Improving Processual Quality in Early Education and Care: Process Findings from the Evaluation of the Benevolent Society's Partnerships in Early Education Program (Report‪)‬

THE QUALITY OF EARLY education and care (EEC) available to Australian children is gaining public and policy attention. A Treasury document on EEC, released in early 2007, focused largely on questions of cost, with 'quality' receiving only a brief mention (Davidoff, 2007). In contrast, the Australian Labor Party's early childhood policy, released later that year, emphasised the importance of improving the quality of child care through workforce development and regulation (Australian Labor Party, 2007). Two key factors highlighting the need to monitor and improve quality in child care are concerns about the impact of increasing corporatisation of ECC (Brennan, 2007; Rush, 2006), and growing recognition of the benefits of high-quality programs for disadvantaged children (Ochiltree, 1995; Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000; Sylva, Melhuish, Simmons, Siraj-Blatchford & Taggart, 2004; Yandell & Hewitt, 1995). Much of the attention generated around debates about the quality of EEC services focuses on regulatory or structural aspects, such as staff-child ratios, group size and staff qualifications. These structural aspects of quality are those that governments and regulatory agencies are expected to control. A set of minimum standards regulates the provision of childcare services, though they are argued to be inadequate (Cahic 2007; Fisher & Patulny, 2004). In contrast, processual dimensions of quality, including the nature of staff-child relationships and interactions, developmentally appropriate activities and curricula, receive little consideration in debates about regulations and enhancing quality. However, strategies to improve quality, such as attachment-based interventions, can involve a focus on processual dimensions, without any change to the structural aspects of ECC services.