This may be specified as the number of hours teachers must be available at the setting for teaching and non-teaching activities. This number varies widely across all countries with available data. These affect job satisfaction and staff retention, and through this, contribute to the quality of ECEC services (Clarke-Stewart et al., Smaller ratios are often seen as beneficial because they allow staff to focus more on the needs of individual students, and reduce the amount of class time needed to deal with disruptions.