BEFORE- AND AFTER- SCHOOL CARE : DEVELOPING AN ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENT

Abstract

This is an exploratory attempt to develop an assessment tool for the Before- and After- School Care (BASC) service sector in Singapore in response to the need for formal monitoring of BASC programme. It does the groundwork of developing a checklist that BASC centres can use to assess the adequacy of their programme in terms of whether the programme possesses the characteristics of a quality BASC. This report is divided into five chapters. An overview of the various topics covered by each chapter will be given here. Chapter one talks about the roles played by the BASC service. The BASC programme serves the children by playing the developmental role, it serves the parents by playing the complementary role, and it serves the community by playing the preventive role. Some trends in Singapore will be discussed in support of the researcher's rationale and aim for this study. Chapter two gives the theoretical underpinnings for the study. The Ecological perspective is used to show the BASC in relation to the school-age child. The developmental needs of the school-age child are discussed to provide an understanding of the needs of the children the BASC programme seek to serve. Chapter three describes the methodology used to develop the checklist. The research design, the sampling method, the data-gathering procedure, the data-processing procedure, and the pilot-testing procedure will all be described in this chapter. Chapter four provides the explanation for the nine main sections of the checklist, sharing the emphasis placed in each section by the participants. The usage of the checklist is also explained in this chapter on how to rate and interpret the results of the ratings. Chapter five concludes the whole report with a discussion on some issues that were brought up but not included m the checklist. Recommendations for future research studies were also suggested. A copy of the checklist has been included in Appendix B. A letter with instructions on the usage of the checklist is attached to it. It is the researcher's hope that the checklist will be put to effective use by the service-providers to assess their BASC programme so that quality care can be given to the school-age children under their charges.