Rationality or Emotionality? Teacher Perspectives on a QRIS as a Quality Improvement Program

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 6
  In Poster Session: Teachers' Perspectives and Experiences (San Diego)

Abstract

Quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) are intended to assess classroom and programmatic quality of early childhood settings and support continuous quality improvement. But can a program fully assess quality if it does not also support the social and emotional needs of both the children and the teachers? By providing technical solutions to the problem of mediocre care that privilege rationality over emotionality, policymakers attempt to guarantee improved outcomes, but in doing so they exclude the ethic of care that has been a traditional component of caring for young children in group settings. Teachers must then determine which types of resistance strategies might work best to make space for emotions within the construct of classroom quality.

Author

• Kate Puckett, Eastern Oregon University