The name is absent

Table 5.2 Mean Caregiver Interaction Scale factors by pre-school type

Note that ‘Punitiveness’ did not differ significantly by pre-school type so is not included in the table

In addition to the observed quality measured by the ECERS scales, all centre managers were
interviewed about their settings. The semi-structured interviews covered aspects such as
general information i.e. age of centre, opening times, major objectives etc., centres and
parents i.e. opportunities for parent/staff contact, written materials provided to parents, parent
education etc., the staff i.e. conditions and benefits, qualifications, turnover etc., the children
i.e. numbers, provision for special educational needs etc. perceptions of quality in child care
and education, and organisational practices i.e. planning and record-keeping etc.

The interview highlighted the extent to which there was no ‘level playing field’ in early years
provision, with the maintained (‘State’ or LEA) sector generally being better resourced than the
voluntary sector. The following findings are important in the debate about quality.

Staffing

The longest hours worked by centre managers was reported to be in integrated centres that may
reflect the extended hours of opening. The longest hours worked by staff however were reported
in private day nurseries. Overall, full-time staff had access to better staff development
opportunities than part-time staff. This has implications for types of pre-schools employing more
part-time than full-time staff such as the playgroups and private day nurseries. The private day
nurseries had the youngest age profile of staff and nursery classes the oldest profile. The most
ethnically diverse staff were found in inner-city local authority day nurseries and integrated
centres.

All sectors benefited from the help of unpaid workers. Providers were able to meet or better the
statutory requirements for adult/child ratios without the help of unpaid workers, except for some
playgroups where unpaid workers are essential to maintaining statutory ratios. Both nursery
classes and nursery schools appeared to offer ratios that were notably lower than the statutory
requirements for their sector.

Qualifications and Training

Training opportunities for staff working in playgroups were poorer than for staff working in any
other types of pre-school provision. Playgroup staff had fewer opportunities to be appraised,
fewer secure training resources, less access to training materials and fewer opportunities to have
their training paid for by their centres.

The most highly qualified staff (for childcare qualifications) were in the LEA settings, where the
highest salaries were also to be found. The centre managers with the highest childcare
qualifications e.g. Batchelor of Education (B.Ed) or Post Graduate Certificate of Education
(PGCE) appeared to be predominately in the ‘education’ rather than ‘care’ provision i.e. nursery
schools and nursery classes. Integrated centres also had high levels of staff with higher
childcare qualifications. Playgroups had the least qualified centre managers with over 50 per
cent with National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) Level 2 or below. The most commonly held
childcare qualification amongst pre-school staff was the National Nursing Examination Board
qualification (NNEB) with the second most common category being ‘no qualifications’. Nursery
classes and nursery schools had very similar proportions of qualified staff and could be

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