Poor quality early childhood care and education (ECCE) can be detrimental to the development of children from all backgrounds, particularly if they fail to equalise some of the disparities and disadvantages that children face in the early developmental stages of their lives. Disparities, for example, may be present in children's cognitive, physical, and social-emotional development (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network, 2005; Peisner-Feinberg et al., 1999). Without access to high-quality services (e.g., health, care and education) that support the child and his/her family in the early years of life, potential negative pathways may lead to poor social, emotional, educational, health, economic and behavioural outcomes (Manning, Homel, & Smith, 2010). The objective of this systematic review is to synthesise the extant empirical evidence on the relationship of teacher qualifications to the quality of the early childhood learning environment. Specifically, this review will seek to answer the following question: Is there a relationship between the level and type of education of the teacher, and the quality of the early childhood learning environment, as measured by the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, the Infant Toddler Environment Rating Scale and their revised versions? [For the results of the systematic review, see ED573516.]