The relationship between structural factors and interaction quality in Norwegian ECEC for toddlers

Abstract

Background As a part of its welfare system, Norway provides universal access to early childhood education and care (ECEC) for all children between the ages of 1 and 5. To provide this access, Norway has undergone considerable structural changes in recent decades (Vassenden et al. 2011). These changes began with the 2003 ECEC settlement, which required municipalities to offer all children a place in ECEC. In 2009, access to a place in an ECEC programme became a legal right for all children. The overall purpose of these settlement initiatives and the establishment of universal access to ECEC was to ensure social equality and secure a good start for all children (Haug and Storø 2013). To meet heightened demand, new and larger ECEC settings were built, group sizes were expanded, the number of children under the age of three attending ECEC settings increased and a new type of organisation, flexible groups was formed (Gulbrandsen and Eliassen 2013). Most of the changes were related to quantity; however, in recent years, quality has appeared more systematically on policy-makers' agendas, especially for infants and toddlers (OECD 2015; Vassenden et al. 2011). The quality aspects of ECEC are related to children's experiences in ECEC institutions, such as their involvement in interactions and activities that are assumed to be beneficial for their learning and development (Sylva et al. 2006; Thomason and La Paro 2009). The concept of quality in ECEC is multifaceted, although the general consensus is that

A Systematic Review of the Literature on Aspects Affecting Positive Classroom Climate in Multicultural Early Childhood Education

“…The analysis of the 14 articles selected for this review sheds light on aspects related to a positive classroom climate that can be categorized as "static" aspects, such as grouping, materials or decorative elements, or "dynamic" aspects, such as time or the quality of instruction, teacher-children interactions, and relationships with family members. These aspects can be grouped under the two dimensions that have been agreed upon in the literature to define quality in early childhood education: "structural aspects" and "pedagogical practices" (Andrews et al 2014;Barros et al 2016;Løkken et al 2018;Mathers et al 2014). In Fig.…”

Literature review on early childhood education and care for children under the age of 3

“…Some scholars (Loizou and Recchia, 2018 [36]) note that although infant education and care demands specific knowledge of infant development to better support their attempts to explore and communicate, teacher training is usually more focused on older children. In addition, teacher training commonly focuses on operational aspects such as preparing materials and planning activities, rather than on relationships or scaffolding (Barros et al, 2018 [37]; Chazan-Cohen et al, 2017 [38]; Gibbons, Stratford and White, 2017 [39]).…”

“…Overall, the latter studies suggest that specialised training in working with infants and toddlers is critical to high process quality. The studies also stress the need for more research on the content of educators' preservice courses to better understand relationships between process quality and educators' formal education (Eckhardt and Egert, 2018 [4]; Loizou and Recchia, 2018 [36]; Schaack, Le and Setodji, 2017 [86]). For instance, in one study conducted in Germany, the authors found that playgroups with teachers who receive specific pre-service training in the area of early education and care (Pädagogische Fachschule) had higher levels of process quality compared to playgroups where teachers received other kind of training, but clearly more research is needed (Eckhardt and Egert, 2018 [108]).…”

“…Other studies conducted in Cyprus 4 , Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, and the United States suggest promising results for professional development programmes characterised by practice-focused components, such as opportunities for reflection based on practice (Chen, Martin and Erdosi-Mehaffey, 2017 [123]; Loizou and Recchia, 2018 [36]; Moran et al, 4 Note by Turkey:…”

“…The information in this document with reference to "Cyprus" relates to the southern part of the Island. 2017 [124]), observation or videos of practice in context (Donegan-Ritter and Van Meeteren, 2018 [125]; Loizou and Recchia, 2018 [36]; Moran et al, 2017 [124]; O'Flaherty et al, 2019 [126]; Helmerhorst et al, 2017 [127]), pedagogical challenges tailored to the needs of the teachers (Loizou and Recchia, 2018[36]), self-reflection (Donegan-Ritter and Van Meeteren, 2018 [125]), context-based approaches that use problems of daily life as starting points for reflection (Oliveira-Formosinho and Araujo, 2011 [128]), sustained opportunities for observation, recording and interpretation (Araújo, 2012), teamwork and collaboration (Araujo, 2012[129]; Moran et al, 2017 [124]), as well as through the use of action-research methodology (Molina, Marotta and Bulgarelli, 2016[130]).…”