The quality of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) is key in its effectiveness in improving outcomes in children. In this policy brief we reviewed current academic and policy debates on issues relating to the quality of ECEC services. We examined the definitions and measurements of childcare quality in EU member states and found that views and understandings on what constitutes quality in ECEC differs across countries and actors involved.

Quality and impact of Centre-based Early Childhood Education and Care

Barbara Janta, Janna van Belle, Katherine Stewart

ResearchPublished Nov 4, 2016

There is a strong association between the quality of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) provision and the outcomes for children, with high quality ECEC being associated with better child outcomes later in life. This brief reviewed the broad range of indicators that have been linked to quality, with a focus on understanding how these indicators relate to quality and eventual child outcomes. Following the academic literature on this subject we distinguished between structural quality, which relates to the physical environment and staffing requirement, and process quality, which relates to curricular practices, caregiver qualities, and parental involvement. We found that the interaction between structural and process indicators of ECEC quality is complex, and varies significantly across socio-economic, cultural and national contexts, which reflects the beliefs, needs, roles and motivations of the different stakeholders involved in defining ECEC services. Despite this complexity we identified several structural indicators which are frequently considered indicators of high process quality. For each of these indicators we present policy levers for improving ECEC quality, and discuss the context in which these levers work, i.e. whether they act at national level, family and community level or at the level of the childcare setting.

Key Takeaways

  • Childcare quality and the associated child outcomes can be measured by looking at structural indicators, which relate to inputs such as the physical environment and staffing requirements, and process indicators, which relate to the processes that are required to deliver ECEC services and how children experience these inputs.
  • High process quality often follows from high structural quality: structural indicators such as staff-child ratios or the availability of sufficient learning materials facilitate positive child experiences and interaction with the childcare environment.
  • To understand differences between EU member states in ECEC quality it is important to relate these indicators to the cultural, educational and social context in which the ECEC is provided.
  • Within different policy contexts we identified potential policy levers for improving ECEC quality, based on structural factors which are frequently considered indicators of high process quality.

Topics

Document Details

  • Copyright: European Union
  • Publisher: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Web-Only
  • Year: 2016
  • Pages: 35
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.7249/RR1670
  • Document Number: RR-1670-EC

Citation

Chicago Manual of Style

Janta, Barbara, Janna van Belle, and Katherine Stewart, Quality and impact of Centre-based Early Childhood Education and Care. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2016. https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR1670.html.
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The research described in this report was prepared for the European Commission and conducted by RAND Europe.

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