“What do you do in child care?” children’s perceptions of high and low quality classrooms

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Abstract

Children’s perceptions of their child care experiences in classrooms that varied in quality were explored in this study. One hundred twenty-two children were observed and interviewed about their likes and dislikes in 4 high and 4 low quality classrooms. Children verbalized an accurate understanding of procedures, events, and activities, but their responses differed by classroom quality. Children in low quality centers listed activities as rigidly sequenced events, whereas children in high quality centers highlighted notable events and numerous choices. Play was the favorite activity of all children in all classrooms. Mean behaviors, circle time, and nap time were primary dislikes that did not vary with classroom quality. Children in both types of environments offered many more positive than negative perspectives, revealing an optimistic outlook that transcended the quality of the setting. Results are discussed with regard to the contributions of children’s understandings to the complex issues of child care quality.

Introduction

The influence of child care quality on young children has been investigated widely since the seventies. Research indicates that the quality of child care matters since experiences in child care impact children’s development and readiness for school Children of the cost, quality, and outcomes study go to school 1999, Whitebook et al 1989, Vandell and Wolfe 2000. However, the contexts in which children are cared for and children’s perceptions of their experiences in centers of varying quality, are areas where the literature offers little or no insight (Graue & Walsh, 1998). What is life in child care like for a 4-year-old? What do preschoolers say they do there? What do they enjoy? What don’t they like? Do children’s perceptions of child care relate to the quality of that care, and if so, how?

Over thirteen million American children under 5 years of age experience some form of child care before entering formal school (Hofferth, Shauman, Henke, & West, 1998). Nearly 60% of children 5 years and younger are in child care at least 20 hours a week (Vandell & Wolfe, 2000), and more preschoolers are in organized child care facilities than any other single arrangement (Casper, 1996). Child care must therefore be viewed as a vital part of the complex, multifaceted environment in which children live, and it must be studied from the vantage point of each participant (see Lamb, 1998, for a review of the literature).

Of late, unprecedented attention is being paid to the quality of care young children experience outside the home. Significant relationships between quality care and children’s developmental outcomes in cognitive and socioemotional domains have been widely investigated Cost, Quality & Child Outcomes Study Team 1995, Children of the cost, quality, and outcomes study go to school 1999, Howes et al 1992, Love et al 1996, NICHD Early Child Care Research Network 2001, Ridley et al 2000, Vandell et al 1988. In 1997, the National Research Council established a Committee on Early Childhood Pedagogy to study “behavioral and social science research on early learning and development and to explore the implications of that research for the education and care of young children ages 2 to 5 … especially [in] center-based programs” (National Research Council, 2001, p. 3). Other studies consider parents’ Rescorla 1991, Stipek et al 1992, teachers’ Bryant et al 1991, Charlesworth et al 1993 and caregivers’ Children of the cost, quality, and outcomes study go to school 1999, Hayes et al 1990 perspectives on child care. Adults’ views of child care are obviously important, but as more research emerges about child care quality, legitimate areas for study also include the complicated relationships between children’s lives, child care arrangements, and the varying perspectives of the participants involved (Lamb, 1998), including those of children. As adults learn more about children’s perspectives, they learn that “children have a voice of their own, and should be listened to as a means of taking them seriously, involving them in democratic dialogue and decision-making and understanding childhood” (Dahlberg, Moss, & Pence, 1999, p. 49). Children’s perceptions of their education and care fills a needed gap between how children think and what researchers have already studied (Galinsky, 1999). This study examines children’s perceptions of child care in classrooms that vary in quality. In doing so, it may call into question our assumptions about quality, or at least allow us to consider these constructs in new and different ways.

Section snippets

A theoretical perspective

A theoretical basis for understanding children’s perceptions of their experiences in high and low quality child care is found in the literature on social cognition, research that employs qualitative methods to directly observe and interview young children in natural settings, script theory, and the use of structural and process variables to discuss the quality of child care. Children’s ideas about school have been studied using traditional empirical designs Bigler and Paris 1994, Hennessey and

Method

A variety of data sources, instruments, and analytic strategies were used to determine high and low child care quality and to explore children’s perceptions of those child care settings. The study comprised two parts. The first phase of the study consisted of the selection of 8 child care centers (4 high and 4 low quality) based on trained independent researchers’ evaluations of overall classroom quality and developmentally appropriate practices. In the second part of the study, the primary

Results and discussion

Children’s descriptions of “school”-the activities, events and experiences that occurred there-are organized by the questions asked of the children: “What do you do at child care?” “What do you like best about school?” “What don’t you like about school?” The manner in which children responded to these questions became one way to compare HQ and LQ classrooms.

Conclusions and implications

The intent of this study was to investigate 4-year-olds’ perceptions of their experiences in child care in classrooms that varied in quality. The findings supported that frequent, consistent observations, in addition to conversations with children, provided rich and powerful descriptions that vividly highlighted obvious differences between high and low quality settings. Embedded in the children’s interactions, concerns, and understandings were examples of how high and low quality child care

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