Relations between teacher and ECEC center characteristics and curriculum and classroom quality across Europe

Process quality, referring to children’s daily experiences while involved in activities and interactions is seen as a major proximal determinant of children’s developmental and educational outcomes (Howes et al., 2008; Pianta et al., 2005; Thomason & La Paro, 2009), whereas aspects of structural quality, such as group size, children-to-staff ratio and required staffs’ qualifications, are considered the more distal, regular aspects of quality, which are assumed to be important preconditions for process quality (e.g. Cryer, Tietze, Burchinal, Leal & Palacios, 1999; Philips et al., 2000; Pianta et al., 2005; Vandell, 2004). Aspects of structural quality are major factors in the costs of ECEC (Mashburn et al., 2008), but how strongly structural quality relates to process quality is not yet clear. Moreover, this relationship may vary by type of ECEC provision, age of the children enrolled, and cultural context. Also, characteristics of staff working with children, including pre-service training and work experience, and contextual characteristics, such as opportunities for in-service professional development and the organizational climate, are considered important determinants of process quality (Goelman et al., 2006; Phillips et al., 2000). The present study aims to increase our understanding of the relations between structural and process quality in seven European countries, with different ECEC systems, quality standards, and ECEC policies using the same measures to assess teacher, classroom and center characteristics, and curriculum and classroom quality in a multiple case study. Information was gathered from participating countries on observed process quality (with the CLASS Toddler/Pre-K), curriculum of provided activities (using a teacher report) and teacher, classroom, and center characteristics (using a teacher report). Information on the curriculum included a wide range of activities, such as language, literacy, math, science, self-regulation, and play. Teachers were asked to provide information on their background (e.g. age, education level, work experience, job satisfaction, and self-efficacy) and on classroom (e.g. group size, ratio, classroom composition) and center characteristics (e.g. organizational climate and opportunities for professional development). The first results, based on 82 teachers and observed 28 classrooms, revealed variation within and across countries in teacher characteristics, classroom characteristics and center characteristics. Correlation analyses revealed positive relations between group size and curriculum. Also, teachers’ higher job satisfaction was related to more provision of language, science, self-regulation and pretend play activities. Multivariate regression analyses revealed that the center characteristics (i.e. organizational climate and professional development activities) showed the strongest relation with curriculum. Further analyses will be performed to investigate the associations of teacher, classroom, and center characteristics with observed classroom quality. Results will be interpreted in view of system or country specific features. Implications for policy and practice will be discussed.