Election 2024: How Sweden's childcare system compares to Ireland
Mother of three Susie Moonan says there is a lot of trust in Sweden's childcare system.
Despite the name, Susie Moonan is not Irish, though she does have ancestry in the North as her father hails from Belfast.
Based an hour south of Stockholm, she is a mum-of-three — two in school and the third in forskola [pre-school] — and spent 15 years working as a social worker, in roles varying from foster care to school counsellor to addiction services.
She explains Sweden’s exceptional childcare infrastructure has its roots in the 1960s and the women’s rights movement.
“They aimed it at creating equality in working, so everyone is allowed to work, so both men and women could go to work, and not just mom based at home with children,” she says.
“There is a lot of trust in the forskola system. I would say most people have children in care, they’ve increased the status of staff, everyone has gone to university, and parents can find genuine support with the staff. The system is hugely trusted. Women work, and parental leave is split, if not always 50:50, then certainly 60:40.”
Sweden had “socialist wind” in Susie’s words, with strong workers’ movements, equality, and women’s rights at the right time.
She also has a nuanced view on the possible downsides of excellent childcare.
“It’s an interesting question — sometimes I catch myself and wonder, like after the whole day is gone and I haven’t seen my kids, and all the best of them is gone for the day, when they come home and they’re tired,” she says.
“But I don’t think that’s childcare’s fault. I would say rather that the requirements of jobs today are that we’re always online, always within reach. I think it’s more important to look at how we work so that we have more time with our children, rather than taking away childcare.
"If we took the care away, unless men and women have equal rates of pay — which Sweden is working towards — then you risk that women would be stuck at home.
“But I always think, I can’t see where elsewhere I could live and be so much with our kids as we’re able to do in Sweden. There’s no other opportunity to do that, to be able to be home with them, to halve parental allowance with my husband and still have days left over to use for extra vacation time. That’s such a benefit,” she says.
Susie notes Sweden is not immune from much of the political and social trends being seen around the world, notably a move towards the right in terms of social services.
For example, despite sporting a — by Irish standards — near flawless public health system, private healthcare is becoming more prevalent there as people seek access to care faster.
Just as in Ireland, Sweden has issues with immigration and homelessness, albeit they manifest in a far less vocal and visible way.
“In Sweden you’re not allowed to use violence as a way to tell kids what to do, what is right, what’s wrong,” Susie says of the country’s attitude to solving social problems generally, and how they try to teach their children.
“We work a lot at basically not going to your emotions, not to use threats, not to use increased voice volume, trying to be calm as a way to handle conflicts.
"In both social care and in parenting, I think we would look at the challenges the same way. Give five times more love, instead of punishment, instead of arguments. Five times more love.”
