Dimensions of pedagogical quality in preschool

Abstract

Four dimensions of pedagogical quality focusing on children's opportunities for learning and development in preschool are suggested. This article explores how they are constituted and how they can be used for evaluation to discern pedagogical quality as a whole and part of a whole and to understand how quality is experienced and valued from different perspectives. The four dimensions are: those of society, the child, the teacher and the learning context. This approach to evaluation has evolved from a meta‐analysis of the results of four empirical studies. The object of research in this article was children's possibilities for participation and influence in preschool. When the four dimensions of quality were used for evaluation, a broader and deeper picture of influence and participation as a pedagogical quality emerged. The results highlight the complexity of pedagogical quality and how it is constituted in the interaction between various dimensions and aspects of human and material resources. It shows that, in order to grasp the complexity of pedagogical quality, it is necessary to study the same aspect, phenomenon and situation from more than one perspective at one and the same time.