What kind of quality concept? Pentti Hakkarainen LUES, Vilnius University of Oulu
Finnish ECEC quality approaches • System quality/ policy quality is used in international comparisons; OECD ECEC quality comparative study 2012 • Policy Lever 1: Setting out quality goals and regulations • Policy Lever 2: Designing and implementing curriculum and standards • Policy Lever 3: Improving qualifications, training and working conditions • Policy Lever 4: Engaging families and communities • Policy Lever 5: Advancing data collection, research and monitoring
Policy Lever 3 criteria (of well educated staff) − A good understanding of child development; − The ability to develop children’s perspectives, praise, comfort, question, be responsive, and elicit children’s ideas; − Skills for leadership, problem solving and development of lessons plans; and − Good vocabulary
Challenges 1) improving staff qualifications; 2) securing a high-quality workforce supply; 3) retaining the workforce; 4) workforce development; 5) Managing the quality of workforce in private ECEC provision. Finland has already made several efforts in tackling these challenges.
Quality of kindergarten (Hujala et al. 2012) • service level (availability, sufficiency) • frame factors (permanency of human relations, security, functionality of spaces) • mediating factors (cooperation with parents, elaboration of curricula, staff competence, leadership • process factors (child-adult interaction, peer interaction, child-centeredness, children’s contribution) • impact, outcome quality (children’s positive experiences, development and learning)
How the quality level was evaluated? • Quality levels Weak Satisfactory Good Excellent
Scale Less than 50 % 51 – 70 % 71 – 90 % 91 – 100 %
Process quality
Rectors (502)
Teachers (509)
Parents (1302)
Total
Satisfactory
Good
Good
Dimensions of quality in ECEC • Quality of policy – a characteristic of quality exists or does not exist – summative goodness • Minimum quality level – standards of quality • Quality assurance/ quality control vs. production of quality • Who produces the quality, who helps and supports? • Who defines the criteria of quality? How many criteria for the same phenomenon?
Child development and quality • Is development a linear or non-linear process?