3.4 Summary of Continuing Topics

The table below lists the continuing topics relating to early learning and care that are

recommended for continuation for Cohort 24 at 3 years. Their scoring against the

five core criteria is also provided. Note that subtopics which were included in both

Cohort 24 at 9 months and Cohort 08 at 3 years – even if not the same actual

questions – are weighted as ‘2’ under the heading of ‘longitudinal/cross-cohort

consistency’. If a topic appeared in just one of the source questionnaires – that is,

offering either a longitudinal or a cross-cohort comparison but not both – it is scored

as ‘1’. In a small number of cases, if the topic featured in both waves but the

measurement was very different then a score of 1 on the consistency criterion was

recorded.

For ease of reading, the scores against the supporting criteria (e.g. being age

appropriate) are not included; but most topics will have achieved maximum marks on

these.

Table 3.1: Summary of proposed continuing topics in the area of early learning and care, including presence at previous waves of GUI and scoring on core criteria for inclusion

Topic	Subtopic	C’24 at 9mths	C’08 at 3yrs	Captures key domain	Policy- relevant	Age/stage appropriate	Not collected elsewhere	Longitudinal/cross- cohort consistency
Parenting	Parental beliefs	Yes	No	2	2	2	2	1
	Responsibility for parenting tasks	Yes	No	2	2	2	2	1
Play	Access to outdoor space	Yes	Yes	2	2	2	2	2
	Details on type of play/home learning	Yes	Yes	2	2	2	2	2
	Child screen-time	Yes	Yes	2	2	2	1	2
	Availability of toys	Yes	No	2	2	2	2	1
	Availability of books	Yes	Yes	2	2	2	2	2
Childcare	Use of any childcare	Yes	Yes	2	2	2	1	2
	Details on type of childcare	Yes	Yes	2	2	2	1	2
	Details on amount of childcare	Yes	Yes	2	2	2	1	2
	Detail on cost of childcare	Yes	Yes	2	2	2	1	2
	Characteristics of centre-based care setting	Yes	Yes	2	2	2	2	2
	Childminder characteristics	Yes	No	2	2	2	2	1
	Permission to contact childcare provider	Yes	Yes	2	2	2	2	2
	Reason for choosing type of care	Yes	No	2	2	2	2	1
	Difficulties securing childcare	Yes	No	2	2	2	2	1
	Funding of childcare	Yes	No	2	2	2	2	1
	Satisfaction with current childcare	Yes	Yes	2	2	2	2	2
	Reason for not using childcare	Yes	No	2	2	2	2	1
	Future plans for childcare if not using	Yes	No	2	2	2	2	1
Early education plans	Intention to avail of free pre-school years	No	Yes	2	2	2	2	1

Parenting