Perspectivas sobre la calidad: el caso de las guarderías

Abstract

Quality is a problematic word and concept, especially when applied to educational institutions, such as day-care centres, whose goals are eminently educational: the promotion of infant growth and the support of families in the task. Defining the quality of educational services for children aged 0 to 3, identifying indicators, developing tools able to determine and evaluate it are issues discussed in a wide-ranging debate which began in the 1970s and involved researchers, service managers and caregivers, evaluation technicians, and public administrators. This paper briefly traces the history of this debate by focusing on the most significant proposals, from the studies of the 1980s to the documents and evaluation tools popular in the nineties. In its concluding part the essay offers a reflective and dialogic approach to quality and its appreciation higlighting its formative and improving function.