Parent Perspectives on Childcare Quality among a Culturally Diverse Sample

Abstract

Traditionally, childcare quality has been defined from a child development perspective. How quality is defined, however, depends on the stakeholder being considered. This paper examines childcare quality from a parent perspective. Information was obtained from 238 Australian parents from culturally diverse backgrounds with children using formal childcare services. The findings suggest that, while developmental features of child care were central to all parents' concepts of quality, the issues of accessibility, relationships with carers, and sensitivity to cultural background also ranked highly. Some cultural differences were found. Overall, parents perceived that their childcare arrangement matched the quality features they considered important. However, this differed according to parent culture, with Somali parents most likely and Vietnamese parents least likely to report that their childcare arrangement matched the quality features they considered important The research, policy and practice implications are discussed.

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