”Barnehagenes organisering og strukturelle faktorers betydning for kvalitet”. & ”Undersøkelse av barnehagens organisering og den pedagogiske bemanningen”.

The purpose of this study is to examine how different structural factors and different types of organisation of daycare facilities influence the quality of daycare facilities. Size and organisation of the daycare facilities are essential background factors in the analysis of selected quality indicators such as number of children per employee, level of education of the staff, and stability of the staff.

The study provides a complex and intricate picture of how quality is managed at daycare centres with different organisation and size. The study shows that staff and managers at larger daycare centres more often have relevant continuing training than staff at small daycare centres . At the same time, the staff at large daycare centres relate to more children a day than the staff at small daycare centres, which are also more likely to have stable personnel. The study indicates that medium-sized daycare centres get the best of both worlds, because they are often able to combine a secure environment with an innovative approach to organisation and pedagogy at daycare facilities.

A questionnaire regarding characteristics of the daycare facilities was sent to 1,600 daycare facilities. A total of 825 of the daycare facilities returned a completed or partly completed questionnaire. The study also includes a quantitative part, in which six daycare centres were selected on the basis of their size and type of organisation. Four interviews were carried out with managers, employees and parents at each of the six daycare centres as well as three hours of observations with a view to establishing the pedagogical quality of the daycare centres.

Vassenden, A., Thygesen, J., Bayer, S.B., Alvestad, M. & Abrahamsen, G.R. (2011). ”Barnehagenes organisering og strukturelle faktorers betydning for kvalitet”. Stavanger: IRIS. Bayer, S.B. (2011). ”Undersøkelse av barnehagens organisering og den pedagogiske bemanningen”. Stavanger: IRIS.