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Commentaries for EPIC, the European Platform for Investing in Children

Early Years Education Reform: Could Life Chances for Children in England Be Significantly Improved?
To ensure equal access to high-quality early years provision in England, it is crucial to learn from successful systems worldwide and implement key recommendations. Prioritizing highly qualified staff, maintaining appropriate staff-to-child ratios, and removing barriers for disadvantaged families are essential steps toward achieving this goal.
18 Jul 2023
Removing Barriers to Diversity and Inclusion in the Military
Efforts to improve representation and remove barriers for personnel with protected characteristics are seen as essential steps for modern militaries, but have not gone without controversy. The UK Armed Forces could take a more-strategic approach to leveraging diversity to elevate it as a strategic enabler of military fighting power in the contemporary threat environment.
29 Aug 2022
Engaging Different Types of Practitioners in the Complex Social Policy Area of Adverse Childhood Experiences
Understanding how stakeholders make sense of and prioritise available evidence can help improve the policies and practices that affect people's lives. A modified Delphi approach could engage with stakeholders with different, overlapping expertise and help open a way to this understanding.
21 Oct 2021
Parenting During the Pandemic: Communicating with Children About COVID-19
School and nursery closures, lockdowns, and ongoing pandemic restrictions brought huge changes to children and families. The way parents communicated with their children about these events was vital in helping children to cope.
20 Sep 2021
What Works in Preventing the Development of Depression and Anxiety in Children
Mental health problems have been increasingly recognized as one of the most significant health concerns for children and adolescents in developed countries. But the quality of existing evaluations can make drawing conclusions about what works in preventing the development of anxiety and/or depression in children difficult.
09 Feb 2021
Helping Mothers Return to Work Is a Gender Equality Issue
Employers and policymakers play a crucial role in ensuring that women are not unnecessarily disadvantaged when they have children. Policies such as access to family leave, job protection, and childcare options can play a large role.
21 Jan 2021
What the EU LGBTIQ Strategy Means for Rainbow Families with Children
Rainbow families can face challenges because of ongoing discrimination against LGBTIQ people. The first EU strategy for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, nonbinary, intersex, and queer equality sets out actions and initiatives to ensure the safety and equal rights of LGBTIQ people in the EU.
21 Dec 2020
Giving Children a Voice Can Lead to Better Outcomes for All: Developing the New European Strategy on the Rights of the Child
Children have a right to participate in decisionmaking that affects them. It will be important to ensure that there are mechanisms in place to support that process, and that they are resilient, even in times of crisis.
03 Nov 2020
Why Spending More Time at Home Is Bad for Some Children's Health
Children in Europe are at a higher risk of poor-quality and overcrowded housing. Efforts to improve the quality of children's living environments could be key to mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on children and their households.
20 Jul 2020
Equal Pay for Equal Work: How Binding Pay Transparency Measures May Help
More than 60 years ago, the EU introduced the principle of equal pay for equal work for men and women. But a gender pay gap persists in most countries. In 2014, a European Commission Recommendation encouraged measures to aid pay transparency, but implementation has been limited.
12 May 2020
Celebrating Children's Rights Is Important, but More Progress Is Needed
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which set a legal framework and put children's rights firmly on the international policy agenda, was adopted 30 years ago. While there are a number of initiatives in place, more work could be done to maximize children's involvement in policy and decisionmaking on issues that affect their lives.
25 Nov 2019
How a Poor Indoor Environment at Home Affects Children's Health in the EU
One third of children in the EU are exposed to damp or mold, cold, darkness, and noise in their own homes. The good condition of homes should not only be seen as an issue of comfort, but as an essential basic requirement for good health of the residents, especially when they are families with children.
04 Nov 2019
Empowering Parents Through Positive Parenting Interventions
For parents, knowing whether they are raising their children the “right” way can feel like an impossible task. Parenting programs can make a unique and indispensable contribution to child well-being, and ultimately give children the resilience to thrive, even in challenging circumstances.
30 May 2019
Use It or Lose It—Why Taking Parental Leave Is So Important for Fathers
The active involvement of both a mother and a father in the upbringing of a child has great social and psychological benefits. Yet, despite legal provisions allowing parents to take time off to look after children, such as parental leave, many men are still reluctant to take it.
04 Mar 2019
Making Education a Reality for All Children in Europe
Access to education is a fundamental children's right in the EU and is guaranteed under a variety of legal and policy frameworks. Despite many approaches and initiatives adopted across the EU, a number of challenges remain concerning the development of effective long-term education measures for migrant children.
04 Oct 2018
How Early Childhood Education and Care Can Help to Tackle the Impact of Childhood Disadvantage
Disadvantaged children underperform educationally partly because on average they experience more risk factors. Interventions to address multiple causes of underperformance for disadvantaged children may have a better chance of success. The calibre of early childhood education and care professionals also likely matters.
20 Aug 2018
Potential Changes to Paternity and Parental Leave in Europe
Fathers' involvement in child care has considerable benefits for their children, mothers, employers, and themselves. Paternity and parental leave are important, but pay, flexibility, and eligibility remain significant barriers to uptake by fathers across Europe.
25 Jun 2018
Tackling EU Child Poverty Through a Child Guarantee
Nearly 26.4 percent of children across the EU are experiencing, or are at risk of experiencing, poverty or social exclusion. The proposed Child Guarantee initiative might help address this issue. But it could also be worthwhile to encourage member states to look at funding mechanisms that are already in place.
21 May 2018
Britain's productivity problem begins in the bedroom
Productivity growth in the UK has seen its weakest decade since the 1820s. Chancellor Hammond increased the size of a national productivity fund to £31bn. While building people's skills and investing in infrastructure can boost productivity, the problem could also be solved if people got more sleep.
15 Feb 2018
Does Social Media Depression in Young People Really Exist?
What are the mental health risks to adolescents and young adults from the use of social media? And how can young people and social media companies manage these risks?
06 Feb 2018

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