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Comparing regulatory and non-regulatory indices of early childhood education and care (ECEC) quality in the Australian early childhood sector

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posted on 2023-06-07, 08:22 authored by Iram Siraj, Steven J Howard, Denise Kingston, Cathrine Neilsen-Hewett, Edward C Melhuish, Marc de Rosnay
This study examines associations between Australia’s regulatory ratings of quality in early childhood education and care (ECEC)—the National Quality Standard (NQS)—and two research-based quality rating scales. The analytic sample consisted of 257 ECEC services across three Australian states. Results indicated (1) modest positive associations between NQS ratings and scale scores; (2) some specificity between NQS quality areas (educational programs and practice; relationships with children) and one research scale—the Sustained Shared Thinking and Emotional Wellbeing (SSTEW) scale; (3) variability in quality scales scores within each NQS designation; and (4) mitigation of these associations when the time-gap between ratings exceeded 24 months. Findings suggest NQS and research scales tap some common core of quality, yet capture different aspects of quality, suggesting both could be used to raise standards of quality in Australian preschools, where the research scales potentiate raising quality to even higher levels than NQS.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Australian Educational Researcher

ISSN

0311-6999

Publisher

Springer Netherlands

Issue

3

Volume

46

Page range

365-383

Department affiliated with

  • Education Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2019-04-25

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2019-04-25

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2019-04-25

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