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Childcare offers added value,
for parents and children
Congratulations on your Award.
Thank you! It was a very special meeting in Washington. A
hundred women were nominated, all of them in different
ways involved in improving the position of women and
minorities around the world. For instance, there was a woman
from Gambia, who started collecting plastic waste which,
together with other local women, she used to make bags and
other products to sell. The women involved earned their own
income in this way and were able to live independently. It was
wonderful to hear about all these initiatives.’
Why is this subject so important to you?
‘I come from a close family with four children. As the only girl,
I was treated exactly the same as my three brothers and had
the same opportunities as them. But some of my friends were
treated differently. The boys would be studying at the table,
while the girls had to help out in the house. This upset me a
lot.’
Your aim is for there to be more women in higher positions. Is
The Netherlands behind on this?
‘Yes, it is, but fortunately we are making good progress.
Fifteen years ago around 50% of Dutch women had a job,
currently this number is around 78%.’
Why do you think there are relatively few women in high
positions?
‘The first reason is that The Netherlands has a long tradition
of the man as breadwinner. Secondly, the government plays
a role in encouraging participation in the labour market. In
the past the Dutch government was not as active in this role
‘Cherish the combination of working
and family life in order to further
develop yourself as parents’
as some other European countries. Furthermore a proper
infrastructure for combining your private life and your work
is a necessity. So childcare and after-school care should be
available everywhere and it should be built around themes
such as quality. Since the introduction of the Dutch Childcare
Act in 2005, childcare businesses have really started to
implement this infrastructure. Of course, the cultural values
and standards of Dutch women are an influence as well.
They must want to work and realise their own ambitions
themselves.’
What would help women to achieve those high positions?
‘I am convinced that if women, the government and
employers all took responsibility for this objective, women
would have an increasingly prominent position. Employers
must create the appropriate infrastructure and preconditions,
society should start to accept women working, women will
start to work to achieve their ambitions and encourage
each other in this, men will have to take on some family
responsibilities, and adequate and appropriate childcare
should be available.’
You do not set a quota for women.
‘That is correct. I do not support quotas set by the
government. It is much more important to plan how to realise
the aim of getting more women into employment and into
high positions. Now that the government is cutting back
on the childcare allowance, many women are considering
working less.’
What is your opinion about that?
‘I feel that women often give up their own careers too quickly.
Of course childcare costs money, but it is only temporary.
Developing your career so that it fits in with what you want is
for the rest of your life. It is an investment in yourself and an
example for your children. In addition, childcare also has an
added value for the rest of a child’s upbringing, they learn a
lot socially speaking. It has a social function for the parents
as well; there is a lot of interaction between the parents.’
You have an impressive career. How did you succeed in
combining this with a happy personal life?
‘Designing your life is all about making choices. I have always
specifically chosen to develop my own talents. Of course it did
help that my husband Constant (Constant van Gestel, late
husband of Sybilla Dekker) completely supported me in this.
We have always shared the responsibilities for our personal
life and our family. If you make conscious choices, you will
find your way naturally.’
What would be your advice for working women or parents?
‘Cherish the combination of working and family life in order
to further develop yourself as parents. Really think through
your decision before stepping back from your career, try not
to do this just for financial reasons. Children grow up and
move on. It is important that, as well as being a parent, you
are yourself and that you continue to develop as a person and
as a couple.’
Sybilla Dekker was the Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning
and the Environment from 2003 to 2006. Since 2008 she
has been, among other things, chairperson of Taskforce and
Stichting Talent naar de Top (‘Talent to the top foundation’),
through which she dedicates herself to leadership and
emancipation for women.
Working together
with parents
improves childcare
Childcare in the Netherlands is already of a high quality,
but there are some areas, such as collaboration with
parents, which could be improved. With over thirty years
of experience as an educationalist in the childcare sector,
Kok van der Meer helps Zo to improve even further.
Level of quality
The educational quality of childcare comes first in
The Netherlands. This was made even more apparent
when in 2006, in my role as chairperson of the Landelijk
Pedagogenplatform (‘Dutch National Platform for
Educationalists’) I took the initiative in developing the
Pedagogisch Kader Kinderopvang (‘Childcare Educational
Framework’). There was talk of offering childcare of different
‘levels of quality’, so that parents with a lower income could
opt for a simpler form of childcare. However, educationalists,
managers and educational employees all soon agreed that
in childcare there is no such thing as a lower level of quality.
There is only one level of quality. This has been set out in
the Educational Framework and has been adopted as the
national standard by the State Secretary at that time. The
Framework not only includes requirements regarding quality
but also describes a number of ‘speelleergebieden’ (‘learning
through play areas’) and a range of activities to be used in
these areas. For day care these areas cover movement and
sensory perception, language and communication, arranging,
measuring and calculation, sound, music and dance, and
nature and expression.
Collaboration
After this I wanted to progress my career in childcare. I
noticed that parents were still seen as customers rather than
partners, so I decided to focus on collaboration between
parents and childcare.
‘Trusting their own strength
makes children strong’
In my current position as educationalist at Zo I have now
made arrangements with parents to increase the range of
activities within the ‘learning through play areas’. I really
look forward to making the areas included in the Educational
Framework even more professional, working together with
the educational employees (the professionals from the work
area) and the parents (the partners in upbringing).
If you would like to find out more about the Childcare
Educational Framework, please go to
www.pedagogischkader.nl or ask for a copy at one of our
centres. The website and the Educational Framework are
only available in Dutch.
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