Quality Matters – How and under what conditions does quality in early education and care matter? A study across four European countries (PTDC/MHCCED/5913/2014).
Warm, responsive and cognitively stimulating interactions are key factors to children’s development 1,2,3,4. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) centres and children’s interactions with educators, peers, and learning activities are privileged settings for children’s social development, with important impacts in children’s later academic success. However, little is known about what contributes to high-quality interactions.
QualityMatters (2016-2019), an extension of the CARE Project funded by the European Commission (reference FP7-SSH-2013-2), will help understand variation in activity types, peer interactions and quality of interactions in order to answer the overarching question “How and under what conditions does quality in early education and care matter?”
What contributes to the quality of educator-child interactions in 4 European countries?
QualityMatters will examine the aspects of the classroom experience which, albeit not regulated, can be intentionally used by educators. Using an intercultural and process-oriented approach, QualityMatters researchers will take advantage of the variation within and across 4 European countries (Portugal, Finland, Poland, and Netherlands) to examine the complex relationships between activities, educator-child interactions, peer interactions and the development of children’s self-regulation.
Is the quality of educator-child interactions influenced by activity type?
The effects of educator-child interactions are likely to vary according to the group of children, as well as the classroom features. One important factor that may contribute to understanding the variation of the effects of classroom quality is the type of activity setting (e.g. large group, free play, routines). Educators use different types of activities to structure children’s time throughout the day, which probably plays a key role in the type of opportunities created for interaction.
What aspects help to better understand the associations between the quality of educator-child interactions and structural quality?
While most literature in the field of ECEC has examined process and structural quality as two separate constructs, the current project will focus on aspects of the interaction between process and structure, which may be relevant for child development. The project will demonstrate whether certain activity settings promote high-quality interactions, information that can be intentionally used by educators. This project will also focus on the quality of care and educational services provided for toddlers, a context that has received less attention from research.
What is the relationship between the quality of educator-child interactions and peer interactions?
Peers can have a positive impact in children’s learning, but the relationship between peer interactions and educator-child interactions is still unclear.
1 Cadima, J., Leal, T., & Burchinal, M. (2010). The quality of teacher-student interactions:Associations with first graders’ academic and behavioral outcomes. Journal of SchoolPsychology, 48, 457–482.
2 Lerkkanen, M.K., Kiuru, N., Pakarinen, E., Viljaranta, J., Poikkeus, AM., Rasku-Puttonen, H., Siekkinen, M., & Nurmi, J.E. (2012). The role of teaching practices in the development of Children’s interest in reading and math in kindergarten. Contemporary EducationalPsychology, 37 (4), 266-279.
3 Burchinal, M., Howes, C., Pianta, R., Bryant, D., Early, D., Clifford, R., & Barbarin, O. (2008).Predicting child outcomes at the end of kindergarten from the quality of pre-kindergarten teacher-child interactions and instruction. Applied Developmental Sciences, 12 (3), 140-153.
4 Mashburn, A. J., Pianta, R. C., Hamre, B. K., Downer, J. T., Barbarin, O. A., Bryant, D., Howes, C. (2008). Measures of classroom quality in prekindergarten and children’s development of academic, language, and social skills.Child Development, 79, 732–749.
