Abstracts - Earli

effects of after-school care and education in Switzerland yet. The international situation is similar.There are few studies that focus on the effects of family and out-of-family care related todevelopmental outcomes of children. Most of these studies are set in the pre-school age. Howeverthe results of these studies and those of the pre-school sector cannot be extended in general orapplied without examination to the varying Swiss circumstances. In comparison to other countries,such as the United States or France, school-age education and care programs in Switzerland arevery different in their structure. There are offerings at different times of the day. It is not the rule inSwitzerland that children are at school for the whole day. The research project presented in thispaper, which is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation will take place in the Germanspeakingpart of Switzerland and is designed so as to provide empirical evidence and therefore abasis for decisions pertaining to (Swiss) educational policies. This longitudinal study will addressquestions relating the quality of different settings of institutional and family care to their effects onchildren’s cognitive and socio-emotional development in the first years of school (age 6-8). Thehypotheses will be tested using a longitudinal survey with quasi-experimental design using twotesting groups and one control group. We will present first results.Quality of stimulation in preschools from an individual child perspective: assessing environmentalconditions of early childhood developmentSusanne Kuger, Otto-Friedrich-University Bamberg, GermanyKatharina Kluczniok, Otto-Friedrich-University Bamberg, GermanyHans-Günter Rossbach, Otto-Friedrich-University Bamberg, GermanyConsidering the ongoing international debate about "good" quality in early childhood educationwe focus on the differentiation between distinct but interrelated concepts. Educational quality canbe percepted at group level and at a single child’s level. Moreover both concepts contain aspects ofglobal and domain-specific quality of stimulation. The research presented is part of a largerGerman research group studying educational processes, selection decisions and competencedevelopment in preschool and primary school age children (BiKS, Bildungsprozesse,Kompetenzentwicklung und Selektionsentscheidungen im Vor- und Grundschulalter). In ourpresentation we therefore address structure, stability and changes in quality of stimulation at grouplevel as well as at an individual child’s level. Using a multi-method longitudinal design we analyzethe data of two measurement points of 102 children (mean age 45 and 51 months, SD=3). Ourfocus in data analysis lies on the distinctness and interrelatedness of quality at group level and atsingle child level, both integrating aspects of global and domain-specific quality. An outlook onfurther results including measurement points throughout the target children’s preschool years isgiven.Short-term and long-term effects of quality characteristics in familiesWolfgang Tietze, Freie Universität Berlin, GermanyEarly education and its quality has become a major topic in the educational systems of manycountries. The present study deals with both, the educational quality in family-settings as well asin centre-based settings, and investigates its impact on various domains of child development,including language development, social development and mastering of daily living activities. Thestudy includes a cross-sectional and a longitudinal part. In the cross-sectional part a randomsample of some 400 four and a half year old kindergarten children, drawn in five states ofGermany, was investigated in regard to the educational quality of their family and kindergartensettings and their developmental status in various developmental domains. In the longitudinal partof the study, the children were reassessed four years later when they were at the end of grade 2.– 273 –