Teacher and director characteristics and the quality of early childhood learning environments in Colombia

• In Event: Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Topic - Education, Schooling

Abstract

Although there is an extensive literature supporting the notion that there is a link between structural and process quality in early childhood education, empirical studies have yielded mixed results. In particular, whereas some studies have found an association between teachers’ qualifications and higher-quality learning environments, some others have found null results. Other dimensions of structural quality have not been sufficiently explored including teachers’ compensation structures and directors’ qualifications and access to professional development opportunities. Evidence from low and middle-income countries in which early childhood teachers and directors are often marginalized and a low-paid workforce with relatively low levels of education is even more scant. This study aims at filling this gap by exploring the association between several teacher and director characteristics and process quality in early childhood education in Colombia.
Data comes from a nationally representative sample of 312 early childhood centers in Colombia located in 64 municipalities across 28 departments. The sample for this study was composed of the 597 teachers. About half of them had a professional degree (51%) and access to professional development programs in the previous year (56%), and they had an average teaching experience of 10.6 years. Most directors of centers held a professional degree (71.3%) and had attended workshops in the previous year (66.2%). Data was collected using the IMCEIC, an adaptation of the Measure of Early Learning Environments (MELE) for Colombia, composed of a classroom observation tool, and questionnaires for teachers and directors. Based on information collected with the observation tool, a pedagogical quality scale was constructed as a unit-weighted mean of nine items. High levels indicate that teachers encourage positive interactions, deal with inappropriate behavior, interact with children, announce transitions, ask open-ended questions, provide feedback, encourage children to choose and use different interaction modalities.
Multilevel regression models were estimated in which teachers’ and directors’ characteristics were included as predictors of pedagogical quality. Results indicate that teachers’ qualifications and compensation are linked with pedagogical quality. Specifically, having a professional degree and getting fringe benefits was positively associated with higher average scores in pedagogical quality when compared to having a high school degree and no additional compensation. Teachers from centers in which directors attended a workshop in the previous year had higher average scores in pedagogical quality. Implications of these results are discussed in relation to efforts to secure minimum qualifications and benefits for preschool teachers in Colombia. Further analyses will explore associations of teacher’s and director’s characteristics with children’s outcomes using a SEM approach.

Group Authors

Tiffany Jimenez, Carolina Maldonado-Carreño, Eduardo Escallón

Authors

• Tiffany Jimenez, Universidad de los Andes (Uniandes)
  Presenting Author

• Carolina Maldonado-Carreño, Universidad de los Andes (Uniandes)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Eduardo Escallon, Universidad de los Andes (Uniandes)
  Non-Presenting Author

• Juliana Sanchez, Universidad de los Andes (Uniandes)
  Non-Presenting Author