Quality Assurance and Improvement in the Early Education and Care Sector. OECD Education Policy Perspectives. No. 55

This Policy Brief draws on the "Quality beyond Regulations" policy review undertaken by the OECD between 2018 and 2022 to foster an understanding of the different dimensions of quality in early childhood education and care (ECEC), focusing on process quality in particular. Process quality encompasses children's daily interactions through their ECEC settings -- including with other children, staff, space and materials, their families and the wider community -- which are directly linked to their development, learning and well-being. A primary goal of the policy review was to identify and discuss the main policy levers that can enhance process quality and provide countries with concrete examples of policies. Monitoring and developing comprehensive datasets are critical processes for quality assurance and improvement and are therefore one of these main policy levers. This Policy Brief presents the main policy considerations to design quality assurance and improvement systems for ECEC, building on the main findings of the "Quality beyond Regulations" policy review and two country reviews prepared for Ireland and Luxembourg.