ECERS-R, ECERS-E and ITERS-R

The Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale – Revised (ECERS-R) is designed to evaluate quality of provision for children aged 2½ to 5 years in centre-based settings.

The Infant Toddler Environment Rating Scale – Revised (ITERS-R) is the partner scale for the 0-2½ age range. Both the ECERS-R and ITERS-R contain a wide range of statements or ‘indicators’ with which to evaluate the quality of the early years environment in its broadest sense. These indicators 'stack up' like building blocks to celebrate strengths and provide signposts to improvement. They also provide a rigorous means of measuring quality - and improvement in quality - over time.The ECERS-R and ITERS-R evaluate seven broad dimensions of quality:

• Space and furnishings (e.g. room layout, accessibility of resources, display)
• Personal care routines (e.g. welfare requirements such as health & safety and provision for sleeping)
• Language and reasoning (e.g. supporting children’s communication, language and literacy development; critical thinking)
• Activities (e.g. provision of an exciting and accessible learning environment, resources to support specific types of play)
• Interaction (e.g. supervision, support for social interactions)
• Programme structure (e.g. opportunities for children to access their own curriculum, planning schedules/routines to meet children’s needs)
• Provision for parents and staff (e.g. partnership with parents, staff training and development)

Both the ECERS-R and ITERS-R were developed by Thelma Harms, Richard Clifford and Debby Cryer at the University of North Carolina.

An extension to the ECERS-R (the ECERS-E) was designed by Professor Kathy Sylva, Professor Iram Siraj-Blatchford and Brenda Taggart as part of the EPPE Project. It provides greater depth and additional items in four educational aspects of provision:

• Literacy (e.g. opportunities for emergent writing, letters and sounds)
• Mathematics (e.g. number, reasoning)
• Science and Environment (e.g. supporting children’s creative and critical thinking and understanding of the natural and physical world)
• Diversity (e.g. planning for children’s individual learning needs, valuing and respecting other cultures, gender diversity).