The Persistent Gap between Education and Care: a ‘History of the Present’ Research on Belgian Child Care Provision and Policy¹

¹ The author would like to offer special thanks to the Bernard Van Leer Foundation for making the research possible and to Maria De Bie, professor at Ghent University, promoter of his PhD dissertation on which the article is based.

Abstract

The first Belgian crèches for children from birth to three years of age date from the nineteenth century. From 1919, formal legislation on child care was developed. In the early twentieth century, the origins of Belgian childcare and in its initial legislation some core aspects of present‐day child care policy and practice can be found. This article will focus on two of these historical aspects of Belgian child care. Both features have far‐reaching consequences for the organization of present child care provision, for professional qualifications and for policy matters. The first is an aspect that is very common in Western Europe, and a source of current pedagogical debate: the persistent gap between care for the infant and the education of the preschool child. The second is a typical Belgian feature of childcare: subsidized liberty as a specific form of public–private partnership. This article wishes to contribute to the debates on viewing childcare policy and practice by historicizing these issues. A close look at Belgian child care history reveals how the gap between education and care and subsidized liberty occurred and in what context. Consequently the early twentieth century will be highlighted. However, it will also focus on oppositional discourse in the 1970s. In this period, another antagonistic debate took place, namely regarding compensation programmes for ‘blue collar’ parents. The article will briefly point to some remarkable similarities between the discussion in the 1910s and the 1970s. The outcomes of these discussions, as well as the concepts underpinning them, explain the persistence of the division between education and care. The debate between Henri Velge and Elise Plasky, around which this article is composed, has been studied previously by Belgian historians. The scarce research on Belgian child care history focuses on child care as a women's employment issue, somewhat neglecting the educational aspects. This vein, i.e. that historical research itself is embedded in the discursive regime separating education from care, is the very subject of this article. Therefore, research was conducted from a hermeneutical perspective, looking at coherences between discourses and their social, economic and cultural contexts. This research aims also to acknowledge the critiques of De Certeau regarding the focus on discontinuities in the construction of history.

¹ The author would like to offer special thanks to the Bernard Van Leer Foundation for making the research possible and to Maria De Bie, professor at Ghent University, promoter of his PhD dissertation on which the article is based.

Notes

¹ The author would like to offer special thanks to the Bernard Van Leer Foundation for making the research possible and to Maria De Bie, professor at Ghent University, promoter of his PhD dissertation on which the article is based.

² OECD. Starting Strong. Early Childhood Education and Care. Education and skills. Paris: OECD, 2001; Benett, T. “Starting strong: The persistent division between care and education.” Journal of Early Childhood Research 1, no. 1 (2003): 21–48.

³ Haddad, L. An Integrated Approach to Early Childhood Education and Care. Paris: UNESCO, 2002.

⁴ Oberhuëmer, P. “Conceptualising the Early Childhood Professional.” Keynote lecture at the 2004 EECERA conference on Quality Curricula: the influence of research, policy and practice, Malta.

⁵ Popkewitz, T. Educational Knowledge: Changing Relationships between the State, Civil Society, and the Educational Community. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000.

⁶ Foucault, M. “Le Souci de la vérité. Propos recueillis par Françoise Ewald.” Magazine littéraire 207 (1984): 18–23.

⁷ Escolano, A. “Postmodernity or high modernity? Emerging approaches in the new history of education.” Paedagogica Historica. International Journal of the History of Education XXXII, no. 2 (1996): 325–41.

⁸ For example Bloch, M., K. Holmlund, I. Moqvist, and T. Popkewitz. Governing Children, Families and Education: Restructuring the Welfare State. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003.

⁹ Published as Vandenbroeck, M. In verzekerde bewaring. Honderd vijftig jaar kinderen, ouders en kinderopvang. Amsterdam: SWP, 2004.

¹⁰ Œuvre Nationale de l'Enfance (today Office de la Naissance et de l'Enfance) – Nationaal Werk voor Kinderwelzijn (today Kind en Gezin), the Belgian administrative bodies responsible for funding and regulating child care as well as other services for families and young children.

¹¹ Cunningham, H. Children & Childhood in Western Society since 1500. London–New York: Longman, 1995.

¹² For example, Mozère, L. Le printemps des crèches. Histoire et analyse d'un mouvement. Paris: l'Harmattan, 1992.

¹³ De Certeau, M. L'écriture de l'histoire. Paris: Gallimard, 1975.

¹⁴ Luc, J. L'invention du jeune enfant au XIXème siècle. De la salle d'asile à l'école maternelle. Paris: Belin, 1997; Humblet, P. “Analyse et évaluation de la mise en œuvre du programme de l'Œuvre Nationale de l'Enfance pour les milieux d'accueil des jeunes enfants.” PhD diss., Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1998; Hermans, A., and A. Verheyen. “Kinderkribben. Een analyse van controversen in België, in de eerste helft van de twintigste eeuw.” Jaarboek voor de geschiedenis van opvoeding en onderwijs (2000): 159–80; Wynants, P., and M. Hanoteau. “La condition féminine des religieuses de vie active en Belgique francophone.” In Femmes des années 80. Un siècle de condition féminine en Belgique. 1889–1989, edited by L. Courtois, J. Pirotte and F. Rosart. Louvain‐la‐Neuve: Academia, 1989: 145–49.

¹⁵ See for instance the famous guide for philanthropists: De Gérando, J.‐M. Le visiteur du pauvre. Paris: Editions Jean‐Michel Place, 1989, originally published 1826.

¹⁶ Luc. L'invention du jeune enfant au XIXème siècle.

¹⁷ Scholliers, P. and V. Zamagni. “Introduction”. In Labour Reward. Real Wages and Economic Change in 19th and 20th century Europe, edited by P. Scholliers and, V. Zamagni. Aldershot: Edward Elgar, 1995.

¹⁸ “La mathématisation … tend à instaurer une très forte coupure sociale entre les professionnels et les amateurs, à séparer les insiders et les outsiders.” In Bourdieu, P. Science de la science et réflexivité. Cours du Collège de France 2000–2001. Paris: Raisons d'Agir Editions, 2001: 97.

¹⁹ Dekker, J. “Demystification in the century of the child: The conflict between romanticism and disenchantment in (residential) youth care from the 1830s to 2000.” In: Professionalisation and Participation in Child and Youth Care, edited by E. Knorth, P. Van den Bergh, and F. Verheij, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002: 27–48.

²⁰ Hendrick, H. “Constructions and reconstructions of British childhood: An interpretative survey, 1800 to present.” In: Constructing and Reconstructing Childhood, edited by A. James and A. Prout. London: Falmer Press, 1997: 34–62.

²¹ Dekker. “Demystification in the Century of the Child.”

²² Foucault, M. Surveiller et punir. Paris: Gallimard, 1975.

²³ Cunningham. Children & Childhood in Western Society since 1500: 152.

²⁴ Many sources come to this conclusion; see for a wide range of Belgian examples: Humblet. Analyse et évaluation de la mise en œuvre du programme de l'Œuvre Nationale de l'Enfance or Vandenbroeck. In verzekerde bewaring.

²⁵ Marchand. Crèche–Ecole–Gardienne à Saint Josse ten Noode. Rapport sur l'Administration de l'Etablissement (Années 1858 et 1859), adressé aux fondateurs et aux souscripteurs. Bruxelles: Imprimerie de Ch. Torfs, 1860.

²⁶ For instance Austria‐Hungary, 1848, Germany and Italy, 1850 and many others. See Van Doorneveldt, W. “Laat de kinderen tot ons komen: kinderopvang als onderdeel van een sociale politiek in de lange 19de eeuw. Een onderzoek met de nadruk op Gent.” Master's thesis, Ghent University, 1990.

²⁷ Humblet. Analyse et évaluation de la mise en œuvre du programme de l'Œuvre Nationale de l'Enfance, based on two surveys, the first by Ludovic Saint‐Vincent de Spoelbergh de Lovenjoul in 1893, the second by Elise Plasky in 1909.

²⁸ Published in 1919, in 1940 and in 1945. He also contributed to the major report on this matter published a few years after his death, in 1959.

²⁹ Luyten, D. “Het Katholieke patronaat en het korporatisme in de jaren dertig en tijdens de bezetting.” Cahiers d'histoire du temps présent 13 (October 1990): 91–148.

³¹ “One knows how the mothers are often totally ignorant of the most elementary care to give to their children; … some are torn away prematurely by want of the daily care they should be given, or by the insufficiency of food, or by often harmful, sometimes dangerous habits, result of stupid prejudices, so tenacious in some sections of the population! … insistence is really needed to persuade the young mothers of the importance of their duties; it is indispensable to propagate more efficiently the principles of child care with neglectful mothers who refrain from reading the brochures we distribute” (with thanks to Philippe Vandermeer for the translation of the quotes).

³⁰ Velge, H. La protection de l'enfance en Belgique. Son passé–son avenir. Bruxelles: Goemaere, 1919.

³² Velge. La protection de l'enfance en Belgique. ‘Their [the children's] place is at home; not in the crèche. The care, however devotedly procured by the crèche staff, cannot take the place of the affection of the mother from the birth on. Moreover, the mother should be aware of her natural task – to help the children she procreated; she has to understand that she only can transfer that care to the institutions created for that purpose in the case of a compelling necessity.’

³³ Velge, H. De bedrijvigheid van het Nationaal Werk voor Kinderwelzijn tijdens vijf en twintig jaar. Brussels: NWK, 1940; Nationaal Werk voor Kinderwelzijn. Activiteitenverslag 1945–1959. Brussels: NWK, 1959.

³⁴ For example Marchand, Crèche–Ecole–Gardienne à Saint Josse ten Noode; Maatschappij van Weldadigheid voor het Stichten van Kinderkribben te Gent. Reglement van de kinderkrib. Ghent: MWSKG, 1869; Lecointe, L. et al. Crèche Louise‐Marie. Statuts et Règlements. Arrêtés en Assemblée Générale le 16 février 1899. Ostende: Imprimerie Centrale Bouchery, 1899.

³⁵ Velge. La protection de l'enfance en Belgique. ‘The Crèche is an institution completely different from the school, and connecting it to the scholarly field is unacceptable; the crèche is an institution for social care, a medical institution similar to the Baby Consults and the Milk drops; we even recommend the separation from the kindergarten, as it has a different aim and ideal.’

³⁷ Velge. La protection de l'enfance en Belgique. ‘Any state action, no matter how supportive it may be, would remain insufficient, if individual charity would not support it.’

³⁶ Luyten. “Het Katholieke patronaat en het korporatisme.”

³⁸ Dupont‐Bouchat, D. “Elisabeth Plasky.” In Dictionnaire d'histoire des femmes en Belgique (1789–1998). Bruxelles: Editions Racine, in press.

³⁹ Plasky, E. La protection et l'Education de l'Enfant du Peuple en Belgique, I: Pour les Tout‐Petits. Bruxelles: Société Belge de Librairie, 1909.

⁴⁰ Plasky, E. La crèche et sa nécessité sociale. Conférence donnée le 5 février 1910 à l'Exposition d'Hygiène des enfants du premier âge. Anvers: Buschman, 1910.

⁴¹ Plasky, E. Le projet de loi scolaire et la crèche en Belgique: Extraits des rapports présentés au Congrès International pour la Protection de l'Enfance, Bruxelles, Juillet 1913. Bruxelles: Dewarichet, 1913.

⁴² Plasky. La crèche et sa nécessité sociale. ‘If the conditions of a life of struggle, of continuous work, of unending labour, too often make it impossible for the working mother to breastfeed her baby, these same conditions also prevent her from being a persistent client of the baby consults.’

⁴³ Ibid. ‘I would not dare to doubt their maternal love: it would be insulting life itself to suspect the working class women to love their “little ones” in another way than we do! There are not two kinds of mother's love.’

⁴⁴ Ibid. ‘… because regulations in this matter are synonymous with protection.’

⁴⁵ Plasky. La protection et l'Education de l'Enfant du Peuple en Belgique. See also Lafontaine, D. Maternité et petite enfance dans le bassin industriel liégeois de 1830–1940. Liège: Laboratoire de pédagogie expérimentale de l'Université de Liège, 1985.

⁴⁶ Moniteur belge LXXXIX, no. 269 (26 septembre 1919): 4945–49.

⁴⁷ Velge, De bedrijvigheid van het Nationaal Werk voor Kinderwelzijn 1919 and 1945.

⁴⁸ See for instance Velge, De bedrijvigheid van het Nationaal Werk voor Kinderwelzijn 1919 or more recently De Weerdt, D. De vrouwen van de eerste wereldoorlog. Gent: Stichting Mens en Cultuur, 1993.

⁴⁹ Luyten. ‘Het Katholieke patronaat en het korporatisme.’

⁵⁰ For example the popular publications on attachment such as Bowlby, J. Child Care and the Growth of Love. London: Pelican Books, 1965.

⁵¹ Many scholars have documented this, including Burman, E. Deconstructing Developmental Psychology. London: Routledge, 1994; Singer, E. “Shared care for children.” Theory and Psychology 3, no. 4 (1993): 429–49; Vandenbroeck, M. “From crèches to childcare: Constructions of motherhood and inclusion/exclusion in the history of Belgian infant care.” Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood 4, no. 2 (2003): 137–48.

⁵² The figures are drawn from the annual reports of ONE‐NWK in this period.

⁵³ See for instance Bronfenbrenner, U. Wie wirkzam ist kompensatorische Erziehung? Stuttgart: Ernst Klett Verlag, 1974. For a more general overview, see a.o. Singer, “Shared Care for Children.”

⁵⁴ This does not mean that Piaget was concerned about this question of stimulating early development. Actually he labelled this issue ‘the American question’. Nevertheless his work was often used, translated and vulgarized to underpin this type of developmental discourse.

⁵⁵ For example De Lantsheere, G. Recherche en éducation. Recherches sur les Handicaps socio‐culturels de 0 à 7–8 ans. Bruxelles: Ministère de l'Education Nationale et de la Culture Française, 1973.

⁵⁷ ‘There is no such thing as a pedagogy fit for each child. One has to take into account different needs from different groups in society, including the traditions, beliefs and cultures that are central in constructing relationships in order to individualize the policy towards young children.’ Lézine, I. “Problèmes éducatifs du jeune enfant. Rôle de la crèche.” In Cahiers du Centre d'Etude et de Recherches Marxistes 125 (1976).

⁵⁶ Singer. “Shared Care for Children.”

⁵⁹ Ibid.

⁵⁸ Osterrieth, P., W. De Coster, G. De Landsheere, and J. Burion. Improving Education for Disadvantaged Children. Some Belgian Studies. The Hague: Bernard Van Leer Foundation, 1977.

⁶⁰ ‘The ideology, the hypothesis, the concepts, the strategies and the evaluation techniques of the compensatory educators, that implicitly express their liberal values and their identification with dominant groups, hidden behind the appearance of scientific neutrality.’ Thirion, A. “Evaluation des programmes d'éducation compensatoire.” In Recherche en éducation. Recherches sur les Handicaps socio‐culturels de 0 à 7–8 ans, edited by G. De Landsheere. Bruxelles: Ministère de l'Education Nationale et de la Culture Française, 1973: 37–54.

⁶¹ Osterrieth et al. Improving Education for Disadvantaged Children.

⁶² Van Rijswijck‐Clerckx, L. Moeders, kinderen en kinderopvang. Nijmegen: SUN, 1981.

⁶³ Thirion. “Analyse d'une intervention compensatoire:” 365–79.

⁶⁴ Nationaal Werk voor Kinderwelzijn. Werkverslag van de commissie der kribben en peutertuinen. Unpublished document. Brussels: NWK, 1973. Unpublished document.

⁶⁵ Nationaal Werk voor Kinderwelzijn. Critische uiteenzetting over het verslag van de werkgroep kribben. Internal document. Brussels: NWK, 1973.

⁶⁶ Nationaal Werk voor Kinderwelzijn, Werkverslag.

⁶⁷ Moss, P. Childcare and Equality of Opportunity. Consolidated Report to the European Commission. Brussels: European Commission Network on Childcare and Other Measures to Reconcile Employment and Family Responsibilities, 1988.

⁶⁸ Vandenbroeck. “From Crèches to Childcare.”

⁶⁹ For a typical forum of this ideological discussion, see for instance Rijksdienst voor Kinderbijslag voor Werknemers. Verslag van de vergadering van 9 februari 1988: ontstaan en ontwikkeling van het Fonds voor Collectieve Uitrustingen en Diensten. Intern vertrouwelijk rapport. Brussels: RKW, 1998.

⁷⁰ Mooney, A. & J. Statham. Family Day Care: International Perspectives on Policy, Practice and Quality. London–Philadelphia: Jessica Kingsley, 2003.

⁷¹ OECD. Starting Strong.

⁷² Tobin, J., D. Wu, and D. Davidson. Preschool in Three Cultures: Japan, China and the United States. New Haven–London: Yale University Press, 1989; Hsueh, Y., and J. Tobin. “Chinese early childhood educators' perspectives.” Journal of Early Childhood Research 1, no. 1 (2003): 4–5.

⁷³ For example the reports of the European Commission Network on Childcare and Other Measures to Reconcile Employment and Family Responsibilities in 1988 and 1996. See also Moss, P. “Early childhood services in Europe.” Children in Europe 2 (2004): 16–19.

⁷⁴ Holmlund, K. “Governing new realities and old ideologies. A gendered, power‐based, and class‐related process. The public debate concerning motherhood and early childcare institutions in Sweden, 1938–1950.” In Governing Children, Families and Education. Restructuring the Welfare State edited by M. Bloch et al. New York: Palgrave Macmillan: 63–91.

⁷⁵ Cohen, B., P. Moss, P. Petrie, and J. Wallace. A New Deal for Children? Re‐forming Education and Care in England, Scotland and Sweden. Bristol: Policy Press, 2004.

⁷⁶ Bourdieu. Science de la science et réflexivité.

⁷⁷ De Certeau. L'écriture de l'histoire: 35.