Childhood is the key stage in the lives of children and the first years are particularly important for their physical, emotional, social and intellectual development. Documented research has been presenting that children's experiences in their first years of life are very much related to the quality of care that they receive. It’s also known that these experiences can have a real impact on their future development and that childcare conditions during early childhood have benefits for a lifetime, supporting lifelong learning (OCDE/DEB, 1999).

Certain factors have been considered especially important in determining the childcare quality (NACCRRA, 2010; Pascal & Bertram, 2003; Zabalza, 1998) and some are even part of national and Portuguese official regulations. For instance, group sizes and child-staff ratios are common indicators related to health, safety and developmental milestones (Harms, Cryer & Clifford, 1990). Thus, it is important to consider childcare institutions as context of development where children can develop in a comprehensive, adequate and harmonious way.

Although there’s significant increase in childcare provisions (number of places available) throughout Portugal, the quality of the institutions and services (context and process) is still under discussion. There are concerns about the quality of the provision, both to assess families’ needs as well as child developmental paths.

The main aim of the research here presented is to understand the different perspectives about educational quality of childcare, considering parents and professionals’ perceptions. We want to look at the early years’ childcare provision, particularly the nursery/crèche, for children under three.  Reviewed research insisted that “quality is one of the foremost necessities of early years provision but, while great strides have been made in expanding services, it is now generally accepted that quality remains the last piece of the jigsaw to be fully addressed” (Daycare Trust, 2009, p.1). This “piece” is the subject that we will be addressed under this presentation.

To achieve this research aim some questions were considered:

How is childcare provision perceived and valued by different actors (from families to professionals)?

Which are the convergent and divergent standpoints?

Which are the most important indicators of educational quality?

Is the quality framework used for preschool programs (from 3 to 5 years old children) suitable for childcare programs (under 3)?

How to assess quality from process to structural terms?

Can a case-study research help to improve quality within a childcare program?

In the scope of this research we want to look at quality as a multidimensional construct (Hagekull & Bohlin, 1995), considering diverse dimensions (structural and process) and perceptions (families, professional, stakeholders). As Katz (2000) pointed out, quality of programs can be assessed by holding multiple perspectives: from center’s top-down to bottom-up; from the outside to inside perspective by parents and staff, and even the outside perspective by community. Understanding these differences (converging or diverging ones) will be a way to get a more comprehensive picture of quality childcare provisions and programs. 

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