Psychologists from the University of Nijmegen, Holland, conducted two ten-minute controlled observations of 217 caregivers at 64 daycare settings, one with a group of three children and one with a group of five.
The children were randomly selected from the caregivers' regular groups and aged from infancy to four years.
The researchers measured a caregiver's behaviour towards a group of children during structured play. They also measured the children's wellbeing and their co-operation with the caregiver.
Elles de Schipper, developmental psychologist and an author of the study, said, 'The main difference is that when there are three children, a caregiver is better able to divide her attention and adapt her behaviour to individuals. The ratios are more important for under-twos, because they are less able to ask for attention or help.'
The older children received a quality of care just above acceptable in the 1:5 groups, while for the younger children it was just below acceptable. Dr de Schipper said, 'The difference wasn't very big, but we felt it was essential.'
In fact, the researchers noticed that the older children actually responded 'more positively' in the larger group.
Dr de Schipper added, 'The most important thing to realise is that the ratio is a crucial feature to study and that it does affect the quality of care.'
Details of the report, 'Effects of Child-Carergiver Ratio', are available at www.srcd.org.
