Day-care centre, also called day nursery, nursery school, institution that provides supervision and care of infants and young children during the daytime, particularly so that their parents can hold jobs. Day-care centres were established in most European cities and industrial centres during the second half of the 19th century; the first in Great Britain, for example, was established in 1860. The availability of day care increased in the 20th century owing to the rising proportion of women in the workforce. The terms day nursery, day- or child-care centre, and nursery school are often used interchangeably to identify various types of day care for preschool educational programs. Services to young children and their families have a longer history in European countries than in the United States, where day-care are generally private and of varying quality.