Reshaping Public Space? Devolution and Policy Change in British Early Childhood Education and Care

Devolution has reshaped the 'public space(s)' within which policy is made in the UK, but with sometimes unexpected and paradoxical results. Focusing on the case of early childhood education and care provision, which has experienced a remarkable expansion in provision across the UK in recent years, this article analyses the impact of devolution on public policymaking. The 'public space' concept provides a framework within which the influence on early childhood education and care provision of various public and private structures and actors is assessed. Within this framework the article addresses 'unexpected' patterns of policy development. These include: the apparently greater policy innovation of the Welsh Assembly Government compared to the formally more powerful Scottish Executive and the seemingly expansive ambitions of the UK/English government in early years policy compared to that in the traditionally more 'radical' or 'social democratic' nations of Scotland and Wales. The latter of these 'paradoxes' is partly explained by the general structure and historical form of the devolution 'settlement'; the former owes more to constraints on the Scottish Executive rooted in the way the 'space' for early years policy was occupied before devolution.