Quality in Norwegian childcare for toddlers using ITERS-R^*

* This study is a part of the Better Provision for Norway’s Children in ECEC (BePro) project with the following Key Investigators: Elisabeth Bjørnestad, Jan Erik Johansson and Lars Gulbrandsen (Oslo and Akershus University College); Marit Alvestad and Eva Johansson (University of Stavanger); Liv Gjems and Thomas Moser (University of Southeast Norway); Edward Melhuish (Oxford University) and Jacqueline Barnes (Birkbeck University of London). This study is a part of the Searching for Qualities project with the following Key Investigators: Leif Hernes, Ellen Os, Nina Winger, Brit Eide and Tona Gulpinar (Oslo and Akershus University College), Torill Vist (University of Stavanger), Anne Myrstad and Toril Sverdrup (The Arctic University of Stavanger).

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to explore the quality of toddler childcare in Norway using the Infant Toddler Environment Rating Scale-Revised Edition (ITERS-R; [Harms, Thelma, Debby Cryer, and Richard M. Clifford. 2006. Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scales Revised Edition. New York: Teachers College Press.]), drawing on a sample of 206 toddler groups. Possible associations between quality (as assessed using ITERS-R) and selected structural features in toddler classrooms were investigated. Those features are as follows: ownership, the presence of qualified teachers, the staff-to-child ratio and group organization. According to the results, Norwegian toddler care scored at the minimal level of quality. The presence of qualified teachers, high staff-to-child ratios and small and stable groups all seemed to have positively impacted quality. Detailed analyses revealed that Norwegian toddler classrooms did not fulfil the ITERS-R requirements for hygiene, safety and access to play materials. Because of the good reputation Norwegian childcare enjoys, these results were unexpected and suggest the need to enhance the quality of Norwegian toddler care.

KEYWORDS:

• Group organization
• ITERS-R
• play materials
• preschool teacher
• quality
• staff-to-child ratio
• toddler childcare

Acknowledgment

Thanks to research assistant Maren Meyer Hegna and PhD student Erik Eliassen for statistical support and analysis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Elisabeth Bjørnestad http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4406-9969

Notes

* This study is a part of the Better Provision for Norway’s Children in ECEC (BePro) project with the following Key Investigators: Elisabeth Bjørnestad, Jan Erik Johansson and Lars Gulbrandsen (Oslo and Akershus University College); Marit Alvestad and Eva Johansson (University of Stavanger); Liv Gjems and Thomas Moser (University of Southeast Norway); Edward Melhuish (Oxford University) and Jacqueline Barnes (Birkbeck University of London). This study is a part of the Searching for Qualities project with the following Key Investigators: Leif Hernes, Ellen Os, Nina Winger, Brit Eide and Tona Gulpinar (Oslo and Akershus University College), Torill Vist (University of Stavanger), Anne Myrstad and Toril Sverdrup (The Arctic University of Stavanger).

1 «Better Provision for Norway’s Children in ECEC’ (BePro) (in Norwegian, ‘Gode barnehager for barn i Norge’ (GoBaN) is a longitudinal project following children from 2.6 years until 5 years. BePro assesses quality in ECEC obtained by both ITERS-R and ECERS-R.

2 ‘Searching for Qualities’ (in Norwegian, ‘Blikk for Barn’) focus mainly on children aged 0–3 years and their everyday life in different group compositions obtained by both ITERS-R and qualitative approaches.

3 Baustad (2012) piloted ITERS-R in a few groups in her master thesis.

4 Most of the studies mentioned focus on children from the age of 3 and day care quality measured with ECERS-R or equivalent tools.

5 In our study, we use the Dutch tool CIP to examine/measure the interaction quality.

6 ERSI (Environment Rating Scale Institute)

7 During the period from mid-June to mid-August, Norwegian day care centres close for the summer holidays, and from mid-August to mid-September most centres are busy enrolling new children. We therefore chose not to collect data during those periods of adjustment to avoid interference.

8 Only in Norwegian

9 Items 23 and 32 are excluded.

Additional information

Funding

Support for this research was provided by The Research Council of Norway (BePro 220570/ Searching for Qualities 218322).