Policy document

This report offers an analysis of the application of the ILO (2014) Policy Guidelines on the Promotion of Decent Work for ECE Personnel and provides recommendations for review. It addresses key themes, including the voluntary nature of a commitment level among state and non-state stakeholders, challenges in holding governments accountable without legal obligations, and the difficulties in establishing a standardised and workable monitoring framework.

The report highlights the significance of the ILO Guidelines in promoting decent work for Early Childhood Personnel (ECP), while acknowledging the need to address challenges to ensure universal implementation and accountability. The research emphasizes the ongoing global efforts to assess and advance the progress of the ILO Guidelines by Education International, which aligns with the 10th anniversary of promoting decent work for ECP.

Colette Byrne, Mercedes Mayol Lassalle, Carolina Semmoloni, Mathias Urban

Education International

2024

This policy brief presents the causes and consequences of ECEC staff shortages as well as possible measures to address these shortages.

Within the context of the European Education Area (EEA) strategic framework, the working group on early childhood education and care (ECEC WG) supports EU members states to implement the European Quality Framework for ECEC, which is a key part of the 2019 Council Recommendation on High-Quality ECEC Systems. Throughout 2022-2023, the ECEC WG has been focusing on the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of quality in ECEC. This topic is one of the five pillars supporting the provision of quality. In addition, the group discusses a number of topics related to the organisation and the quality of the ECEC sector, such as staff shortages or providing support to Ukrainian refugees.

Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture (European Commission)

2023

The Council of the European Union approved the European Child Guarantee (ECG) with the objective of addressing and combating child poverty and exclusion (Council of the European Union, 2021). The ECG aims to provide access to essential services and support to children (defined as persons under 18 years old) in the following key areas: early childhood education and care (ECEC), education (including school-based activities and at least one healthy meal each school day), healthcare, nutrition, and housing. The workforce in these areas plays a vital role in delivering accessible and high-quality services.

The aim of this project is to provide categories and definitions of workforce related to ECG and to map relevant data sources across EU. 

This working paper is organised in three main sections. The first section, "Defining and categorising the workforce relevant to ECG” is further divided into subsections for ECEC, education, healthcare, nutrition (with a subsection for "At least one healthy meal each school day"), and housing. Each of these subsections includes definitions of the specific field, national differences found when doing a country-level mapping of the workforce and a general discussion. There is also a subsection related to those jobs that span across all the key areas described above and/or that cannot be directly classified within one of them. The second section includes mapping of the data sources at the international level relevant to the workforce categories identified in the first section. The document concludes with a third section summarising the main finds and classifications.

Kadri Arrak and Kaupo Koppel (Civitta)

European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound),

2024

The Parent Support Workforce Needs Assessment Tool aims to help officials within Ministries and government agencies reflect on the ways in which they can support personnel delivering parent support programs for pregnant mothers and caregivers with children under 3. This tool is relevant for programs embedded in primary healthcare as well as those that are delivered across other sectors, including social/child protection, nutrition, and education. Drawing inspiration from the UNICEF Pre-Primary Diagnostic and Planning Tool and the Early Childhood Workforce Initiative, this tool is intended for countries with parent support programs at either the sub-national or national levels. The scope of this tool includes parent support facilitators, community health workers, nurses, social workers, and other frontline providers who work directly with young children and their families, as well as supervisors and trainers, working to deliver programs primarily in community settings and/or in health clinics.

Results for Development and International Step by Step Association

2023

The ICM Standards for Midwifery Education (2021) are an essential pillar of ICM’s efforts to strengthen midwifery worldwide by promoting high quality education programs that prepare midwives who meet the ICM definition of a midwife. The ICM Standards for Midwifery Education are based on foundational ICM Core Documents and Position Statements. Importantly, the Standards address inclusion of the Essential Competencies for Midwifery Practice (2019) as the basis of the midwifery curriculum.

The purpose of the ICM Standards for Midwifery Education (2021) is to establish benchmarks for midwifery education programs, promote high-quality teaching and learning processes, incorporate the ICM Essential Competencies for Midwifery Practice (2019) into the curriculum, provide a framework for designing and evaluating midwifery education programs, assist in continuous quality improvement, enable systematic reporting of quality indicators, and contribute to improving midwifery education programs worldwide.

International Confederation of Midwives

2021

A stronger, more effective early care and education (ECE) workforce is essential for supporting children’s development. Yet the nation’s ECE workforce faces many challenges, including inadequate compensation that varies widely by jurisdiction, high staff turnover, and disparities in training and resources across the ECE sector. To address these challenges, states are working to implement new policies and establish new requirements to better support their ECE workforces. For instance, some states have increased the minimum wage or established salary parity policies for pre-kindergarten and K-3 teachers. Other states have set minimum qualification requirements for their child care or pre-kindergarten lead teachers.

This project aims to improve the ECE field’s understanding of the various policies and funding decisions that states are implementing to support their ECE workforces, and how these system-level changes impact ECE staff and the children they serve.

Child Trends

2022

The InTrans project has identified five key actions that policy decision-makers, providers and leaders should undertake – in social dialogue with trade union organizations – to enhance the participation of children and families to Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in times of crisis and beyond.

By interconnecting its educational, social and economic functions, ECEC can play a key supportive role in facing the crisis for all children and families, especially those who are at risk of social exclusion (Communication on Achieving the European Education Area by 2025, 2020; Council Recommendation on High Quality ECEC, 2019).

Removing structural barriers related to availability, accessibility and affordability of provision is certainly a first step to be undertaken in this direction. However, the evidence collected during the first and second waves of the COVID-19 pandemic revealed that implementing such measures do not suffice to ensure participation of societally disadvantaged groups to ECEC. Research shows that building relationships of trust with children and families is of uttermost importance to reduce the risk of withdrawal and ensure continuity of children’s attendance.

InTrans

2021

A well-supported, appropriately equipped, empowered, and protected social service workforce is essential to mitigating the damaging effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Social service workers can build on their existing strong ties to children, families, and communities to rapidly respond in ways that are effective. However, to do so, they must stay safe and healthy. This document is intended to provide guidance on how to support the social service workforce and empower them to safely serve children, families, and communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. This guidance is for governments, non-governmental organizations, social service workers, and their supervisors.

Global Social Service Workforce Alliance, UNICEF, International Federation of Social Workers, Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action

2020

This Guide accompanies the Home Visiting Workforce Needs Assessment Tool, which aims to help Ministries and government agencies reflect on the ways in which they can support personnel delivering home visiting programs across sectors for pregnant mothers and caregivers with children under 3. 



Drawing inspiration from the UNICEF Pre-Primary Diagnostic and Planning Tool, this tool is intended for countries with home visiting programs at either the sub-national or national levels. The scope of the Tool includes home visitors who work directly with young children and their families, as well as supervisors and trainers.

 

The newly completed User's Guide completes the Tool's package. It includes supporting materials, as well as editable handouts and annexes. It is easy to download, translate and adapt to your context. The User's Guide lays out the steps needed to:

• Prepare for the application of the Tool,
• Organize and facilitate a workshop with stakeholders at both the national and sub-national levels, and
• Take action on findings generated from the workshop.


Below, you can find two versions of the User's Guide: 

Version 1: a downloadable PDF
Version 2: a ZIP file for Print, which contains:

• A Print version of the User Guide
• 11 editable handouts and annexes that can be adapted for implementation
• A slide deck, which presents an overview of the Tool

Access the Tool here.

Mihaela Ionescu and Zorica Trikic (International Step by Step Association) and Denise Bonsu, Kavita Hatipoglu, Michelle Neuman, and Vidya Putcha (Results for Development).

2020

The Home Visiting Workforce Needs Assessment Tool aims to help Ministries and government agencies reflect on the ways in which they can support personnel delivering home visiting programs across sectors for pregnant mothers and caregivers with children under 3. Drawing inspiration from the UNICEF Pre-Primary Diagnostic and Planning Tool, this tool is intended for countries with home visiting programs at either the sub-national or national levels. The scope of this tool includes home visitors who work directly with young children and their families, as well as supervisors and trainers.

You can also download the accompanying User's Guide here.

Denise Bonsu, Kavita Hatipoglu, Michelle Neuman, Vidya Putcha, Mark Roland, and Jon Korfmacher

2020