Proving quality or improving quality: Who\u27s minding the shop

For decades early childhood teachers have been autonomous in ensuring they deliver quality programs for young children in their care. More recently in some Australian states, shifts in educational policy and decentralisation of school administration have taken matters of quality assurance out of the hands f classroom teachers and given them to senior school administrators. This paper discusses current developments in professional teaching standards and how this approach might be used to assess the quality of early childhood programs at a school and individual level. Limitations of a standards framework are discussed, and the alternative ways of using standards that are put forward are more likely to result in improving quality in early childhood education