For the past years, quality of early education and care has been in the focus of society, as well as governments and the scientific community. External evaluations are a tool to enhance quality development. They promote the creation of knowledge and facilitate communication about quality within early years provisions and beyond. Systematic external evaluations have been compulsory in the State of Berlin for the past ten years. In this study, we examined the relation between the benefit of external evaluations perceived by early years principals and characteristics of the external evaluation. Using data of N=755 early years principals, regression analysis was conducted. Regression analysis revealed that the quality of feedback – conducted as a dialogue – at the end of the external evaluation process was important to predict its benefit. This predictor fully mediated the quality of the evaluator’s work.

Schlagworte
Early Education and Care, Kindergarten, Quality, Quality Development