Readiness to Implement a National Quality Framework: Evidence from Irish Early Childhood Care and Education Centres

Abstract

This study examined the factors associated with childcare staff members' readiness to implement quality standards in early childhood settings in Ireland. To coincide with a new government policy that provides every three-year-old child with access to a free preschool year, a framework designed to improve the quality of early childhood care and education centres (ECCECs) is being rolled out nationally. The new quality framework details the first national set of best practice standards for early childhood care and education in Ireland. This study measured support for this change in childcare practices in one pilot community, which introduced the framework prior to national roll-out. The study used the Organizational Change Recipients' Belief Scale to determine how readiness for change was associated with job satisfaction and the work environment in childcare settings. One hundred and twenty surveys were completed by childcare staff in nine pilot ECCECs. The surveys were distributed in 2009 and therefore capture staff attitudes towards the introduction of the new quality framework. The results show that individual staff characteristics had little association with support for the implementation of the quality framework, while factors related to group dynamics were significantly associated with readiness for change. Specifically, a positive work environment and greater job satisfaction were associated with a lower belief that there is a need for the national quality framework, but a higher belief that the childcare staff will be supported by management when the quality framework is introduced.

Acknowledgements

This research is funded through the “Evaluation of the Preparing for Life Programme” which is conducted by the Northside Partnership and funded by Atlantic Philanthropies and the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. Our thanks to Sandra O'Neill, the framework coordinator, and all the participating Early Childhood Care and Education Centres.

Notes

1. The 12 NQF principles are: The Value of Early Childhood, Children First, Parents, Relationships, Equality, Diversity, Environments, Welfare, Role of the Adult, Teamwork, Pedagogy, and Play.

2. The skewness and kurtosis test was applied to each measure to test for evidence of normality in all domains. Results indicate that all six domains are non-normal, and therefore non-parametric analyses were used in all tests related to the OCRBS.

3. Wilcoxon rank sum tests and t-tests were applied. The Wilcoxon rank sum test was used for all domains with non-normal distributions (ordering materials, interviewing, training, and planning). The programme objectives domain was normally distributed and therefore a t-test was used to identify any significant differences. For each variable, the skewness and kurtosis test was used to determine whether the normality hypothesis should be rejected.

4. Using the Mann–Whitney test to compare part-time and full-time workers in terms of readiness for change, no statistical differences were found for the discrepancy domain (z=0.577, p=0.56), the appropriateness domain (z=0.501, p=0.62), the efficacy domain (z=−0.665, p=0.51), the principal support domain (z=−0.037, p=0.97), or the valence domain (z=1.707, p=0.09).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Orla Doyle

Dr Orla Doyle is a Senior Researcher at the UCD Geary Institute

Caitriona Logue

Caitriona Logue is a Doctoral Student at the UCD Geary Institute

Kelly A. McNamara

Kelly A. McNamara is a Researcher at the UCD Geary Institute