Innovation Centre>Quality in Home Child Care Settings

Quality in Home Child Care Settings:
A Critical Review of Current Theory and Research

By Irene J. Kyle, Ph.D.
September, 2000

In recent years there has been considerable study and debate in the research literature about how quality in child care settings and home child care in particular is defined, measured and promoted. This paper critically reviews current Canadian, European and US research with a view to summarizing what is known about quality in home child care and considers a number of the characteristics that make home child care unique. More specifically, it examines how quality is defined and measured and identifies the key factors essential for its implementation. The paper concludes with a summary of lessons learned from the research and proposes an ecological framework for evaluating quality in Ontario.

Table of Contents

1. Why is quality care important?

2. A brief overview of the current context of home child care in Ontario and the unique nature of home child care
   

3. Conceptualizing quality: issues and debates
   • A question of context: the need for ecological models of quality
   • A question of values: the need for a public statement of values and purpose
   • A question of inclusion: adding in the voices of children, parents and providers
     

4. Frameworks for conceptualizing quality
   • The European Commission Child Care Network’s Framework for Quality
   • Munton, Mooney and Rowland’s Framework for Quality
   • The Family Day Care Rating Scale
   • Fischer and Eheart’s Model for Improving Quality in Family Day Care
   • Providers’ Constructions of Quality in Family Day Care
   • Implementing Quality: Factors that contribute to quality in home child care

5. Government policies: licensing, regulation and enforcement
   • Funding, administration and management
   • Community resources and social support
     
   • Provider characteristics and home and neighbourhood settings
   • Towards a framework for quality in Ontario Home Child Care

6. Lessons learned
   • An ecological framework for quality
   • The challenge for Ontario

7. References

 
8. Acknowledgements

This research was commissioned by the Board of Directors of Family Day Care Services as part of the on-going work of the Centre for Child Care Excellence, whose purpose is to improve the quality of child care services through research and professional consultation toother organizations. Additional funding to support this research was provided by a number of other organizations:

Andrew Fleck Child Care Services, Ottawa
Network Child Care Services, Toronto
Today's Family--Caring for your Child, Hamilton-Wentworth and Halton Regions
The City of Toronto, Children's Services Division
The Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton
The Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Child Care Division

The views expressed in this report are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official policy of the supporting organizations.

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