Based on the view that the quality of adult educative interactions with young children is critical in determining the effectiveness of educational provision and in improving early childhood settings, this paper examines the quality of adult engagement experienced by 3- and 4-year-olds in 9 types of early education and care settings from the private, voluntary, and state-funded sectors in the United Kingdom (UK). Evidence was gathered from observations undertaken as part of the Effective Early Learning (EEL) Project, an international research and development initiative in its fifth year of operation which aims to evaluate and improve the quality of early learning in a wide range of education and care settings in the UK, The Netherlands, and Portugal. The Child Involvement Scale and the Adult Engagement Scale were used to measure the effectiveness of the learning and teaching process. The findings demonstrated that adult sensitivity to children is a basic precondition for educative interactions to occur. Stimulation occurs once a level of sensitivity and responsiveness between adults and children has been established. Autonomy is the most challenging aspect of effective educative interactions. Practitioners in all settings displayed high sensitivity during educative interactions. Practitioners in all settings showed relatively low levels of autonomy during educative interactions. State-funded settings showed higher levels of sensitivity, stimulation, and autonomy than voluntary sector settings. Practitioners showed increased sensitivity, stimulation, and autonomy following the implementation of the EEL improvement process, with less well-qualified staff making the greatest progress. (Contains 10 references.) (KB)