview guideline was informed by theoretical mechanisms of economic as well as gender and identity theories. Before the birth of their first child, both partners in each of the couples were active in the labor market. For the time after the child’s birth, the couples planned substantial changes mostly for the women’s paid work and not for the men’s. These plans were mostly realized. While a strong adult worker norm was present for men and women before the child’s birth, this was less strong for women after having their first child. In the reasonings, economic arguments and gendered explanations were common. Housework was not divided equally in most couples before the child’s birth; the female partners often did more housework and usually did more of the routine work. Most couples had no clear expectation for their division of housework after the child’s birth, but there was a notion that the partner who was supposed to do more childcare was also expected to do more housework. Accordingly, most of the male interviewees reduced their housework. The argument of available time was most often referred to. The division of childcare was planned with more detail than the division of housework during pregnancy. Most couples planned the female partner to invest more time than the male partner – which is in line with the plans for paid work. Most couples put their plans into practice after the child’s birth – at least more or less. Gendered explanations , (acquired) competencies and preferences were important in the couples’ reasoning. Paid and unpaid work are interrelated; decisions in one area influence the other. However, the findings for the three spheres revealed that paid and unpaid work were connected in different ways before the child’s birth, in the plans, and after the transition to parenthood. The study discusses limitations and policy conclusion. The most important policy conclusion is that gendered ideas about mothers’ and fathers’ share in paid work, housework, and childcare are quite prevalent, especially regarding the main responsibility for the child. Thus, policies aiming at enhancing gender equality should bear the narrative of the “Rabenmutter” and similar gendered expectations in mind since the cultural context affects the acceptance of policies.

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Unternehmenskultur als Schlüssel zu einer nachhaltigen familienbewussten Personalpolitik

Ahrens¹

2016

Fehlzeiten-Report 2016

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Familienpolitik für junge Eltern zwischen Leitbild und Alltag – Elterngeld (Plus) und Kinderbetreuungs-Rechtsanspruch auf dem Prüfstand

Cited by 3 publications

References 3 publications

Learning stories, pedagogical work and early childhood education: a perspective from German preschools

Learning stories, pedagogical work and early childhood education: a perspective from German preschools

You – me – both of us? : Insights into German couples’ plans and practices of dividing paid work, housework, and childcare at the transition to parenthood

Unternehmenskultur als Schlüssel zu einer nachhaltigen familienbewussten Personalpolitik

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