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In this blog post, we’ll take a closer look at the conversation around quality provision for babies in Portugal.

In our global evidence review, linked here, Portugal contributed 8 articles that had really robust evidence around what quality provision looks like for babies. As a note, our review only looked at articles published in English, so it is likely Portugal has even more items published in Portuguese focused on quality for babies.

So, what stands out?

• The youngest babies matter:  4 of the 8 articles from Portugal specifically focused on babies aged 0-1 years old. This age group was only discussed in 9% of our 185 articles. While babies are often left out of conversations in ECEC, there seemed to be a further, hidden minority with our youngest babies. Because of this, we were impressed to see half of the articles coming from Portugal shining a light on our littlest ones.

• Ratios matter: Studies from Pessanha et al. (2017) and Barros and Aguiar (2010) tested the impact of ratios on process quality in nurseries using robust quantitative methodologies. Pessanha et al (2017:92) researched how changes in ratios impacted classroom quality by considering 3 groups: ‘classrooms with negligible changes in ratio, classrooms with an average increase of one child per adult, and classrooms with an average increase of at least two children per adult’. They found that lower ratios were linked to higher process quality (i.e. the relationships between babies and educators). Pessanha et al. (2017:95) specifically cites international recommendations of a 3:1 ratio as a good standard, despite Portugal’s standard being 5:1.

• Training matters: Barros et al. (2018) tested the impact of teacher training on process quality. They found that pre-service qualifications, specifically, having a lead teacher who obtained a bachelor’s degree in ECEC, was important when it came to supporting high quality interactions between educators and babies. Araújo, Esteves, and Marta (2023) push this idea even further by exploring the nuances of relevant, reflective training that resonates with the needs of students and pushes them to think deeply about their work with infants and toddlers.

• Families matter: Something that was significant for us was Portugal’s exploration of families in the conversation of quality provision for babies. While we would all agree that families are part of the core that makes up quality provision, families were not central to the conversation in the literature. However, in Portugal, Tadeu and Lopes (2023) and Barros and Leal (2015) thrust families to center stage in discussions of baby room quality. Barros and Leal (2015) asked parents and educators to assess the quality of their children’s classrooms. They found that educators and parents tend to be aligned on what’s important when it comes to quality with an emphasis on promoting language through interactions and on personal care routines. Tadeu and Lopes (2023) explored the complexities of how parents make the decision of where to send their child for nursery.

Our team is quite impressed by the robust evidence coming from Portugal, and it’s prompted some reflection for us. Join us in thinking about the questions below, and please do share your thoughts!

Over to you!

• How can we create a more robust evidence base (pulling on both formal and informal knowledge) to support the best practice possible with our youngest babies?
• Are the qualifications we have in England robust enough to do justice to supporting quality with babies? How do new qualifications such as the NCFE CACHE Level 3 Award in Working with Babies and Young Children Under 2 Year start to fill this gap, and what further work needs to be done?
• Where do families fit into our vision of quality provision in England?

References

Araújo, S.B., Esteves, S. and Marta, M. (2023) ‘On becoming an infant-toddler pedagogue: perceived contributions of heuristic play in initial professional education’, Early years (London, England), 43(3), pp. 545–560. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09575146.2023.2235096.

Barros, S. and Aguiar, C. (2010) ‘Assessing the quality of Portuguese child care programs for toddlers’, Early childhood research quarterly, 25(4), pp. 527–535. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2009.12.003.

Barros, S. and Leal, T.B. (2015) ‘Parents’ and teachers’ perceptions of quality in Portuguese childcare classrooms’, European journal of psychology of education, 30(2), pp. 209–226. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-014-0235-4.

Barros, S. et al. (2018) ‘The quality of caregiver-child interactions in infant classrooms in Portugal: the role of caregiver education’, Research papers in education, 33(4), pp. 427–451. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2017.1353676.

Pessanha, M. et al. (2017) ‘Stability and change in teacher-infant interaction quality over time’, Early childhood research quarterly, 40, pp. 87–97. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2016.10.003.

Tadeu, B. and Lopes, A. (2023) ‘Parental decision-making for a baby room in daycare centres: conceptions, motivations and influential factors’, International journal of early years education, 31(4), pp. 1003–1017. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09669760.2022.2037074.