Influence of organisation climate and job satisfaction on the quality of Early Child Education and Care

Abstract

Background: In the Netherlands the number of children attending day care facilities is rising. This raises the question what influence day care exactly has on children. Research shows that the quality of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) influences the development of young children in different ways. Therefore, ensuring the quality of ECEC is of great importance. The quality of ECEC can be divided into two types of quality: structural quality and process quality. Aim: The aim of this study is to take a look at the relationship between the structural quality factor job satisfaction and the process quality subdivided into emotional process quality and educational process quality. This study will also examine whether this relationship is influenced by the structural quality factor organization climate. Method: For this study 40 toddler ECEC groups were observed with the CLASS Toddler to examine the process quality. A questionnaire was distributed among the participating preschool teachers containing questions about general information and the structural quality. Results: The results showed no significant relationships between work satisfaction and the two types of quality. It also showed that there was no significant mediation effect of organization climate on the relationship between work satisfaction and the two types of quality. However the relationship between work satisfaction and organization climate was significant. Conclusion: Further research is recommended to get a better view on what affects process quality. This further research can contribute to ensure the increasement of the process quality in Dutch ECEC. This research should have a larger sample and more variation of ECEC organizations to ensure a diversity of organization climates.