2015- Symposium de l’Équipe organisé dans le cadre du 25e European Early Childhood Education Research Association Meeting (EECERA), Barcelone, Espagne.

Résumé
Quebec established a networkof reduced parental contribution childcare spaces ($7 a day per child) almost two decades ago. Consequently, the number of government regulated Early Childhood Centres (ECCs) has increased considerably, from 58,284 in 1997 to 268,624 in 2014. This symposium will present the results of a comparative longitudinal study of cognitive, language, socio-emotional and motor development of 228 children divided into 3 groups (ECCs N=138, home childcare services N= 33, parental care N=57) at ages 4, 5 and 7. Characteristics of the family environment and links with childcare quality that are associates with child development will also be presented.

Résumé
This study describes explanatory factor analysis and concurrent validity analysis of the Educational Quality Observation Scale (EQOS) designed to observe childcare quality, aligned with Quebec’s Education Programme for Childcare. Recent studies have highlighted the importance of psychometric properties of quality rating scales necessary to capture the real effects of childcare on child development (Zaslow et al., 2011). This project relies on Bronfonbrenner and Morris’ (1998) ecosystemic model of child development. Data was gathered from two larger projects. The first included 404 childcare centres, and the second included 179 children from centre-based childcare and family childcare services. In both studies, childcare quality was measured with the original EQOS comprised of 153 items, divided into four dimensions: 1. physical setting (44 items), 2. activities (30), 3. educator/child interaction (49), 4. educator/parent interaction (7). Child development was also measured with the WPPSI-III and the CBCL in the second project. University ethics approval was granted. All standard ethical considerations were respected, such as anonymity, informed consent, and the right to withdraw at any time. Exploratory factor analysis identified six factors (41 items remained): 1. interactions/stimulation (11 items), 2. planning/observation (8), 3. material/layout (8), 4. routine activities (9), 5. learning support (2), 6. outdoor play (3). Cronbach’s alphas ranged from 0.60 (factor 4) to 0.98 (factor 5). Concurrent validity analysis suggested that higher quality is related to higher cognitive scores and fewer behavioural problems. These results help explain childcare quality and its relationship to child development.

Résumé
This study investigates the relationship between childcare quality and gain in pragmatic abilities in children between 4 and 5 year old. Pragmatics is the study of language as it is used in conversation (Gallagher, 1991). The educative experience of the child is known to play a significant role in the development of pragmatic abilities during the preschool years (Ramaswamy & Bergin, 2009). However, the extent to which the childcare quality is related to pragmatic development remains to be explored. This project relies on Bronfonbrenner and Morris’ (1998) ecosystemic model of child development. We measured pragmatic abilities of 113 children twice at age 4 and at age 5. Pragmatic abilities were measured with a French adaptation of the Conversational Skills of Preschool Children (Girolametto, 1997), a parent questionnaire. The measure of childcare quality was an average of the 4 dimensions of the Educational Quality Observation Scoale (EQOS), an observational instrument that assesses classroom quality. This study was part of a larger study on the quality of daycare and the family factors related to children development and school readiness (Bigras et al.) All standard ethical considerations were respected, such as anonymity, informed consent, and the right to desist at any time. A linear regression analysis shows a significant relationship between childcare quality and gain in pragmatic abilities between the ages of 4 and 5. The discussion will present the different dimensions of quality that are thought to play a role in the development of pragmatic abilities as well as the role of possible moderators.

Résumé
Our study investigated the role of parental stress, parental educative practices, family literacy practices, and language abilities on the reading comprehension of children aged 7. The importance of family literacy practices and children’s language and literacy scores is well documented (Senechal, 2006). However, other parental factors, which have received less research attention may also contribute to literacy development. Parental stress and parental educative practices are the two factors of interest in the present study. This project draws on Bronfonbrenner and Morris’ (1998) ecosystemic modelof child development. Measures of parental stress, parental educative practices, family practices, and language abilities were administered using parent questionnaires. The children’s reading comprehension was measured with the WIAT (N=128). University ethics approval was granted. All standard ethical considerations were respected, such as anonymity, informed consent, and the right to desist at any time. A path analysis estimated potential causal relationships. The results indicate that the contributions of parental stress and parental educative practices on reading comprehension are mediated by children language abilities. Taken alone, family literacy practices are also significantly related to language abilities and are a significant contributor of reading comprehension. However, when parental stress and parental educative practices are included along with family literacy practices in the model, the contribution of family literacy practices is no longer significant. The relative importance of family literacy activities, educative practices and parental stress on reading comprehension will be discussed.

Résumé
This study investigates the long-term effect of previous preschool experience on pragmatic abilities. Pragmatics is the study of language as it is used in conversation (Gallagher, 1991). The educative experience of the child is known to play a significantrole in the development of pragmatic abilities during the preschool years (Ramaswamy & Bergin, 2009). However, the long-term effects of daycare center attendance remain to be explored. This project relies draws on Bronfonbrenner and Morris’ (1998) ecosystemic model of child 142development and was part of a larger study on the quality of daycare (Bigras et al.). To explore the question, we administered the CCC-2, a measure the pragmatic abilities, on 153 children at the end of their first year of schooling. Children were divided into two groups: children having attended a daycare centre and children who stayed at home with their parents. In addition, data on socio-economical characteristics were gathered. University ethics approval was granted. All standard ethical considerations were respected, such as anonymity, informed consent, and the right to desist at any time. Three findings emerge from our results 1) In general, girls show better pragmatic abilities than boys. 2) Notwithstanding gender, children who have attended a center daycare at preschool show significant higher scores on the CCC-2 at age seven. 3) This positive effect is greater for children from disadvantaged socio-economical status. Few exploratory hypotheses will be proposed to understand the positive effect of daycare centre attendance on later pragmatic abilities of children (especially boys) from lower socio-economical status.

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Résumé
This exploratory study examines play guidelines in Quebec’s childcare services curriculum and explores the qualityof early childhood educators’ (ECE) and home childcare providers’ (HCP) “interactions valuing children’s play”. Play is the centre of many ECE curricula (OECD, 2012). However, observations have suggested that adults’ interactions supporting children’s play seem rather scarce (Bigras et al., 2014). Interactions valuing children’s play rely on Piagetian (e.g. organising the physical setting to promote exploration) and Vygotskian (e.g. interacting to sustain development and learning) approaches to child development. Data was gathered from two projects conducted in Quebec (Canada). The participants are the ECEs and HCPs who worked with 72 children when they were 18, 24 and 36 months-old (first sample) and 170 newly recruited children aged 48 months (second sample). Each time, process quality was observed using the Educational Quality Observation Scales (Bourgon & Lavallée, 2004 a, b, c). The  »interactions valuing play » subscale is composed of 8 items addresses whether the practitioner’s interventions respect and sustain children’s play. All participating families were informed and signed a consent form. At each time point, cross-sectional analysis revealed unsatisfactory quality regarding 7 items of the full subscale. The “respect children’s play” item was one of the only exceptions, with scores in the satisfactory range. This study suggests that, while adults respected children’s play, their interventions might not support their initiatives, create a playful climate, etc. Discussion stresses the need to improveECEs’ and HCPs’ interactions sustaining young children’s development and learning during play.