Information seeking in family day care: access, quality and personal cost

Family day-care (FDC) educators work autonomously to provide care and education for children of mixed ages, backgrounds and abilities. To meet the demands and opportunities of their work and regulatory requirements, educators need access to context-relevant and high quality information. No previous research has examined how and where these workers access information. This study aimed to explore how and where FDC educators access information on children's social and emotional well-being. Data on information-seeking by educators was collected using focus groups and individual interviews. We found that educators use a range of networks to source information on children's social and emotional well-being. Information networks comprise other educators, FDC coordination staff, external health and childhood professionals, and the Internet. The availability, quality and personal costs associated with different sources have implications for educators and the collective capacity of FDC to respond to changing evidence and government requirements.