Is child-related training or general education a better predictor of good quality care?

The combination of education and training for caregivers provides the best preparation for ensuring high quality of care. Education makes an important difference in the way in which caregivers interact with children - a difference which is further supplemented by child-related training. However, for those with no education even small amounts of training seem to have a significant effect. The level of knowledge relating to development which is provided by education and training seems to be an important factor in their effect on adult-child interaction and children's developmental outcomes. Thus, where only relatively brief training is available to caregivers its' curriculum should be directed to the provision of the greatest amount of child development knowledge possible. The type and amount of training and education caregivers have received and how clearly these are specified varies greatly from study to study making it difficult to interpret their effects. Future research in this area needs to utilize a common method of categorizing caregivers' levels of education and training which clearly specifies the number of caregivers in each category.