Exploring ratios and group size as indicators of quality in the New Zealand and Japanese early childhood context

What constitutes a quality centre or an effective teacher cannot be assumed to be globally the same and beliefs about quality invariably support dominant ideologies. For example, in the New Zealand early childhood education context, teacher-child ratios and group size are seen as two of the criteria used to identify structural indicators of quality. In Japan, it is difficult to support the kind of learning environment favoured in New Zealand due to the high Japanese teacher-child ratios. This article discusses the issues of teacher-child ratios and group size which have become uncontested markers of quality in New Zealand centres, yet rarely feature in Japanese discussions.