Prior research has consistently established that higher levels of quality in early childhood education and care are linked with better outcomes for children (e.g., Mashburn et al., 2008; NICHD, 2005). However, research has also suggested that subcomponents of quality matter more for specific domains of child development (e.g., Bryant, Zaslow, & Burchinal, 2010). Thus, it is important to study the associations between specific dimensions of early childhood settings (e.g., teachers’ beliefs and practices about enhancing children’s peer interactions and relationships), and particular sets of child outcomes (e.g., having friends, being liked or accepted by peers, and participating in peer subgroups). Within a broader study focusing on the social dimensions of classroom quality and preschoolers’ social outcomes, we hypothesize that teacher’s relationships with classroom children can serve as a model for other classroom relationships (Curby, Brock, & Hamre, 2013), and, in particular, for peer interactions and relationships, that provide unique opportunities and challenges for preschool children. Interestingly, although Portuguese preschool curriculum guidelines value child-child interactions, information is lacking about Portuguese teachers’ beliefs, priorities, choices, practices, and strategies specifically related to the support of these peer interactions. Considering that the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) Pre-K version (Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2008) focuses on interactions between teachers and children, and on the specific practices that teachers use to facilitate children’s activities and learning (Cash, Hamre, Pianta, & Myers, 2012), the purpose of this paper was to examine the suitability of the CLASS for Portuguese preschool settings. This measure assesses three fundamental domains of high-quality teacher-child interactions: Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support. The Emotional Support domain includes the following dimensions: Positive Climate, Negative Climate, Teacher Sensitivity, and Regard for Student Perspectives. The Classroom Organization domain incorporates: Behavior Management, Productivity, and Instructional Learning Formats. Lastly, the Instructional Support domain comprises three dimensions: Concept Development, Quality of Feedback, and Language Modelling. Through qualitative research methods, we analysed the contents of (1) the Preschool Education Curriculum Guidelines proposed by the Portuguese Ministry of Education (1997), (2) the Framework Law for Preschool Education (Ministry of Education, 1997), (3) the Preschool teachers' general professional profile (Decree-Law Nº 240/2001), and (4) the Preschool teachers' specific professional profile (Decree-Law Nº 241/2001), matching state requirements and specified quality dimensions with CLASS dimensions and indicators. According to the findings, (a) 57% of the CLASS indicators are supported by the Curriculum Guidelines, (b) 10% of these indicators are supported by the Framework Law for Pre-School Education, (c) 10% of CLASS indicators are supported by the Preschool teachers' general professional profile, and (d) 26% of CLASS indicators by supported by the Preschool teachers' specific professional profile. Furthermore, all CLASS dimensions can be matched to at least one unit of analysis, identified in at least one of these documents. Thus, results suggest that the CLASS may be an appropriate measure for assessing the overall quality of teacher-child relationships in Portuguese preschool classrooms.

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