Parental conceptions of quality in Greek early childhood education

Abstract

The aim of the current study was to examine the assessments of parents of the quality of early childhood education (ECE) in Greece. Five hundred and fifty three preschoolers' parents participated in this study providing quality and importance ratings based on the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale Parent Questionnaire (ECERSPQ) for the aspects of ECE. The same aspects were evaluated with Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale-Revised (ECERS-R) by trained observers. Results suggested that parent ratings overestimate the quality of ECE provided to their children, compared to those of trained observers. Yet, both parent and observer ratings appeared to have a constant variance. Moreover, observers' results indicated that the provision of ECE quality in Greece has to be improved in order to reach acceptable standards as in other developed countries.