First Semester | ECED36 Infant and Toddler Program Ms. Abby-Gail C.

Encarnacion

Module 5
Components of Quality
Infant/Toddler Caregiving
Introduction
The first half of the course has equipped you with the knowledge of child growth and development. The
second half, starting with this module, will take you to learning more about the application of this
understanding in coming up with developmentally appropriate materials and activities, and
developmentally appropriate teaching and guidance techniques.

Objectives
At the end of this chapter, it is expected that you will be able to:
▪ discuss characteristics of quality programs for infants and toddlers;
▪ discuss social and cultural influences which impact infant/toddler care;
▪ explain the importance of establishing and maintaining strong, positive communication and
collaborative relationships with families;
▪ explain principles of quality caregiving; and
▪ explain appropriate teacher roles and responsibilities for caregivers of children under three.

Instructions
You are given four days to finish reading this module and do the activities, including the pretest and
posttest. Follow the suggested timeline:
Day 1
Chapter I: Characteristics of Quality Program for Infants and Toddlers

Day 2
Chapter II: Social and Cultural Influences that Impact Infant/Toddler Program
Chapter III: Importance of Communicating with Families

Day 3
Chapter IV: Quality Caregiving

Day 4
Quiz

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First Semester | ECED36 Infant and Toddler Program Ms. Abby-Gail C. Encarnacion

Pretest

A. Name 5 characteristics of quality program for infants and toddlers.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

B. Name the 5 social and cultural influences that impact infant/toddler program.
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

C. In 3-5 sentences, describe what quality caregiving looks like.

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First Semester | ECED36 Infant and Toddler Program Ms. Abby-Gail C. Encarnacion

Pretest Feedback

A. Name 5 characteristics of quality program for infants and toddlers.

Answers maybe any of the following.
▪ Promote Relationship-Based Interactions and Experiences
▪ Apply Knowledge of Early Brain Development to Facilitate Optimal Development
▪ Intentionally Promote Social-Emotional Development
▪ Intentionally Promote Language Development
▪ Continuously Strive to Improve the “Process” Quality of the Program
▪ Meaningfully Partner with Parents to Support Infant-Toddler Well-Being
▪ Ensure Cultural Congruency
▪ Structure Environments to Provide Developmentally Supportive Care
▪ Ensure Professionals Possess Appropriate Knowledge, Skills, and Dispositions; Provide Ongoing
Professional Development and Reflective Supervision
▪ Link to Health, Mental Health and Other Support Services for Young Children and Their Families,
Especially for Those with Risk Factors

B. Name the 5 social and cultural influences that impact infant/toddler program.
1. Developmental Milestones
2. Parenting Styles
3. Race, Class, and Intersecting Identities
4. Stereotype Threat
5. Examining Intersectionality

C. In 3-5 sentences, describe what quality caregiving looks like.

Answers may vary.

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First Semester | ECED36 Infant and Toddler Program Ms. Abby-Gail C. Encarnacion

I. Characteristics of Quality Program for Infants and Toddlers

(Authored by Charlyn Harper-Browne, PhD and Helen Raikes, PhD)
The Ten Essential Elements of Quality Infant-Toddler Programs are designed to promote high-quality
caregiving in all infant-toddler programs, whether the setting is a home, classroom or center. They
represent a holistic approach (to caregiving) that is based on cutting-edge research and best practices.
The goal is for infant-toddler programs to support positive developmental trajectories for all children,
including those children who are particularly vulnerable due to stress, poverty or other adverse early
experiences. These distinct but interrelated elements promote common practices that focus on warm,
responsive relationships between infants and toddlers and their caregivers. High-quality programs
integrate parents as meaningful partners and support cultural continuity between home and the infant-
toddler program. Quality environments also include structural supports such as low ratios and group size
and are designed in ways that enable caregivers to respond promptly and sensitively to babies’ cues.

#1: Promote Relationship-Based Interactions and Experiences

• Relationship-based infant-toddler programs provide warm, nurturing, responsive interactions, and
experiences between all parties in the infant-toddler setting.
• All areas of development depend on the quality and reliability of young children’s relationships with
parents and caregivers.
• Resilience research demonstrates that children facing adversity benefit from a supportive, consistent
relationship with an adult beginning early in life.
• Program procedures facilitate relationship-based practice that include: ensuring a sense of belonging;
facilitating language development, exploration and problem-solving; supporting family strengths; and
structuring the environment to provide for small groups, primary caregivers, individualized care and
continuity of care.

#2: Apply Knowledge of Early Brain Development to Facilitate Optimal Development

• Early experiences shape early brain development.
• Quality infant-toddler programs attend to (among other things) nutrition, sleep, warm, sensitive
relationships, physical activities, back and forth interaction.
• Prolonged, uninterrupted stress--without the buffering relationships a child needs--can result in
damaged, weakened systems and brain architecture that can have long-term adverse effects.

#3: Intentionally Promote Social-Emotional Development

• Social-emotional development is the primary task of infancy; it impacts all other domains and lays the
foundation for later development.
• Experiences that enable young children to explore their emotions and form healthy relationships with
others positively affect their emerging self-identity.
• There is increasing evidence that addressing social-emotional development/infant mental health should
be a priority when serving highly-stressed infants and toddlers and their families.

#4: Intentionally Promote Language Development

• Vocabulary by age three is quite predictive of later cognitive and language skills.
• Talk to and with babies. The (parent talk) literature is compelling, with implications for infant-toddler
programs. A strong focus on language development is vital.
• Research on high quality programs that serve vulnerable children and families suggests that time and
continuity in the program are important contributing factors for language development.

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#5: Continuously Strive to Improve the “Process” Quality of the Program: What Infants and Toddlers
Directly Experience
• Process quality is the how of infant-toddler care. It “goes to the heart of how children are responded to,
how activities for their learning are structured and carried out, how the day is structured and how
routines are used for both learning and loving, how materials are used for learning, how children and
families are greeted and supported.” (Raikes, Minnesota Essential Elements, 2012)

#6: Meaningfully Partner with Parents to Support Infant-Toddler Well-Being

• During the years from birth to age three, parents are central to the child’s self-regulation and well-
being. Because of this, quality infant-toddler programs: 1) prioritize respectful, reciprocal communication
that views parents as partners and 2) offer support for culturally responsive parenting practices.

#7: Ensure Cultural Congruency

• Cultural sensitivity is a theme that should be woven throughout all the elements, a universal character at
the core of caregiving.
• “Every individual is rooted in culture; culturally relevant ...programming requires learning accurate
information about the cultures of different groups and discarding stereotypes, addressing cultural
relevance in
making curriculum choices and adaptations as a necessary, developmentally appropriate practice...”
(from Multicultural Principles for Head Start, ACF, 2010).

#8: Structure Environments to Provide Developmentally Supportive Care

• High quality infant and toddler programs can help to buffer against the multiple adverse influences that
may hinder young children’s development by including structural elements such as: small groups, primary
care, continuity, individualized care, available/accessible materials, consistent routines, comfortable
space for parents, as well as environments that are inclusive, safe, encourage active exploration and
play and responsive to cultural and linguistic differences.

#9: Ensure Professionals Possess Appropriate Knowledge, Skills, and Dispositions; Provide Ongoing
Professional Development and Reflective Supervision
• Appropriate skills and dispositions include knowledge of infant-toddler development (including early
brain development and dispositions that are nurturing, attentive, and responsive).
• Caregivers pursue ongoing professional development that includes self-reflection.
• Reflective supervision is a necessary component of quality infant-toddler programs.

#10: Link to Health, Mental Health and Other Support Services for Young Children and Their
Families, Especially for Those with Risk Factors
• Caregiving environments can be protective or introduce additional risk factors for children, but have the
potential to be protective if appropriate supports are provided in conjunction with on-going quality in
other respects.
• Links to additional services may be needed as part of the program supports that are offered to
families at highest risk.

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II. Social and Cultural Influences that Impact Infant/Toddler Program

Child development refers to the biological, psychological, and emotional changes that occur in humans
between birth and the end of adolescence, as the individual progresses from dependency to increasing
autonomy. Culture plays an important role in influencing this development, and what is considered
“normal” development varies greatly from one culture to the next. The society and culture in which one
grows up influence everything from developmental milestones and parenting styles to what kinds of
hardship one is more likely to face.

Developmental Milestones
The normative approach to development examines the question “What is normal development?” In the
early decades of the 20th century, normative psychologists studied large numbers of children at various
ages to determine the average ages at which most children reach specific physical, cognitive, and
psychosocial milestones in development (Gesell, 1933, 1939, 1940; Gesell & Ilg, 1946; Hall, 1904). Not
all of the milestones were universal, meaning they are not experienced by all individuals across all
cultures. Biological milestones such as puberty tend to be universal, while social milestones, such as the
age at which children begin formal schooling or individuate from their parents, can differ greatly across
cultures (Gesell & Ilg, 1946).

Parenting Styles
Effective parenting styles also vary as a function of culture. While the authoritative parenting style
(characterized by the parent giving reasonable demands, setting consistent limits, expressing warmth and
affection, and listening to the child’s point of view) is the style that is most encouraged in modern
American society, this is not necessarily the case in other cultures. American children raised by
authoritative parents tend to have high self-esteem and social skills. In contrast, authoritarian parenting
(characterized by parents placing high value on conformity and obedience, tightly monitoring their
children, and expressing less warmth) is seen as more beneficial in other cultures. For instance, first-
generation Chinese American children raised by authoritarian parents did just as well in school as their
peers who were raised by authoritative parents (Russell et al., 2010).

Race, Class, and Intersecting Identities

Race and other identities are often sites of discrimination and oppression in societies; as such, they can
have a tremendous impact on childhood development. The United States is a very racialized society, and
children—especially children of color—often become aware of the dynamics of racism at a very young
age. Children are taught the stereotypes that go along with their particular race(s), as well as the races
of others, and these stereotypes can have a strong influence on their development.

Stereotype Threat
Stereotypes and racialized expectations often contribute to stereotype threat, in which a child
experiences anxiety or concern in a situation that has the potential to confirm a negative stereotype
about his or her social group. For example, if an African-American child is given the message that black
people are not as “smart” as white people, she may worry if she is not doing well in school because it
will, she fears, confirm the negative stereotype. Importantly, stereotype threat has been shown to be
something of a self-fulfilling prophecy—not because the negative stereotype is accurate, but because
fear of fulfilling that stereotype can lead to additional anxiety, which in turn can reduce performance.
For example, stereotype threat can lower the intellectual performance of black students taking the SAT,

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due to the stereotype that they are less intelligent than other groups, which may cause them to feel
additional pressure and anxiety.

Examining Intersectionality
Intersectionality is the study of the intersections, or the relationships, between different forms or systems
of discrimination or oppression. This theory suggests that—and seeks to examine how—various biological,
social, and cultural categories such as gender, race, class, ability, sexual orientation, religion, caste, and
other areas of identity interact and contribute to various forms of social inequality. Intersectionality holds
that different forms of discrimination—such as racism, sexism, biphobia, ableism, transphobia, and
classism—do not act independently of one another; instead, they interrelate and create a system based
on multiple forms of discrimination.

All of these factors are important to keep in mind when examining the cultural influences of such
discrimination on child development. For example, the experience of growing up as an African-American
girl in the United States cannot be understood only in terms of being black or of being female; instead,
the ways in which these identities interact and frequently reinforce each other must be examined. Race is
also closely linked to class, and people of color are still statistically much more likely to lack access to
basic resources and experience economic hardship. These resources include everything from proper
nutrition and healthcare to good education systems and neighborhood parks. All of these societal factors
intersect and interact to influence a child’s development, so much so that a child from a middle-class white
family has many more opportunities than a child from a lower-income family of color.

III. Importance of Communicating with Families

Positive communication is perhaps the most
powerful tool that you can use with families.
Good communication helps to inform,
reassure, and engage families. A single
conversation, positive or negative, can set
the tone for a family’s opinion of preschool
staff, so it is essential to develop effective
communication skills.

Positive communication and relationships

with families help to build trust. Trust is an
important part of helping to make sure that
you (a) maintain partnership with families
and (b) work as a team with families to help
children meet their goals. Trust between you and families makes parents feel good about the program
and its ability to meet their child’s needs.

A strong partnership between staff and families is built on positive communication. Positive communication
skills help to make sure that (a) accurate information is shared, (b) expectations are shared, and (c) trust
is established.

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Misunderstandings can also occur as your views and understanding of a situation may differ from that of
a family member. In these instances, it is helpful to consider the multiple perspectives to a situation. For
example:

Example Situation Your Perspective Family Perspective

Mother picks up her preschooler It’s important to offer We spend money on her clothes
at the end of the day. It’s the preschoolers multiple sensory and we need to keep them
third day in a row her daughter experiences throughout the day. looking nice. We do not go right
has come home messy and with Sensory experiences support home after I pick her up and I
dirty clothes (grass stains and early learning, growth and do not want people thinking I do
finger paint). development. not keep my daughter clean.

The teacher takes time to ask the parent questions and find out the importance of keeping her daughter
clean. The teacher learns that the family believes clothing is directly related to the quality of care
offered by their family. By sending their child to this early care and learning program, they believed this
was like sending their child to “school” and children are to go to school clean and well dressed. This is in
part how the family shows their respect for education. The teacher also talks with the family about how
sensory experiences are part of learning experiences and often involve messes. Through discussion, the
teacher and family decide that the teacher will change the girl’s clothes during messy sensory play
and/or ensure she is covered up.

As a teacher, you want to provide the best care possible for the children in your program and you have
an opportunity to consistently observe and learn about their development. Your observations, notes,
screenings and assessments are helpful for identifying strengths and possible areas of need that might
arise during the preschool years. Sharing these concerns with families is a first step to a supportive
planning process.

IV. Quality Caregiving

Caregiving is an important part of pedagogical work for teachers of infants and toddlers. It is not just a
set of tasks that must be completed for the child’s wellbeing. Neuroscience has demonstrated that,
especially in early life, development of the brain and the body are closely interrelated. This means that
physical care is an integral part of, and stimulates, infants’ and toddlers’ learning and development. The
nurturing involved in moments of care such as mealtimes, nappy-changing and going to sleep, offer a
meaningful context for developing attuned interactions which are an essential component of infant and
toddler pedagogy. Small group sizes, a high ratio of adults to children (ideally 1:3) and low staff
turnover all help to enable better quality caregiving practices. Research into quality caregiving for
infants and toddlers has identified the following eight features.

Primary caregiving in ECE

Primary caregiving is essential for supporting ‘attuned’ caregiving (which means the caregiver is aware of
and responsive to the child). This helps infants and toddlers build attachment and a sense of security. The
intimate caregiving relationships through primary caregiving build vital trust and reassurance for infants.
Primary caregivers can support children through separations and reunions with parents and whānau, and
other moments of transition such as going to sleep or mealtimes.

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Primary caregiving also contributes to strong relationships as it facilitates a multitude of interactions that
allow the teacher and the infant or toddler to get to know each other. Children’s needs for nutrition,
sleep, activity and comfort can then be met in individualized ways that further build their competence
and strengthen the connections between caregivers and children.

The child and family are often assigned a caregiver before they start at the early childhood setting, but
it might sometimes be worth considering the personalities of children and teachers to see what the best
match may be, or even allowing a bit of time for infants and toddlers to show a preference for a
particular teacher. A good match is important for effective relationship-building. No child or parent
should be forced into a primary caregiving relationship, so ECE providers need to create opportunities
for parents to voice concerns or questions, and be open to making modifications that are mutually
agreeable.

Continuity of caregiver
Continuity of care means that children remain with
the same caregiver for more than a year, and
ideally up until the child is three years old, giving
children and teachers time to get to know each
other. A lack of continuity can have negative impacts
on children’s learning and development as repeated
detaching and re-attaching to new caregivers is
emotionally stressful for infants and toddlers.

Many practices can support continuity of care. For

example, you might consider building ‘family
groups’ of children and one or two teachers which remain together in a small group for large parts of the
day, and which also remain constant over a prolonged period of time. Planning multi-age groups with
each teacher means that children need not transfer caregiver when they reach a birthday. Another
alternative is allowing ‘looping’, where same age groupings move on to a new physical space with their
caregiver until they leave the setting, at which point the caregiver takes on a new group.

Of course, it is likely to be impossible to have the same caregiver present at every moment of a child’s
time at the setting due to shift times, leave and other absences. Strategies to overcome these difficulties
include ensuring secondary caregivers build a relationship with and knowledge of the child, and making
sure that, if a teacher leaves, there is overlap between the familiar teacher and a new one. When new
caregivers need to step in to cover, this should be explained to the child. It is important to ensure a
consistency of practice across caregivers: while it does not replace the security of a primary caregiver, it
helps children know what to expect from each adult in your setting. For example, if one caregiver always
gives children a few minutes notice before coming back to change their nappies, another caregiver who
was caring for children in her place would also give children the advance notice they are used to.

Effective settling processes

It is important to have parents involved in the transition to ECE and the settling process. Ensuring the child’s
emotional security in the new setting should be seen as a joint task between the parent and the caregiver.
Try to have only one child settling in at a time, because the presence of the parents during this new child’s
visits can be unsettling for the other children.

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Keep the first visit short enough that feeding or changing will not be necessary, and have the parent
present the whole time. This visit is about the parent and child exploring the setting and ensuring a
positive experience.

On the second visit, the caregiver can start to interact more closely with both the parent and child, so that
the child becomes aware of their presence. On this and subsequent visits, increase the amount of time that
the parent and child spend in the setting each day. When the parent and teacher agree the child is
ready, the parent can start leaving the child; over the following visits, the length of time that the child is
left without the parent can be increased.

Ask the parent to carry out the first nappy change while you observe. That way you can base your
nappy change routine for that child on what they are used to with their parent. There might be aspects of
the parent’s nappy change routine that are less responsive or respectful than the teacher would like,
which offers the teacher an opportunity to explain common caregiving practice and its rationale, and
invite the parent to try some of these ideas at home. Repeat this practice of observing the parent’s
routine for mealtimes and sleep times.

Adapting to the child

Take time to find out how a child prefers to be fed, how they like to fall asleep and how they react to
loud noises or different kinds of touch. Adapt your practices to the child, rather than expecting the child
to meet your expectations or adapt to the setting’s fixed routines. A flexible programme will support you
to provide individualized care, as it enables you to follow the child instead of a roster. The aim is for
infants and toddlers to develop a sense of security that comes from knowing what to expect of their
world, both at home and in the early childhood setting.

Attentive responsiveness
Caring involves genuine attentiveness. For
example, this means watching attentively
for cues that the infant is ready for the
next mouthful during feeding. This gives
the child a role in the feeding process,
and demonstrates that you listen to their
every communication. Every interaction
provides an opportunity to interact in a
caring way, which offers children
guidance but also freedom to learn and
develop. The gentle and considerate
handling of and interaction with an infant or toddler also demonstrates your attitude towards them and
affects their developing self-concept as someone worthy of respect and consideration.

Partnership
Primary caregiving is not about focusing so much on a child that you lose sight of your own identity or
needs. Care is not effective when the independence of either the child or the caregiver is reduced. Both
teacher and child need to be heard by each other and feel able to express wishes, preferences and
dislikes. Caregiving is not about meeting children’s needs at whatever cost. Not all needs must be met:

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sometimes there are other priorities or children’s demands are unreasonable or unsafe. At times, not
complying with children’s requests might provide opportunities to build resilience, self-control and
tolerance.

Maximizing learning
Recognize the learning opportunities present within caregiving routines and the flow of everyday
experience. When you and the infant or toddler are both focused on the same activity of care, it allows
for the development of the shared meanings necessary for attuned caregiving. Within attuned
interactions, you can regulate and influence infants’ and toddlers’ attention and build their interest,
awareness and understanding. There are opportunities for co-operative action, where the infant or
toddler contributes to particular tasks during a nappy change, or during feeding, where both parties must
synchronize their movements. These are also rich contexts for language development and conversation.

Widening the range of relationships with others

The safety and security promoted by a predictable relationship with a permanent caregiver ensures that
the child is supported to develop relationships with other caregivers and children in the setting. This
enables the child to engage in, and learn from, a wider range of interactions.

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Posttest

Applying what you learned in this module, picture yourself building a Day Care Center. Fill out the
following information:

Name of the Institution:

Vision:

Core Values:

Mission:

Goal:

Objectives:

Action Plan:

Reminder:
Prepare for a quiz (Module 5).

References:
▪ Bakeman, R., & Adamson, L. B. (1984). Coordinating attention to people and objects in motherinfant and peer-infant
interaction. Child Development, 55, 1278–1289.
▪ Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University (2011). Building the brain’s “Air Traffic Control” system: How
early experiences shape the development of executive function: Working Paper No. 11. Retrieved from
www.developingchild.harvard.edu
▪ Boundless. Located at: https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/human-
development-14/infancy-and-childhood-72/cultural-and-societal-influences-on-child-development-281-12816/.
▪ Banks, R.A., Santos, R.M., & Roof, V. (2003). Discovering Family Concerns, Priorities, and Resources: Sensitive family
information gathering. Young Exceptional Children, 6(2), 11-19.
▪ Dalli, C., Rockel, J., Duhn, I., & Craw, J. with Doyle, K. (2011). What’s special about teaching and learning in the first
years? Investigating the “what, hows and whys” of relational pedagogy with infants and toddlers. Summary report.
Teaching and Learning Research Initiative. Retrieved from
http://www.tlri.org.nz/sites/default/files/projects/9267_summaryreport.pdf

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