Kvalitet og kvantitet. Kvalitet i en barnehagesektor i sterk vekst.

This study is the third study in a series on quality in Norwegian
kindergartens. The Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research aims to identify and update knowledge about how quality work in kindergartens has developed.

The study shows that the management is the most stable labour, particularly in small kindergartens. Ninety percent of managers are women, and 92 percent are qualified preschool teachers. Nine in ten kindergartens hold employee interviews at least once annually. Eight in ten kindergartens have internal training initiatives. About half of the kindergartens have their own training budget. Since the study in 2004, the specialist area communication, language and text has been introduced in most kindergartens. Kindergartens have increasingly introduced routines to brief new children, their parents and new employees. Besides the staff, parents primarily take part in evaluation work at the kindergarten. Observations are still a methodology often used to identify the child’s well-being and development, followed by pedagogical documentation.
In half of the kindergartens, the kindergarten manager has prepared plans for training and continuing training for the employees, and in two out of three cases the kindergarten has launched similar initiatives. With regard to the transition from kindergarten to primary school, all kindergartens have initiatives that prepare five-year-olds for school. Sixty percent of kindergartens have established routines to identify the language skills of all children in
the kindergarten, whereas one-third have no routines, but select children on the basis of observation and assessment of needs. Fifty-six percent of kindergartens have one or more children with reduced ability to function.

Data basis consists of a quantitative cross-sectional study, where a number of managers of daycare centres have answered a questionnaire regarding their employees’ level of eduction, the daycare centres’ practice in identifying children’s language skills, human resource management, physical environment and the kindergarten’s use of curricula.

Winsvold, A. (2009). Kvalitet og kvantitet. Kvalitet i en barnehagesektor i sterk vekst. Oslo: NOVA.