The quality of early childhood education and care services in Greece

Abstract

Abstract High-quality early education and care experiences are critical for children’s growth and development, families’ ability to work, and the future health of society. In Greece, with regard to research for children under 3 years of age in early childhood education and care services, the issue of quality has been only marginally researched. The lack of available information on the quality of childcare services has been widely documented. The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality of early childhood education and care services in North Greece. Nonprofit and for-profit centers (one hundred and thirty-one classrooms) for children under 3 participated in this study. For quality assessment, we used the ITERS-R scale (Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale-Revised). Results suggested the existence of mediocre average quality.

Keywords

• Early childhood education and care services
• Quality
• Children under 3
• ITERS-R
• North Greece