Client & Partner: The World Bank,
In the era of industrialization, the need for alternative care, such as childcare during parental working hours, is increasing. Childcare, which in Indonesian law is manifested in the Taman Penitipan Anak (TPA) under the Ministry of Education and Culture, is a choice of the care rights fulfillment during the parents’ work. A parent’s role in caring for and providing education can be complimented by childcare services. When there is a transfer of care, including in childcare, parents should ensure that the temporary transfer of parenting also has good qualities for child protection. Childcare provides alternative care if the parents are working or unable to care. Since the establishment of the Directorate of Early Childhood Education (Direktorat Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini or PAUD) in 2000, coaching for education became the responsibility of the Ministry of Education and Culture. The policy of the Direktorat PAUD for all early childhood education type of services including childcare centers is to provide holistic and integrative services. Holistic means that all the needs of students to grow (health, nutrition, education, care, and protection), are served in the childcare centers. Integrative means that childcare centers partner with related institutions and agencies.
The number of childcare centers is growing. About 2,258 childcares are registered during 2020/2021 and the largest number is in Java Island. As the number of childcare centers increased, their types of services also varied. It is important to have a picture of childcare center profiles, their type of services, the quality of the services and other operational aspects.
The study implemented a method of quantitative data collection to understand the type of services provided by childcare, quality of care, quality of customer service, intake capacity, and the characteristics of parents that use the childcare services. The data was collected over phone call interviews using structured questionnaire. The childcare respondents were selected proportionally by considering the representation of several characteristics, including Java-off Java and urban-rural areas. REDI proposes that the study will be carried out across Indonesia which will be divided into five regions, i.e.: Java, Sumatera, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Balinusampua (Bali, Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, North Maluku, Papua, and West Papua).
There were two types of interviews, namely “mystery shopper” style interviews and research interviews. For the mystery shopper style interviews, phone callers simulate being a prospective parent who was contacting childcare providers for information on potentially enrolling their child in the center. The phone callers did not disclose that the phone call was part of a research project and instead maintained their character as prospective parents. Meanwhile, for the research interview, phone callers disclosed that the interview was part of a research project and sought to speak with someone responsible for the institution.
For research interviews: The phone callers have completed 302 successful interviews. To reach 302 completed interviews, the phone callers contacted 508 childcare centers that have been completely interviewed in mystery shopper. The response rate for the research interview was 59%. For mystery shopper interviews: The phone callers have completed 508 successful interviews. To reach 508 completed interviews, the phone callers contacted 2,762 childcare centers. The response rate for the mystery shopper was 18%