Exploring Vygotsky’s ideas: Crossing Borders PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007 EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA Department of Early Childhood Care and Education ALEXANDRIO TECHNOLOGICAL EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE THESSALONIKI Greece

Since middle 1990’s most developed countries have experienced reform initiatives in administration and educational policies due to worldwide economic, social and technological pressures and challenges. The field of early childhood care and education has experienced tremendous growth, and faced with various challenges due to the changing perceptions of childhood and the growing demand for early care and education programs. Research has shown that national policies and current trends for change are associated with and promoted by particular beliefs and cultural values about the nature of early development, the needs of children and the prerequisites for quality care and education. EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007

In Greece the reorganization of the administrative system involving decentralization in education and health care became popular targets at national level. Its context changed rapidly, having higher political profile than it has had for many years and new emphasis was placed on quality. As Eliaison L.C.(1996) stressed popularity in decentralism is justified as a governmental policy strategy in an era of fiscal stress attempting to produce some kind of desirable social change. EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007

But do they always change the heart of the matter ? Do changes and developments at structural level, due to decentralization process, take into account fundamental principles and quality concerns on which work with young children should be based ? Does the vision of quality early childhood care and education services is realized through quality indicators of what is critical for the child, the parent, the teacher, curriculum and classroom ? EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007

Bronfenbrenner U. (1983) demonstrated how early childhood care and education public policies, provide the educational and social-cultural contexts that influence each child's development and help or hinder the ways in which early childhood professionals care and educate young children. Vygotsky L.S. (1978), stressed the importance of human relationships and the social-cultural contexts in which learning occurs. EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007

The starting point of the present research was the argument that new policies of the 21st century, in the era of early childhood care and education, should offer solutions taking into account the universality of child development principles and respond to the internal challenges of the field. When these solutions do not embrace the basic indicators of quality and choices are determinated only by traditional or political beliefs, then problems may arise. EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007

The aim of this research is to identify the climate of these services by exploring professionals’ perspectives on the role of early childhood care and education policies in relation with the quality aspects of provision. EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007

METHODOLOGY The 170 questionnaires which were distributed provided 157 responses, rate 92.3 %. Early childhood services at local level in Northern Greece (urban and non-urban areas) were randomly selected by taking in to account these to be representative of the Greek population. EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007

The questionnaire consisted of a series of statements which described present critical aspects of child care and educational services and needs of their professionals. These statements had been selected for their application and their relevance to the areas of research. They were pre-tested with ten subjects and corrected, to ensure that it was understandable and easy to answer. EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007

The data have been analyzed through a procedure with the statistical packages related to social science (SPSS). For univariate analysis, frequently distribution of the answers was used, while for bivariate analysis (examination of possible relation between two variables) x 2 -test of independance has been implemented. Where appropriate ANOVA, t-test and Pearsons correlation coefficient between professional views of the services and their ranking of the importance of factors related with their effectiveness in their work was also applied. The significant levels used in the study were 1%, 5% and 1% 0.

What in your opinion is very important ? EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007 Figure 3

Which are your professional needs for quality teaching ? Figure 4

What are the barriers to high-quality education and care provision? Figure 5

The lack of personnel is an issue which creates worries and concerns for the quality of what is being provided. More statistical analysis of the above demands with the mentioned problems revealed close connection between those who do not regard the «Lack of collaboration with parents» as a problem and those who demand «recognition of their professional role» (p<0,05). It seems that there is a strong correlation between professionals with high self-esteem with the development of good relationships and collaboration with parents. EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION The above findings represent significant points and current trends in Child Care and Early Childhood Education debates. It is well known that good quality in early care and education is always central to the Governments' aims. EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007

EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007 However, what role should early childhood care and education policies play in achieving quality in the whole educational process ?

Our research evidence demonstrated that the majority of professionals regard more appropriate the early childhood care and education services under the Ministry of Education,(94.8 %) (as it is for Kindergarten and the rest educational system). The findings reveal that professionals reject the individual policies and procedures of local agencies and highlight the need to be part of the wholeness approach to the education process. EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007

Justification for their preferences derive from the educational rationale that the Ministry of Education can provide: common legislation and policies administration by a seamless system of care and education for all children high standards of quality provision coordination of community resources help for families to develop social networks so important for our time. A united profession of early childhood care and education. EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007

This is a contradictory finding with the current assertments that local authorities can ensure better quality in ECCE services because they are closer to the needs of children and their families so they can respond better to them. Under these circumstances questions arise how the provision of early childhood care and education services may harm the educational quality ? EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007

1.Studies found that the division of the profession (teachers for the state services and educares for the Local services early childhood services) negatively affects the professional status of the last as well their relationships and the types of cooperation. This in turn may strongly influence the quality of provision in ECCE. EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007

2. Our findings demonstrated that it is questionable whether the local authorities as providers and decision makers can recognize all needs and have the power to integrate principles of quality in ECCE services for all: education, care, recreation, socialization, health, family support, adequate resources for educational process, e.t.c. EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007

3. Studies have demonstrated that quality programs need a well –focused investment in early care and education provision. All are ensured with proper size of each group of children and adult-child ratio as well as the in service education of the teachers and staff. Our findings indicated that educational priorities and expenditure ECCE in local authorities, are at the lowest level comparing with those of the state services. EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007

4. Research demonstrated that concepts of quality, professionally informed decisions based on contemporary knowledge of child development or parental expectations (Laloumi-Vidali E., 1998a,b ) seem to be undermined by the policy-decision makers. High quality programs need a collaboration of professionals with policy makers at local level to remind them the essential components of the quality provision in the educational field. Our study highlighted the minimum role of the professionals in the decision making process. EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007

5. The political rational of the decentralization represents in our view the minor role the government wishes to play in these services, explains why local authority undermines the professional expertise and needs and places high attention in addressing family needs. Such development of relations justify why, according to our findings, professionals pay special attention to the educational aspect (priorities in the choice and organization of early childhood programmes, resources and methodology) and minor to relationships with parents and integration to community activities. EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007

6. We also found that only part of professionals with high "self-esteem " to their professional role seem to have good relationships with parents (p<0,05). EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007

7. The choice of the state control (in a country with centralized educational system) can ensure a holistic and coherent approach encompassing early childhood education, primary, secondary, higher education, adult literacy and the quality of education in line with the wider objective of Education for all. EXPLORING THE QUALITY ISSUES IN THE EARLY YEARS CARE AND EDUCATION POLICIES: The case of Greece Prof. LALOUMI - VIDALI EVA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 2007

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