Working by the rules: early childhood professionals' perceptions of regulatory requirements

The regulatory environment in which long daycare centres are required to operate plays a key role in determining what early childhood professionals do and how they go about doing it. This paper reports finding from a state-wide survey undertaken in New South Wales, Australia, which shows how early childhood professionals position themselves on four key aspects of the regulatory environment: the premises underlying regulatory requirements; its percieved support of them as professionals to provide quality care; how state regulations and the national accreditation system impact upon their daily practice; and the way these audit systems affect their professional esteem. Implications for job satisfaction are discussed. The paper concludes by asserting that regulatory requirements need to be evaluated in terms of their contribution to structural, process, contextual and work environment dimensions of quality.