Quality assurance of services
Core Function 5 focuses on ensuring that a coherent framework for monitoring and quality assurance of pre-primary education is in place and that quality monitoring is used to support continuing improvements in both policy and practice. A comprehensive quality assurance system should enable the government to regulate all providers, both state and non-state.
Core Function 5
When it comes to implementing quality assurance standards, a number of factors come into play. One key challenge is to ensure that countries set quality standards that are able to be met in a cost effective manner, which means that setting standards should go hand-in-hand with support for meeting these standards. quality standards should also focus on aspects of program which have the biggest influence on quality. While quality standards need to be challenging, they should also be achievable – and thus, calculating this quality gap is important. Programs need to be adequately supported both in terms of financial and human resource allocation in order to achieve these standards and bridge this quality gap.
It is also important to recognize that countries may be at different stages in attaining quality. Achieving quality standards at scale is a process that takes time, as it requires the establishment of robust ECE systems, but it is important to include quality standards from the beginning of the process. Countries may fall anywhere in a spectrum from early stages to more advanced stages of attaining quality and may focus on different aspects along the way, such as increasing access; developing standards and guidelines for ECE environments; and creating a governance structure with mechanisms for assessing, monitoring, and certifying programs.
Monitoring the process of attaining quality can occur at different levels, depending on the goals and on resources. Programs can be monitored from within, with educators and center directors assessing learning environments to develop improvement plans. Programs can also be monitored by the local or central governments, using existing instruments or ones developed specifically for the context, to ensure compliance with quality standards. It is important however, to ensure that registries of all providers, both public and private, are established as this is an essential step in building effective ECE systems. Quality assurance mechanisms not only should support the development of quality within individual settings but also ensure that data on quality need to also feed back into the policy cycle to support evidence-based planning and budgeting for quality enhancement. Additionally, how monitoring data are used by all stakeholders (national, subnational, school-level), and in particular, how transparent the system is to teachers and how they are supposed to use the data, should be considered (source).
Cross-cutting considerations
Relevant standards and adequate resources need to continue to be available for quality early childhood education services in crisis and conflict situations. The need for quality curricula that follow clearly defined standards is even more essential for young children affected by crisis, who benefit the most from the protective and supportive features of quality ECE.
- Case study: Lebanon - Enhancing quality in pre-primary education in Lebanon in times of crisis. This study looks at key factors that affect quality pre-primary education in Lebanon, taking into account multiple crises affecting the country.
- Case study: Germany - Implementation and quality of an early childhood education program for newly arrived refugee children in Germany: An observational study. This study examines the implementation and quality of state-subsidized flexible ECE programmes for refugee children.
It is important to ensure when it comes to assessing quality, that indicators around gender are included. Some items you may want to consider include the following questions around enhancing ECE quality with a gender-responsive lens:
- Have female and male teachers been trained in gender-responsive ECE pedagogy as part of pre-service or continuing professional development?
- Has the curriculum been reviewed from a “gender lens” to identify gender bias and stereotypes in the curricula and related teaching and learning materials?
- Has the classroom environment and way that the teaching and learning environment been arranged considering the needs of young girls and boys?
- Have “add-on services” offered in ECE sites such as protection services (e.g. psychosocial support or birth registration), health services (e.g. growth monitoring, vaccination), and parenting support programming for parents/caregivers been offered equally to both young girls and boys and/or male and female caregivers? (source)
Assessing the quality of inclusive environments should systematically consider the quality of inclusion, such as through structural characteristics and child/family perspectives, as well as the efforts to promote diversity. Some critical aspects to account for when discussing quality of services include universal design for learning, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, frameworks for migrant children (e.g. Framework for the protection of children, Framework and recommendations for action on children affected by migration in the Caribbean, frameworks for migrant children, and frameworks for children of ethnic minorities.