Striving for quality sounds like a no-brainer, but working out what quality really means, and how to cultivate it, can be more difficult.
One way of measuring quality is to look at child-to-staff ratios. Liz Truss's Affordable Quality report (in practice much more focused on the affordable than the quality) advocates increasing child-to-adult ratios in child care. As well as lowering costs, she suggest this could allow childcare worker salaries to rise, attracting those with higher qualifications in childcare, and therefore improving the quality of the care. While higher salaries could certainly play a part in raising the qualifications of the workforce, low ratios need to be protected. They are not only important for child outcomes in themselves, they also allow for further improvement and development of caregivers, giving more time for session planning, reflection, self-development and management.
Register now to continue reading
Thank you for visiting Nursery World and making use of our archive of more than 35,000 expert features, subject guides, case studies and policy updates. Why not register today and enjoy the following great benefits:
What's included
-
Free access to 4 subscriber-only articles per month
-
Unlimited access to news and opinion
-
Email newsletter providing activity ideas, best practice and breaking news
Already have an account? Sign in here