Peer-reviewed article
Parental perspectives on ECEC settings that foster child well-being: a comparison across nine European countries
Catharina P. J. van Trijp, Martine Louise Broekhuizen, Thomas Moser, M. Clara Barata, Cecília Aguiar et al. ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study surveyed 359 parents across nine European countries about what features of early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings help young children's well-being. Parents emphasized process quality—how staff interact and care for children—more than structural features like class size or ratios. For children under 3, parents prioritized care-oriented features, while for older children they valued educational features more. The findings were fairly consistent across countries regardless of how their ECEC systems are organized.
Key points
- Parental perspectives on ECEC quality align with features identified in research literature
- Process quality features (staff interactions, responsiveness) mentioned more frequently than structural features across all countries
- Care-oriented features prioritized for children under 3 years old
- Educational-oriented features prioritized for children 3 to 6 years old
- Age-related differences in parental preferences were similar across countries regardless of governance structure
Limitations
This study captures parental perspectives only and does not measure actual child outcomes or assess whether features parents value actually improve well-being. The findings are based on interview data which may reflect social desirability bias or limited awareness of quality indicators.
Abstract
Parents play a vital role in identifying children’s needs for support and Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) features that support children’s well-being. This study examined parental perspectives on features of ECEC that foster young children’s well-being under and above the age of 3 years by interviewing 359 parents across nine European countries (England, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, and Portugal). Results revealed that parental perspectives largely converged with quality features discussed in ECEC research. Process quality features were mentioned more frequently than structural features for all children 0- to 6-years-old in almost all countries. However, care-oriented features were mentioned more frequently for under 3 years, and educational-oriented features were mentioned more frequently for the older group. Regarding structural features, patterns of responses across the two age groups were similar in most countries. Age differences were not more pronounced in countries with a split governance system.