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Summary The Government White Paper on day care provision presented in December 1999 announced a three-year quality drive. Starting in 2001, all Norwegian day care centres were to establish, by the end of 2003, tools and systems designed to further develop and safeguard the quality of day care centres. At the end of the day-care-centre year 2001-2002, NOVA conducted a survey to ascertain the progress made half-way through the three-year period. A similar survey was conducted early in 2004 shortly after the end of the period. The results of the latter survey are reported here. Marginally more children were enrolled in day care centres in 2004 than in 2002. Moreover, a number of day care centres only offer places on a full-day basis. However, staff numbers had not increased. The number of day care centres with at least one male employee had risen from 33 to 41, although the number of male pre-school teachers had shown no increase. Day care centre managers remain a stable labour force element. Only 12 per cent had been employed for less than one year. More than half had managed the same day care centre for more than four years. Other personnel also show a high degree of stability. In more than half of the day care centres, no employee had left in the past year. When day care centres which had lost just one employee in the past year are added to those which had lost no employees, the two groups combined account for 80 per cent of all day care centres. The fact that those who have left have generally been employed in large rather than small day care centres probably further increases children's and parents' perception of low staff turnover. A large majority of day care centres have established formal routines for information exchange. This applies above all to what may be turned "start-up information", less to daily, general information. The latter is probably compensated for by means of parent-staff conversations, parent-staff meetings, liaison committee meetings and users surveys which are a feature of nine out of ten day care centres. In 2002 the existence of formal information routines depended on a day care centre's size and ownership. Since then, private day care centres have initiated further information measures, bringing them into line with the municipal day care centres. Children's well-being and development are in general surveyed in the traditional manner, i.e. by observation. About half of the day care centres make little or no use of methods such as reports from daily life practice or systematic conversations or interviews with children. The number of day care centres where both children and parents participate in assessment work and planning has risen since 2002. In almost half of the day care centres children now participate in at least some assessment work. Children are being drawn more and more into the process of planning the day care centre's content and activities. There are still a considerable number of day care centres where there is little or no child or parental participation, although they are fewer in number than in 2002. Where buildings and outdoor areas are concerned the general position appears to be good, and at least on a par with or marginally better than in 2002 in the case of areas on which comments were requested. While the situation remains better in large day care centres than in small ones, the difference between small and large day care centres has narrowed. This is especially true for a key feature of the quality drive, namely the question of whether the day care centre's physical environment is suitably adapted for all children. Since 2002 it has become slightly more usual for the owner to introduce a common system for quality assurance of day care centres as well as of other service provision. Naturally enough this applies above all to municipal day care centres where the owner, to a far greaterextent than private day care centre owners, offers a broader range of additional services. Municipal day care centres are also a step ahead of their private counterparts in terms of planning and providing training and post-qualifying education facilities for their staff. Despite these disparities, private day care centre managers are far more satisfied with the conditions in which they operate than are the managers of municipal day care centres. Both in 2002 and 2004, a clear-cut majority of managers were satisfied with their framework conditions. As regards the extent of contact and collaboration between the individual day care centre and the municipality in its role as local day care centre authority, no change can be seen from 2002 to 2004. Half of all day care centres still receive no annual supervisory visit from the municipal authorities. Use of formalised leadership models has increased between 2002 and 2004. Such models are most prevalent in the largest day care centres and municipal day care centres. No corresponding increase is evident in the use made of the quality assurance tools that we questioned our respondents about. Such tools are most widespread in the largest day care centres, however, and are far more in evidence in municipal day care centres than in their private counterparts. Service declarations, above all, are more widespread in 2004 than in 2002, and there is a clear preponderance of municipal day care centres that employ this tool. The 2004 survey incorporated questions on two new themes: bullying and the transition from day care centre to school. Seventy five per cent of day care centre managers report instances of bullying over the past year. However, a large majority state that bullying is a very rare occurrence. The largest day care centres report somewhat more instances of bullying than the smallest day care centres, but there is no correlation between reported instances of bullying and the day care centre's ownership. Eighty seven per cent of day care centres utilised one or more methods to counteract bullying. The commonest methods are the programmes entitled "You and I and the two of us", "Step by step" and "Eight themes for successful interaction/supervised interaction", in addition to systematic observation of child interaction. Ninety per cent of day care centres report having in place measures or routines to prepare for the transition between day care centre and school. In half of this 90 per cent the measures and routines are anchored to the individual day care centre, in the other half they are anchored to the municipal level. There is a positive correlation between anchorage to the municipal level and other quality objectives, both in terms of managers' quality assessments and in terms of the overall number of quality indicators. In 2002 one in ten day care centre managers reported that they had attained the target set for the quality drive at their day care centre. More than half expected to attain the target by the end of 2003. At the latter point in time far fewer, only one in five, managers perceived the target to have been attained. Progress in attaining the targets was clearly slower than expected. The survey cannot provide a definite explanation of how and why this delay has risen. Since 2002, however, the day care centre sector has been greatly affected by the agreement on day care provision reached in the Norwegian parliament, an agreement which puts a far greater focus on price than on quality. ; I 2001 gikk startskuddet for det som ofte kalles kvalitetssatsingen i norske barnehager. Innen utgangenav 2003 skulle alle barnehager ha etablert redskaper og systemer for å videreutvikle og sikre barnehagens kvalitet. På oppdrag fra Barne- og familiedepartementet har NOVA fulgt kvalitetssatsingen med en kartleggingsundersøkelse midtveis i perioden og med en tilsvarende undersøkelse etter at kvalitetssatsingsperioden er avsluttet. I rapporten beskrives hva norske barnehager har tatt i bruk av tiltak og redskaper for å sikre, videreutvikle og dokumentere kvaliteten på sine tjenester. Undersøkelsen presenterer også de første systematiske og representative funn om forekomst av og tiltak mot mobbing i barnehager.

The Government White Paper on day care provision presented in December 1999 announced a three-year program to improve quality. Starting in 2001, all Norwegian day care centres were to establish tools and systems designed to further develop and safeguard the quality of day care centres. The program was to be finalised by 2003. A survey conducted at the end of the period showed that only one in five managers felt that their day care centre had attained the goals. The program to improve quality coincided with an increasing focus on strong price reductions in child care services and a commitment to make day care centres available to all families who wanted this type of child care. Since 2003, there has been a vast expansion in child care coverage rates in Norway. At the end of 2003, 205 000 children were enrolled in day care centres. By January 2008 about 265 000 children were enrolled. The biggest increase was seen for children below three, and during 2008 almost 40 000 one-year olds were enrolled in day care centres. We have compared the results from 2004 and 2008 in order to explore whether this expansion has happened at the expense of quality. On average, there are more children per day care centre in 2008 compared to 2004. This is especially true for the new centres that started up after 2004, but also the older ones have expanded. Day care centre managers are typically stable employees. More than half had managed the same day care centre for more than five years, and almost 40 percent had been in the same position for more than eight years. Since 2004 there has been a small increase in turnover of employees. In 2004, half of the day care centres reported that none of their employees had left their position within the last 6 months, while in 2008 this was reduced to 40 percent. As in 2004, the small day care centres reported the lowest turn over rates. A smaller portion of those who were educated as pre-school teachers had ended their position compared with those without such education. Ninety percent of the managers are women, and 92 percent are educated pre-school teachers. Approximately two percent have additional education. Three percent of the day care centres have managers who do not meet the educational requirement. In 14 percent of the child care centres there is at least one employee who is undertaking education to become a preschool teacher. In every fourth day care centre there is more than one preschool teacher per unit. In 16 percent of the day care centres there are at least one male pre-school teacher, and 34 percent of the day care centres had at least one male assistant. The number of day care centres with at least one male employee has increased from 33 percent in 2002 to 51 percent in 2008. The percentage of educated preschool teachers in day care centres varies a lot. In one in four day care centres 27 percent, or fewer, of the staff had preschool teacher education. In another fourth of the day care centres 43 percent, or more, were educated preschool teachers. Compared to 2004 there has not been any decrease in the proportion of preschool teachers. The proportion of preschool teachers has increased more in the private day care centres than in municipal day care centres. Nine out of ten day care centres have annual appraisal talks with their staff. Eight out of ten employ internal vocational training schemes for their staff, and more than half of the day care centres have a separate budget for such training. In this area there has been a small increase since the last evaluation in 2004. The size of the day care centre is the most decisive factor determining whether all three measures to improve the staff are set. Norwegian day care centres operate within the framework of a national curriculum (Rammeplanen). Since last survey in 2004 the number of subjects to be covered according to the national curriculum havebeen expanded from five to seven. In 2008 most day care centres emphasised the area "Communication, language and texts". Emphasis on this subject has increased steadily since 2002. Similar to what has been reported in earlier periods there was least interest for the area "Ethics, religion and philosophy". In 2008 fewer day care centres work with all areas compared to 2004, but we observed a tendency that bigger private day care centres work with more areas. The vast majority of day care centres have established formal routines for informing parents and new employees. This applies above all to what we define as «start-up information». Since 2004 the day care centres have increased their formal routines for writing down information to and from care givers. At least eight out of ten day care centres have routine parent-staff conversations, parent-staff meetings and liaison committee meetings twice a year. More day care centres employ user surveys, but not as frequent as in 2004. The existence of formal information routines depends heavily on a day care centre's size, bigger centres have more formal routines. Children's well-being and development are commonly evaluated in a traditional manner, i.e. by observation, followed by educational documentation. About half of the day care centres make little or no use of methods such as systematic conversations or interviews with children. There is however a small increase in the use of child interviews. The number of day care centres where children participate in assessment work has increased since 2002, in 2008 59 percent of the day care centres involved children in the assessment work. Children are also being drawn more and more into the process of planning the day care centre's activities, and children are now participating more than their parents in such planning. Even though participation has increased considerably there are still a high number of day care centres where there is little or no child or parental participation. The general opinion among managers is that the physical environment such as buildings and outdoor areas are satisfactory and suitably adapted for all the children in the day care centre. In 2002 every third day care centre achieved top score on this measure. In 2008 half of the day care centres did the same. This is especially true for the biggest and newest day care centres. In half of the day care centres the owners have made plans for training or post-qualifying education facilities for their staff, and two out of three are already providing such training. Municipal day care centres are still ahead of their private counterparts both in terms of planning and providing training and post-qualifying education facilities for their staff. As regards the extent of contact and collaboration between the individual day care centre and the municipality in its role as local day care centre authority, no positive change can be seen from 2002 to 2008. The contact between them is slightly lower than in earlier surveys, and we find this problematic as contact is decisive for the municipal authority in order to have control. Our survey for 2008 revealed that the municipal authority have more intensive contact with municipal day care centres than with private day care centres, which makes us question their equal treatment. Compared to 2004 there are slightly more managers who report that bullying never occurs in their day care centre in 2008. Still the majority of day care centre managers report instances of bullying during last year, but at the same time they state that this happens only very rarely. The most common method to reduce bullying is the programme entitled «You and I and the two of us», which is used by half of the day care centres. The program that has increased most since 2004 is «Step by step», this program is now used in one third of theday care centres. The measures and routines for preparing the transition between day care centres and schools have been considerably improved since last survey. Such preparations for five-year olds are now established in almost every day care centre. However, it is problematic that more measures are in place in municipal day care centres than in private day care centres. It is most common to organize day care centres in units. 80 percent of the day care centres are organised in this way, while 13 percent are not divided into units. It is most common to have units divided by age. 60 percent of the day care centres have established formal routines for assessing all the children's language development, while a third has no regular routine for doing this. Those without formal routines report they assess only children who appear to have special needs in this area. 56 percent of the day care centres have at least one child with reduced functional ability. Almost all of these get additional support in order to employ extra staff. 87 percent have established formal contact with other municipal authorities to be able to give the child maximum support. As in the two earlier surveys the day care centre managers are generally satisfied with their framework conditions. We could also find that private day care managers are more satisfied with the conditions in which they operate than the managers of municipal day care centres. Most managers state that the localities are suitable for the children and for the purpose to which they are used. This opinion is especially strong among managers of new day care centres, for big day care centres, and is even more common in private than in municipal day care centres. A joint comparison of 30 different quality indicators in 2004 and 2008 indicate that day care centres in 2008 on average get a higher score than in 2004. ; Denne rapporten er en oppfølging av to tidligere NOVA-rapporter om kvalitetssatsingen i barnehagene i årene 2001-2003. Siden den gang har arbeidet med økt kvalitet måttet skje parallelt med et stadig større fokus på full dekning og lavere barnehagepriser. Sammenlignet med år 2003 har antallet barn i barnehagene økt med 60 000 nye barn, de fleste under tre år. Hovedmålet med rapporten har vært å finne svar på hvordan denne økningen har påvirket kvaliteten sammenlignet med tidligere år. Rapporten fokuserer på barnehagenes oppfølging av rammeplanen, rutiner og arbeidsmåter, fysisk miljø, samarbeid med eier og lokal myndighet, mobbing, overgang til skole, organisering, språkstimulering og støtte til barn med ekstra behov. Undersøkelsen, som bygger på et spørreskjema til styrerne i barnehagene, viser at den sterke veksten i barnehagesektoren har funnet sted uten at det har gått på bekostning av barnehagenes kvalitet.

This research report addresses the challenges of housing provision in light of the ageing society. The proportion of the population over 70 years old may increase from 9 per cent to 19 per cent between 2016 and 2060, according to Statistics Norway. The challenges and conundrums related to this demographic transition motivates the main research questions of the report: Within the theoretical framework of welfare economics, what are the normative arguments for a specific housing policy directed at the elderly? How do Norwegian municipalities attempt to influence housing construction in light of the ageing society? How wide is their scope of action in the field of housing policy for the elderly? To what extent do seniors (55+) and the elderly strategically adapt their housing to the inevitable reality of ageing, for instance, by moving to modern and more accessible apartments or adapting their existing home to the challenges associated with old age? This is an important question, not least since strategic investments from the elderly themselves may contribute to a more efficient provision of municipal care and health services. How can the municipalities and the state contribute to strengthening the opportunities of older people to invest in housing alternatives adapted to the realities of old age? The report «Housing for the elderly. Housing markets and housing policies for an ageing society» consists of four interlinked studies: Municipal housing policy for an ageing society (J. Sørvoll) Policy instruments and economic theory. Normative arguments in defense of a housing policy directed at the elderly? (V. Nordvik). The housing wealth and housing preferences of seniors and the elderly (H. C. Sandlie & L. Gulbrandsen) Policy instruments and the elderly's incentives for housing investment (J. Sørvoll). In part one of the report, we analyze municipal housing policies directed at the elderly, on the basis of an empirical material consisting of qualitative interviews in six municipalities and policy plans from 89 local governments. We argue that many municipalities lack the knowledge and the competence to execute an informed housing policy adapted to an ageing society. In general, moreover, it seems that housing policy directed at the elderly is not prioritized in the vast majority of municipalities. On a more positive note, from the perspective of Norwegian authorities, the six municipalities analyzed in-depth in part 1 all acknowledge the importance of housing policy for the gradual adaptation of the Norwegian welfare state to the ageing society. Many have considered employing policy instruments that would seriously expand the municipalities' influence over the provision of housing for the elderly. This may indicate that one should follow the field of housing for the elderly closely for new developments in the coming years. Part two of the report is an attempt to provide a systematic overview of arguments for social policy interventions in the form of in-kind housing interventions. We confront these arguments with housing needs emerging over the processes of ageing. The discussions are related to challenges and debates concerning housing for the elderly in Norway. In the absence of externalities and market failure, well-informed agents choose among available combinations of consumption goods. The outcomes of these choices are superior in terms of providing the combination of goods and services an agent herself prefers. This is the core of the principle of consumer sovereignty. James Tobin has forcefully demonstrated both the intuition of the concept consumer sovereignty and part of the explanation that it is not universally embraced in discussions of specific support as e.g. housing for elderly: While concerned laymen who observe people with shabby housing or too little to eat instinctively want to provide them with decent housing and adequate food, economists instinctively want to provide them with more cash income. Then they can buy the housing and food if they want to, and if they choose not to, the presumption is that they have a better use for the money (Tobin, 1970:246). Starting from this point of departure we argue that externalities feeding into need, costs and efficiency in provision of health care and practical help to elderly provide a sufficient argument for housing specific interventions, e.g. in order to improve physical accessibility (Universal design). Moreover, we argue that informational asymmetries and depreciated agency should be considered seriously when formulating a housing policy for the elderly. In part three, we analyse the housing conditions, housing wealth and housing preferences of the elderly in Norway. Based on a survey conducted in cooperation with TNS Gallup (2016), Sandlie and Gulbrandsen find that very few people aged from 50 to 71 years old have made improvements on their current dwelling. Most people (about 3 out of 4) do not plan to carry out such adjustments to their current dwelling. However, moving homes seems to be a more widespread strategy for adjusting housing for old age. About 20 percent of the people aged from 50 to 71 have moved during the last six years. The movers have to a large degree downsized and they live in smaller dwellings than non-movers. They do also live in more accessible housing than non-movers. Thus, Sandlie and Gulbrandsen argue that strategic mobility in light of old age is more common among middle aged and old people than previous research suggests. People adjust their housing for old age, but the adjustment and change of dwelling happen before they become old and pensioners. Part 4 on incentives for strategic housing investments draws on all the other parts of the report. In this part of the report, we try to answer one of the main research questions of the project "Housing for the elderly: How can the state contribute to increasing the incentives and opportunities for strategic housing investments by the elderly? In light of the findings of the report, Sørvoll argues that the authorities should emphasize provision of practical help and knowledge transmission to elderly households, housing policy for the elderly in areas with weak housing markets, and the need for the Housing Bank and the municipalities to continue refining the instruments of housing policy in light of the ageing society. ; Her drøftes tema av stor betydning for bolig- og omsorgspolitikken. Forskerne undersøker blant annet hva kommunene gjør for å fremme en boligforsyning som tar samfunnets aldring på alvor, og diskuterer normative premisser for eldreboligpolitikk. I tillegg analyseres utviklingen av eldres boligpreferanser, boligkapital og flyttemønstre over tid. Basert på en spørreundersøkelse via internett fra 2016 spør de i hvilken grad eldre og seniorer tilpasser sin boligsituasjon med tanke på alderdom. Dette er et viktig spørsmål all den tid kommunene kan spare penger på omsorgsboliger og institusjoner hvis flere kan bo lenger i eget hjem. Derfor diskuterer forskerne også hvordan det offentlige kan styrke mulighetene og insentivene til å investere i bolig med tanke på aldring.