Education Versus Family

Non-parental arrangements for young children serve a dual function as supports for parental activities and educational inputs for children. However, arrangements that are suited to meet families’ specific needs and preferences are sometimes in tension with experts’ definitions of “quality.” Researchers and policymakers increasingly emphasize that educational goals cannot be met until this tension is reconciled. I offer new institutionalism as a conceptual framework for these emerging conversations and propose two ideal-typical institutional logics: the logic of the family and the logic of education. This perspective emphasizes that different expectations and goals are related to individuals’ differing social and institutional locations. Secondary analyses of the National Institute of Child Health and Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD) data offer preliminary empirical evidence.