Children’s Perceptions of the Psychosocial Climate of School-age Child Care Programs

The purpose of this study was to further test the psychometric properties of a scale developed to measure children’s perceptions of their after-school teacher and to understand the scale’s relationship to the quality of the school-age child care program. Eleven after-school programs were observed and rated on program quality, and 146 children completed the VOT scale. Results found a positive and significant relationship between children’s perceptions of the psychosocial climate of the after-school program and program quality. Overall, participating programs were of minimal quality and children had a more positive than negative perception of teachers. There were no significant gender differences on the VOT scale, but there were significant differences between age groups. First- and 2nd-graders had the highest mean score on the scale, while 5th- and 6th-graders had the lowest. The VOT has strong construct validity as well as relevance and utility in understanding overall program quality as perceived by the children who receive care.