An ESRI survey of childcare arrangements (1997) reveals that between 3 and 5 p.m., just over 3 per cent of six-12-year- olds were classified as still being "at school". The statistics concerning the remaining 97 per cent tell us little about what children are actually doing after school: 90 per cent were cared for by relatives (87 per cent in their own home) and 3 per cent in the home of a relative. A further 2.9 per cent were being minded in a childminder's home while the remaining 3.7 per cent were classified as being at home with a non-relative.
But if 42 per cent of mothers are out working, then who is the relative looking after the 87 per cent of children who are in the home after school? Some mothers work part-time to enable them to be home after school, but others have no choice but to let their children be "latchkey kids". Ideally, we should be talking about "parents" rather than mothers in this context, but the ESRI survey found that "mothers are primarily responsible for minding children during school holidays, whether the mother is full-time in the home, working part-time outside the home or full-time outside the home".
Despite the obvious need for out-of-school childcare, the Expert Working Group on Childcare found "relatively little interest in the topic". The National Forum for early Childhood Education (1998) stated that "while there is growing awareness of the need for care outside school hours and during school holidays, there is little or no organised out-of-school care for children except that found as an extension to private nurseries. A number of community groups have set up after-school care, but these projects tend to be project-based, under-resourced and dependent on voluntary help."
Private, after-school programmes are a booming business. When Rathdown School, a private girls' junior and secondary school in Glenageary, Co Dublin, launched its after-school programme nine years ago, the school soon saw its enrolment begin to spiral. Today, the school is fully enrolled and has to turn away families eager to take part in what they see as the ideal solution to school-age childcare for working parents. In the primary school, girls aged three-12 can remain until 6 p.m. in the extended day programme, which is held in a separate area of the school to distinguish it from the school-day routine. They are given lunch, snacks and tea and are provided with a range of age-appropriate recreational activities, as well as help with homework. In the secondary school, students can remain until 10 p.m. doing a variety of activities - including sports, music, drama and, if they want to, just sitting around and watching TV. They are given all their meals and personalised help with their studies between 6.30 and 8 p.m. and between 8.30 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Rathdown's concept of dealing with the whole child for an extended period of the day grew out of its pre-existing role as a boarding school (it takes both "sevenday boarders" from abroad and "day boarders", who go home at weekends). Girls who are not boarders may remain at school until 10 p.m. weekdays, combining the advantages of boarding daily contact with their families. After-school time is extremely valuable because "education is literally a drawing out of everything that is within the young person," says Stella Mew, principal of Rathdown School. "On a practical sense, parents are concerned about their daughters' safety. It is very hard to look after teenagers in that you don't devise a babysitting service or they very rapidly would become disillusioned. Having a variety of activities, such as dance and drama, makes young people more confident and enhances self-image."
However, school cannot replace attentive parents, she believes. "For the working parents who have a double-income, the finances are available to pay for all this. It's rather sad really that rather than provide time for the youngsters they are happy to provide the money. The young people may find it so difficult to get their parents' ear." Although no comprehensive study of the impact of out-of-school programmes has been conducted in Ireland, local studies indicate that these programmes have a positive effect on the social and personal development of children, improving their experience of education and maintaining children within the formal school system, the expert working group on childcare reported.
Kathi Dillon, the Galway-based chairwoman of the National Parents Council, says parents are increasingly concerned about how children are spending their time after school. There is "a great need for childcare support for parents who are working outside the home", but parents want to be consulted in the development of out-of-school programmes.
"Our concern would be that the State has to be responsible for childcare, but that there also has to be a lot of flexibility on this. Some parents would feel very strongly that children should be in a home environment rather than cooped up in a formal setting that is a continuation of the school day. However, there's a great need for childcare provision as a support to parents who are working outside the home. Consultation has to be done with the parents in every locality so the after-school service provided meets the needs of parents and children.
"We feel strongly that the programmes need to be based on the needs of the children and the activities should be child-centred, building on self-esteem, creativity and confidence, as well as tapping into new skills," she says.
Dillon is also network co-ordinator of the Network of Educational Support in the Tuam Area (NESTA), one of four demonstration programme networks funded through the Combat Poverty Agency. NESTA focuses a co-operative network of community, voluntary and statutory agencies, schools and parents on the issue of educational disadvantage, particularly to prevent early school-leaving. In such programmes, children go to an after-school centre, where they can have a snack and meet their friends, then receive support with the subjects they are having trouble with in school, as well as enjoying activities aimed at developing leadership skills, life skills, personal development and self-esteem.
Such programmes have been proven successful, but they require staff with specialised skills who have to be paid - which means that if the success of such initiatives is to be replicated around the country, the government will have to commit itself to providing the resources.
