Policy document

Recruiting and retaining skilled staff is a long-standing challenge for the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector. OECD countries are increasingly demanding that ECEC staff be highly skilled and highly qualified, but a combination of low wages, a lack of status and public recognition, poor working conditions, and limited opportunities for professional development mean that recruitment and retention are frequently difficult. What can countries do to build a highly qualified and well-trained ECEC workforce? What is the best route to increasing staff skills without exacerbating staff shortages? How can countries boost pay and working conditions in the context of limited resources? Building on past OECD work on early childhood education and care, and drawing on the experience of OECD countries, this report outlines good practice policy measures for improving jobs in ECEC and for constructing a high-quality workforce.

OECD

2019

The Early Childhood Higher Education Inventory, administered by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California at Berkeley, assists policymakers and other stakeholders to develop a more coordinated and comprehensive professional preparation and development system for the early care and education workforce. The Inventory is a mechanism to describe the landscape of a state’s early childhood degree program offerings, at the associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels. The Inventory captures variations in program goals, content, child age-group focus, student field-based learning, and faculty characteristics and professional development needs. This information allows policy makers, institutions of higher education and other stakeholders to identify the gaps and opportunities in the available offerings, make informed policy decisions, and assess the capacity of the higher education system over time. There are reports for 14 states (Tennessee, Arkansas, California, Florida, Indiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Washington)

Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (Berkeley)

2018

Public policy work is often incremental. Sometimes successes are realized by steady movement along the same path. Sometimes great strides are made by starting over and doing something bold. There is not one single right way to approach policy work. But before any plans are made and actions are taken, it is crucial that all stakeholders are aware of the current policies and contexts. Workforce Designs: A Policy Blueprint for State Early Childhood Professional Development Systems (the Blueprint) provides a common framework that can help advocates and policy-makers take stock of existing workforce policies.
The planning guide provides five steps and guiding questions to help conduct an environmental scan of state early childhood workforce system policies and to begin planning action steps:
Step 1. Gather and Describe: What are your current state workforce system policies?
Step 2. Analyze: Do the policies apply or meet the policy-making principles?
Step 3. Determine: What are your goals?
Step 4. Discuss and Consider: What are your opportunities?
Step 5. Plan: What are your priorities?

NAEYC - National Association for the Education of Young Children

2008

The National Association of Social Workers, has developed the Practice Standards & Guidelines which provide benchmarks that describe the services that social workers should provide; that employers should support and that consumers should expect. Standards/guidelines reflect current and emerging best practice trends and are a critical component of the professional social worker's toolkit. They are useful for both new and experienced practitioners, and can be effective advocacy tools. The Association has developed different sets of Practice Standards and Guidelines, in order to present the sector that social workers are working.

NASW - National Association of Social Workers

NAEYC formulated this state professional development systems policy blueprint as part of the Early Childhood Workforce Systems Initiative. This initiative focuses on the underlying state public policies that support integrated early childhood professional development systems. This blueprint focuses on the policies that connect professional development activities and that support and make possible effective implementation of a state system of professional development. It highlights principles and six policy areas that build or sustain an integrated system—a system that ensures quality in all settings in which early childhood professionals work. These principles and highlighted policy areas look beyond the status quo; they are aimed at the development and retention of a competent and stable early childhood workforce—a skilled cadre of effective, diverse, and adequately compensated professionals. This policy blueprint also includes a listing of sample state strategies in each of the six key policy areas. Since state policies do not begin—and will not end up—in the same place, this tool is intended to serve as a starting point for states to expand, change, and adapt for their own political and professional contexts and needs.

Sarah LeMoine

NAEYC - National Association for the Education of Young Children

2008

This report reveals how states and cities are closing the gap in compensation between equally qualified pre-K teachers and kindergarten and elementary school teachers. The report indicates states and cities across the country are moving to improve pre-K teacher compensation as recruiting and retaining skilled educators is critical to delivering the high-quality learning environment these programs promise. Strategies in Pursuit of Pre-K Teacher Compensation Parity: Lessons from Seven States and Cities looks at policies in Alabama, Georgia, New Jersey, Oregon, West Virginia, New York City, and San Antonio where a variety of strategies have successfully been implemented to get closer to or surpass equal pay and benefits for pre-K and teachers of older children.

McLean, C., Dichter, H., & Whitebook, M

National Institute for Early Education

2017

This report addresses the following four research questions:
1. Understanding the attitudes and beliefs of current educators about the profession
2. Identifying factors that will be most helpful in encouraging educators to make the field a long-term profession
3. Assessing strategies for attracting new educators to join the field
4. Developing messaging to enhance public appreciation of, and support for, the work of early childhood educators

National Association for the Education of the Young Children

2015

ISSA’s Quality Framework for Early Childhood Practice in Services for Children under Three Years of Age is grounded in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and stands for the centrality of the child and family in conceptualizing, designing and implementing programs dedicated to this age group, no matter the type of service, program, or sector.

It comprises 31 principles and 143 recommended practices, grouped around 9 Focus Areas, thus covering the complexity of the practices and responsibilities that binds all professionals working in early childhood services.

Through this framework, ISSA launches an invitation for dialogue and joint action among practitioners, managers, policy- and decision-makers, program coordinators, trainers/mentors from all sectors and institutions active in early childhood systems, so they may develop an articulated vision and a shared understanding around quality practices impacting the lives of the youngest children.

Examining the Associations Between Infant/Toddler Workforce Preparation, Program Quality and Child Outcomes: A Review of the Research Evidence summarizes the findings of an evidence review conducted to address the following question:
What evidence do we have from the research literature about associations between infant/toddler teacher and caregiver preparation (e.g. education, credentials, etc.) and improvements in quality and child outcomes.

The research team worked to synthesized research about which core competencies and credentials have the strongest associations with program quality outcomes. Their findings report what research currently says about:

• teachers’ degrees in relation to program quality and child outcomes;
• teachers’ major/concentration in ECE or child development in relation to observed quality and child outcomes;
• state credentials on observed quality and child outcomes; and
• teacher training on observed quality and child outcomes.

The study describes the implications of this research for policy, practice and for further research.

2013 National Early Childhood Education and Care Workforce Census, commissioned by the Department of Education as part of a range of Australian Government initiatives designed to improve the quality of information used in developing and measuring early childhood policy and programs. This report was developed specifically to address information gaps in existing administrative data sources, with respect other ECEC workforce, participation in and provision of preschool programs and children with additional needs in child care. The data presented in this census will help policy makers better understand the challenges of providing quality child care and early learning, assess the capacity in the workforce to meet future demand and formulate strategies to support early childhood development policies.