Inter-American Development Bank
facebook
twitter
youtube
linkedin
instagram
Negocios SosteniblesCaribbean Development Trends¿Y si hablamos de igualdad?Puntos sobre la iIdeaçãoSeguridad CiudadanaSostenibilidadFactor TrabajoImpactoEnfoque EducaciónGobernarteKreatopolisPrimeros PasosCiudades SosteniblesEnergía para el FuturoGente SaludableMás Allá de las FronterasBeyond BordersIdeas MatterIdeas que CuentanAbierto al públicoMoviliblogVolvamos a la fuente Gestión fiscalHome
Citizen Security and Justice Creative Industries Development Effectiveness Early Childhood Development Education Energy Envirnment. Climate Change and Safeguards Fiscal policy and management Gender and Diversity Health Labor and pensions Open Knowledge Public management Science, Technology and Innovation  Trade and Regional Integration Urban Development and Housing Water and Sanitation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Primeros Pasos

IDB

  • HOME
  • CATEGORIES
    • Early Education
    • Family and Children
    • Maternity
    • Measurement and Indicator
    • Nutrition and Lactation
    • Policies and Programs
    • Seminars and Courses
  • Authors
  • English
    • Spanish

Quality matters in child–caregiver interactions

April 15, 2012 by Ale Scaff | 2 Comments


We recently had the privilege of hosting a meeting of renowned international experts in early childcare service quality at the IDB’s office in Washington, DC, to discuss childcare quality for children ages 0-3.

The group reflected on two topics that frequently come up in discussions with programs that offer childcare services in the region. Which factors define childcare service quality? And, how can we measure and monitor them?

The dialogue was too rich to fully summarize in this small space. So instead, I’ll just comment on one topic that was the focus of a panel discussion. The experts agreed on the importance of high-quality interactions between children and their caregivers, particularly for the 0-3 age group. Several points were raised that are worth sharing:

  1. Studies of interactions between children ages 0-3 and their caregivers have found that they are far too infrequent.
  2. Most childcare centers do not put enough emphasis on ensuring consistency in interactions, such that children always interact with the same adult.
  3. Individualized care is critically important for this age-group; but instead, providers tend to relate to children in groups or classes (as in a school setting).
  4. Some of the characteristics of high-quality interactions include: warmth; sufficient frequency and engagement; inclusiveness, meaning that every child is involved; plenty of verbal communication; and minimal interruptions or distractions when children are exploring their environment.

What do you think? Where do you think we should focus our efforts to ensure that children in childcare centers in Latin America and the Caribbean get the high-quality interactions they need?

Blog Caridad2

blog caridad1


Filed Under: Uncategorized

Ale Scaff

División de Protección Social y Salud del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Federico says

    April 18, 2012 at 3:00 am

    Ratios of child to early childhood educator are often used. The Day Nurseries Act in Ontario offers an example of this.

    Additional lessons from the Early Learning and Child Care sector in Ontario, Canada that may help inform this can be found through the HighScope learning methodology and the Early Development Instrument which measures 5 core domains for children to attain before the age of 6 to ensure cognitive and learning readiness.

    Reply
    • María Caridad Araujo says

      April 18, 2012 at 3:25 pm

      Thank you Federico, this is a great resource for us and for our readers!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Search

Early Childhood Development

The first years of life are essential to establish the future foundation of a person´s productivity and wellbeing. In this blog, experts from the IDB and thought leaders in the topic, share information and international experiences related to early childhood development. Join us to talk about initiatives implemented in your country in this area

Subscription

Tweets

Tweets by BIDgente

Similar Posts

  • Did you choose the right care center for your child?
  • Child Development: A Priority for the IDB
  • Heterogeneous quality of crèches and preschools in Brazil
  • Urgent: Managers Wanted!
  • Early Childhood Education wins big in San Antonio, Texas

Footer

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo
facebook
twitter
youtube
youtube
youtube

Blog posts written by Bank employees:

Copyright © Inter-American Development Bank ("IDB"). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons IGO 3.0 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. (CC-IGO 3.0 BY-NC-ND) license and may be reproduced with attribution to the IDB and for any non-commercial purpose. No derivative work is allowed. Any dispute related to the use of the works of the IDB that cannot be settled amicably shall be submitted to arbitration pursuant to the UNCITRAL rules. The use of the IDB's name for any purpose other than for attribution, and the use of IDB's logo shall be subject to a separate written license agreement between the IDB and the user and is not authorized as part of this CC- IGO license. Note that link provided above includes additional terms and conditions of the license.


For blogs written by external parties:

For questions concerning copyright for authors that are not IADB employees please complete the contact form for this blog.

The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the IDB, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent.

Attribution: in addition to giving attribution to the respective author and copyright owner, as appropriate, we would appreciate if you could include a link that remits back the IDB Blogs website.



Privacy Policy

Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo

Aviso Legal

Las opiniones expresadas en estos blogs son las de los autores y no necesariamente reflejan las opiniones del Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo, sus directivas, la Asamblea de Gobernadores o sus países miembros.

facebook
twitter
youtube