Providing Quality Early Childhood Education and Care

Foreword
Acknowledgements
Reader’s guide
	Country coverage
	Classification of levels of ECEC and the TALIS Starting Strong sample
	Data underlying the report
	Reporting staff and leader data
		Reporting staff data
		Reporting leader data
		Staff reports of their own roles in the target group
		Leader reports of roles within their centres
	Reporting data on the number of children
	International averages
	Symbols used in tables
	Rounding figures
	Statistically significant differences
	Additional data sources
	Abbreviations
	Further technical documentation
	Reference
	Note
Executive summary
	What the data tell us
		Interactions between children, staff and parents/guardians in early childhood education and care centres
		Teachers, assistants and leaders in early childhood education and care
		Early childhood education and care centres and structural features of quality environments
		Governance, funding and the quality of early childhood education and care
	What TALIS Starting Strong implies for policies
What is TALIS Starting Strong?
	Introduction
	Which countries participate in TALIS Starting Strong?
		What is TALIS Starting Strong about?
	What are the key features of the TALIS Starting Strong design?
	What kinds of results does TALIS Starting Strong provide?
	How is this report organised?
	References
1 Policy implications of the 2018 Starting Strong Teaching and Learning International Survey
	Children in early childhood education and care centres
		How many children participate in ECEC?
		Which other children do they meet at their centres?
		What do children learn and do?
		With which staff do children interact at their centres?
		Where are children’s centres located?
		How much is spent per child?
	Ensuring quality of early childhood education and care systems: Policy implications
		Promote practices that foster children’s learning, development and well-being
			Design high-quality pre-service and in-service training programmes to shape staff practices
			Support engagement with parents
			Facilitate children’s transitions across levels of education
			Favour interactions between staff and children as part of small groups of children
		Attract and retain a high-quality workforce
			Raise the status of the profession
			Reduce sources of instability and stress
			Ensure equal access to relevant professional development
		Give a strong start to all children
			Ensure equal access to high-quality ECEC for all children
			Prepare staff and leaders to adapt practices to children’s diverse backgrounds and needs
			Allocate resources to provide additional support to those who need it most
		Ensure smart spending in view of complex governance and service provision
			Identify the priorities for spending allocations
			Ensure that monitoring meets quality improvement and accountability needs
			Empower ECEC centre leaders
	References
2 Interactions between children, staff and parents/guardians in early childhood education and care centres
	Introduction
	Insights from research and policy evidence
	Supporting children’s learning, development and well-being through practices
		Effective practices
		Similarities and differences in practices used by staff of different countries
	Engaging with parents and guardians
		Staff’s perspective on engaging with parents and guardians
		Leaders’ perspective on engaging with parents and guardians
	Process quality in TALIS Starting Strong
		Indicators of process quality
		The relationship between various dimensions of process quality
	Professional beliefs
		Preparing children for the future
		Professional beliefs and practices
	The organisation of activities with a group of children
		Size of the group of children and number of staff with the group
		Size of the group of children and practices
	Equity and diversity: beliefs and practices
		Group composition
		Adapting practices to children’s needs and diversity
		Attitude towards diversity at the centre level
	Conclusion and policy implications
	References
3 Teachers, assistants and leaders and the quality of early childhood education and care
	Introduction
	Findings from the literature on the early childhood education and care workforce and process quality
	Workforce composition and pre-service training
		Educational attainment
		Content of pre-service training
		The relationship between process quality and staff characteristics and educational background
	Workforce professional development: Needs and content, barriers and support
		Participation in professional development
		Professional development needs
		Content of professional development and alignment with needs
		Barriers to and support for participation in professional development
	Working conditions for early childhood education and care staff
		Labour market security: Contractual status and working hours
		Quality of the working environment: Sources of work-related stress and job satisfaction
		Earnings quality
	The relationship between process quality, professional development and working conditions
		Participation in professional development
		Contractual status and working hours
		Sources of work-related stress and job satisfaction
	Leaders in early childhood education and care centres
		Leaders’ characteristics, education and professional development
		Quality of the working environment for leaders
	Equity focus: Staff in target groups
	Conclusion and policy implications
	References
4 Structural features of early childhood education and care centres and quality
	Introduction
	Insights from research and policy evidence
		Centre location
		Centre staff and stability
	The place of early childhood education and care centres
		Centres in rural and urban areas
		Centre buildings
	Characteristics and number of children in early childhood education and care centres
		The number of children in centres
		Characteristics of children in ECEC centres
		Composition of staff in centres
		Number of staff in centres
		Staff leaving their centres
		Centre characteristics and process quality
			Location of the centre and dimensions of process quality
			Centre size and dimensions of process quality
		Centre characteristics and co-operation and transitions between pre-primary and primary education
			Communication with other centres in the local community
			Centre characteristics and practices to facilitate transitions to primary education
	Equity of early childhood education and care centres
		Socio-economic equity: Relationship between centre characteristics and characteristics of the children at the centre
		Share of children from socio-economically disadvantaged homes and dimensions of process quality, co-operation and transition practices
		Diversity activities, practices and beliefs in ECEC centres
	Conclusion and policy implications
	References
5 Governance, funding and the quality of early childhood education and care
	Introduction
	Insights from research and policy evidence
		Expenditure and sources of funding
		Governance and management
		Ownership and profit status
	Funding of the ECEC sector
		Public and private sources of funding for ECEC centres
		Countries’ expenditure on ECEC
		Spending priorities in ECEC centres
	Governance of the ECEC sector
		Organisation of national ECEC systems
		Legal minimum standards and monitoring policies
		Centre autonomy and leader/staff responsibilities
		Barriers to effective leadership and leader stress
		Public and private management of ECEC centres
	Characteristics of publicly and privately managed ECEC centres
		Leader responsibilities and centre autonomy
		Staff initial education and centre composition
		Opportunities for and barriers to staff professional development
		Urban location of publicly and privately managed centres
	The relationship between aspects of governance and funding and process quality
		Centre management and funding and process quality
		Leaders responsibilities and process quality
	Governance and equity
	Conclusion and policy implications
	References
		Annex A. Country profiles of early childhood education and care systems
		Chile
			Access to early childhood education and care
			Governance and settings
			Expenditure and funding
			Curriculum and quality standards
			Workforce development and working conditions
		Denmark
			Access to early childhood education and care
			Governance and settings
			Expenditure and funding
			Curriculum and quality standards
			Workforce development and working conditions
		Germany
			Access to early childhood education and care
			Governance and settings
			Expenditure and funding
			Curriculum and quality standards
			Workforce development and working conditions
		Iceland
			Access to early childhood education and care
			Governance and settings
			Expenditure and funding
			Curriculum and quality standards
			Workforce development and working conditions
		Israel
			Access to early childhood education and care
			Governance and settings
			Expenditure and funding
			Curriculum and quality standards
			Workforce development and working conditions
		Japan
			Access to early childhood education and care
			Governance and settings
			Expenditure and funding
			Curriculum and quality standards
			Workforce development and working conditions
		Korea
			Access to early childhood education and care
			Governance and settings
			Expenditure and funding
			Curriculum and quality standards
			Workforce development and working conditions
		Norway
			Access to early childhood education and care
			Governance and settings
			Expenditure and funding
			Curriculum and quality standards
			Workforce development and working conditions
		Turkey
			Access to early childhood education and care
			Governance and settings
			Expenditure and funding
			Curriculum and quality standards
			Workforce development and working conditions
Annex A. Country profiles of early childhood education and care systems
Annex B. Technical notes on sampling procedures, response rates and adjudication for TALIS Starting Strong 2018
Annex C. Technical notes on analyses in this report
Annex D. List of tables available on line
Annex E. List of TALIS Starting Strong 2018 contributors