ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

Most of the parents are concerned first about the ages accepted, cost, and teacher qualifications in this order of questioning.

One of my research projects in my Early Childhood Teaching Masters program focused on the same topic and the results of the survey I conducted on parents in my community yielded interesting results similar to some of the comments above.

Most parents have similar concerns and expectations when seeking non-parental care for their young children. However, these concerns and expectations may differ from community to community depending on prevailing issues and child care needs in that community. For the parents in my community the main issue was availability which limited them in their choice of care such as full time/part time and type of setting options as well as other issues such as proximity, cost and quality issues.

Nevertheless, when provided with all options the parents rated early childhood qualification (even though their expectation of such qualification was low-certificate) and care givers' first language as top priority. In addition, practicality such as cost, location and convenience sometimes override parents' concern for quality and satisfaction.

When answer the phone and talk to a new parent the first thing they ask is if we are room for their child and how much is the cost, we then invite them in for a tour before they make any decision. Usually at the tour they are up to more questions because they have a visual. They don't ask if we are accredited and don't ask about our 4 star Qualistar rating. In our area it is the cost, the hours and the availablity.

Rural and remote areas are different than cities. When parents are selecting an early childhood program in a very rural area the most important factor for them is not raising their child by a stranger, an outsider, or a child care provider who is culturally different than they are eventhough she is an early childhood educator who tries to improve the quality of existing programs. Then, they are taking into consideration the price, location and the opinions of others who have used child care facilities in the community etc.

I don't work in a program for children, but I have been involved in a lot of studies. The National Consumer Study in the 70s, found that parent choices were based on cost, location, Quality of relationships and social learning, basic ECE, whether the child is safe and healthy. Researchers rank-ordered these priorities and concluded, incorrectly, I think, that parents were more interested in cost and convenience than in quality. I read the data to tell us that parents first evaluate programs on accessibillity. If the program is in another state, or charges twice the market rate, it is not going to be put on a list from which the parent must choose. Parents then base their choices on quality: safety, health, learning, engagement, relationships, will my child like it?

Another parent study in the family child care field found that parents
feel unable to determine a program's quality; they would like an expert to go with them help them choose.

WFD conducted a study of how "family friendly" programs are, in order to develop a tool to measure ""family friendliness". The study found that directors are much
more family friendly than teachers,
which may mean our professional development of teachers is lacking in
some aspects of ECE.

As a parent I'm looking for warm home like environment I want to know the teachers are happy beside qualifications I think is very important but the teachers are the ones who take care and teach our kids They have to be happy (good payment and benefits well trained) so they can stay longer; no just for a wile they get something better. I don't want my child experiment 2 or 3 teachers in a year I want some body who connect and love my child and teach during I'm working because I don't want to feel guilty I want to feel that I have and alternative to cover my necessity.

I have found that the first consideration for parents looking for child care is usually safety. They want to know that their child will be safe while in our program. They also want to know about staff to child ratios, and consistency of care.

It has been my experience, especially in the past couple years, that first and foremost, parents are looking for quality. Specifically for good staff to child ratios, higher teacher qualifications, and lower staff turn-over. These seem to be the primary questions I receive. Second to this I have found is our approach to curriculum and discipline. Parents seem to be looking for a where there child is "going to learn something and not just play". We are a play-based program, so I have to explain to parents the benefits of this approach to children's social/emotional development, and the impact that has on their cognitive development. I almost never have a parent ask if we are accredited, I don't think most people are familiar with this process.

Schools really need to work hard at marketing their programs. This was not the case years ago. Their are more options now and parents are better educated as to what is important in a good early childhood program. They know what to look for and they know what they want for their child. This is a positive change in the ealry childhood field.

Parents are interested in all of the areas that you mention.
Teachers qualifications, NAEYC Accreditation status (we currently are accredited), cost, academics though we try to explain how the children learn best through play... and that academics alone are not stressed.
Parents really shop around - which we actually encourage.