Profiles of teacher-child interaction quality in groups of 3-year-old children in Quebec and France.

Theory and studies support that educational quality may differ according to socio-political context even in states with similar cultures. Based on a secondary analysis of data, this study aims at identifying latent profiles of adult-child interaction quality in groups of three-year-old children in Quebec's (Canada) early childhood centers and France's kindergarten classrooms using the CLASS Pre-K. This study also aims to explore existing associations between identified profiles, socio-political contexts, and structural characteristics (staff qualifications, ages, group size). Latent profile analyses showed four interaction quality profiles, namely a high-quality profile (HQ), a medium-high-quality profile (MHQ), a medium quality profile (MQ), and a medium-low-quality profile (MLQ). The scores of the three CLASS Pre-K domains associated with identified profiles show a higher average interaction quality in Quebec compared with France, suggesting a more favorable sociocultural context for interaction quality in Quebec. As for characteristics of structural quality, analyses suggest that the group size variable is significantly associated with scores of interaction quality, with the HQ and the MHQ profiles showing a significantly lower group size than the MQ and MLQ profiles. Age is also significantly associated with profiles, exhibiting a general trend of younger participants found in higher quality profiles. Courses of action to enhance French policies are discussed.

Early Childhood Educators' Perceptions of Their Emotional State, Relationships with Parents, Challenges, and Opportunities During the Early Stage of the Pandemic.

This article presents a study about the impact of COVID-19 on childcare center educators in Quebec (Canada). Regulated childcare services were closed due to the pandemic between March 16 and May 31, 2020, in areas considered "hot" (highly affected by the pandemic). During this time, some centers were transformed into "emergency childcare services" available to parents considered to be essential workers. Therefore, few children attended, and most educators worked remotely. In May 2020, 372 educators completed an online questionnaire regarding their emotional state, challenges, and learning opportunities. Results indicate that half of the respondents reported a decrease in their level of well-being at work and an increase in their stress level. Educators working remotely were more likely to report a lower level of stress than when working with children at daycare (36.1% vs 19.7%). Despite these findings, educators estimated that the parents who used their emergency childcare service presented either high (37.7%) or average (32.2%) levels of wellbeing. The factors that educators identified as facilitating their interactions with families included parental recognition of their work (11.68%) and direct contact with them (12.62%). While many tasks accomplished at home were done for the first time during this period (i.e., creating video capsules for children and parents, virtual meetings with children and colleagues), a large majority of respondents reported that these tasks made them feel useful. Working at their own pace (34.7%) was seen as the principal advantage of remote working. Finally, 28.84% mentioned that the reduced ratio (1:2 or 1:3) was a facilitating factor that they would like to maintain during the upcoming reopening phase. The discussion uses the Job Demands and Resources theoretical framework (Bakker and Demerouti in Wellbeing 3(2):1-28, 2014; Dicke et al. in J Occupat Health Psychol 23(2): 262-277, 2017) to explain the educators' work-related demands and emotional state in both remote and CPE working pandemic contexts. In conclusion, we argued that this pandemic reveals the complexity, but also the essential nature of the work of early childhood educators, in particular by identifying their needs for support and recognition essential to their professional commitment.