The Inspectorate of Education from the Netherlands conducted an inspection into the quality of the Laura Linzey Daycare Center on January 24, 2023, whereby it assessed seven standards. According to the Inspectorate, the daycare center scored ‘outstanding’ in terms of monitoring the development of the children, cooperation with all partners, implementing its vision, ambitions and goals, and having a strong management of implementation and quality culture. Besides the four standards which were found to be ‘outstanding,’ three standards were qualified as ‘sufficient.’ These concern the standards of educational provision, pedagogical-educational skills, and evaluation, accountability and dialogue.
Great improvements
The Inspectorate found that the LLDCC has made ‘great improvements’ to the quality of the care center, including the quality care and assessment, since the previous inspection in April 2022. “The LLDCC has made great steps with respect to monitoring the development of the children. Caregivers are now more aware of the importance of monitoring the development. The specific observations make sure that developmental issues are noticed at an early stage,” the Inspectorate stated in its report.
The LLDCC cooperates well with all relevant partners on Saba. “This cooperation has improved compared to the last inspection. We conclude that the parents are informed adequately about what happens at the childcare center. We assess the standard as Outstanding/Good because, among other things, parents are now encouraged in a focused manner to conduct activities with their children at home and that many parents actually do so.”
The cooperation with the primary school has improved, and the daycare center also cooperates intensively with the BES(t) 4 Kids program, the external partners providing care and external experts for coaching and support.
Plan-do-check-act cycle
As for the standard, Vision, ambitions and goals, the Inspectorate determined that the LLDCC has made ‘great steps’ in the field of quality care. “At the previous inspection, it became clear that the organization reflected on quality and that a clear vision had been defined. There is now a clear plan-do-check-act cycle. Besides the pedagogic policy plan, the management and the staff use an annual plan with specific improvement goals. The progress is monitored over the course of the year and the achievement of the goals is reported. Using this approach, the daycare center ensures that the quality keeps improving and is embedded.”
The Inspectorate found that because of the ‘driven management’ of the director, the LLDCC continuously worked on implementing the vision and mission and on achieving the defined goals set out in the pedagogic policy plan. “Management and caregivers are continuously working on improving their professionalism. Caregivers are working on increasing the qualification level and the management organizes (training) courses for specific elements of the profession.”
Making strides
Management of the Laura Linzey Daycare expressed appreciation for the Inspectorate’s report. “We are pleased with its content and agree that we are continually making strides to improve on the safety, adequacy and the quality of childcare.”
The annual investigation was conducted as part of the Childcare Island Ordinance 2020. In order to come to its findings, the Inspectorate during its visit observed the teaching strategies of the pedagogic staff, analyzed documents, and conducted talks with the staff and the director.