Research study

Innovative approaches to continuous professional development (CPD) in early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Europe: Findings from a comparative review explores innovation as an aspect of in-service continuous professional development in ECEC.

A literature review and cross-country analysis conducted in ten European countries uncovered the fact that innovation in CPD was understood a way to improve quality. This finding shows how CPD encompasses processes such as critical thinking, reflexivity and co-creation within and across ECEC systems. This resource highlights insights identified as crucial aspects of CPD in terms of innovation including:

• Critical reflection;
• Communities of practice; and
• A growing focus on politics that address social inequality through ECEC

The analysis is a contribution to research on innovative CDP in ECEC at the micro, meso and macro levels. The authors suggest more research into in-depth and identified approaches to innovation related to CDP and their impact on the quality development in European ECEC. 

The 2018 Fostering Effective Early Learning (FEEL) study focuses on the importance of quality, and how to strengthen it in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. Extensive research demonstrates that the benefits of ECEC for children are increased when the service provider and educators are highly skilled and participate in professional development (PD), and the service is of high quality. Upskilling the workforce, including in-service professional development, is considered to be a key to improving quality, and can produce substantial and practical improvements for staff and children alike.

Building on the existing body of international research, the findings of the Fostering Effective Early Learning (FEEL) study, address the need for quality improvement in ECEC by showing how a particular form of evidence-based in-service PD can produce substantial and practically meaningful improvements in both staff practices and child outcomes.

The FEEL study was conducted by the research team from Early Start, University of Wollongong, on behalf on the NSW Department of Education.

You may also find the The Fostering Effective Early Learning (FEEL) Study's Literature Review below. The Literature Review highlights the importance of quality teaching practice in early childhood education and outlining the key elements of the best practice professional development used in the Study.

Early Childhood Workforce Index 2018 is the second edition of the biennial Early Childhood Workforce Index from the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at UC Berkeley. This edition continues to track the status of the early childhood education workforce and related state policies in order to understand changes over time. Several new analyses, as well as updated policy indicators and recommendations, have been added. 

The chapters in this resource take a look at those working in the early childhood workforce, their economic security and the policies that impact them.

This report presents ‘good practice case studies’ of exemplary approaches to innovative in-service Professional Development (PD) of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) practitioners in three countries: Denmark, Italy and Poland.

The report reviews the use of new technologies, peer learning, reflective practice and organizational learning, within the field of Early Childhood Education in Europe. This document presents the case study design, results and interpretations of findings from each of the three case studies The case studies in this report aim to explore new effective approaches to professional development focused on enhancing education and improving workforce training strategies for ECEC practitioners.

In debates about child care and early education, the voices of providers are often missing. Voices of child care providers: an exploratory study on the impact of policy changes document findings from a study on child care provider perspectives on how regulation and policy changes impact their work.

Researchers used interviews and focus groups with home-based providers and center-based administrators in New York, United States counties. Several themes emerged, including:

• the undervaluation of child care providers;
• challenges faced by providers and the parents of the children they serve;
• regulatory disconnect; and
• discretionary implementation of laws and regulations.

Findings from the study suggest that, excluding input from providers when creating policy, may have unforeseen and even harmful results.

Quality through Professionalisation: Local Evaluation of the Tallaght National Early Years Access Initiative is a report on the evaluation of the Quality through Professionalisation programme, one of 11 projects under the National Early Years Access Initiative. This three-year initiative aimed to improve the quality and outcomes of services in the early years sector. At the national level, the initiative focused on the establishment of an evidence base contributing to improvements in practice and influencing policy changes. At the local level, the initiative focused on building the delivery capacity of local projects.

Five preschools were invited to participate in the local evaluation of the Tallaght NEYAI; all five preschools were based in Tallaght in South County Dublin. The evaluation approach focused on the following broad areas of investigation:

1. Conducting a profile analysis of the preschools involved in the programme
2. Conducting an investigation of the impact of the Tallaght NEYAI on the early years educators
3. Assessing the quality of provision within 4 of the participating services post-training delivery
4. Conducting a process evaluation investigating the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation and maintenance of the training programme

Key findings include information about preschool characteristics, quality within preschools, the impact of training on educators, and trainers' and staff experiences of the initiative.

The complexities of societies impact the Early Childhood Education (ECE) sector as a whole – including the professionals working within it. Changes in societies challenge the workforce to grow and evolve. The research study, Longitudinal Study of Changes in Teachers’ Views of Early Childhood Education in the USA, Russia, and Finland, takes a look at the changes in teachers’ views of the needs of children in the aforementioned countries.Researchers documented teachers’ views about the needs of children, their professional work, and center-based child care between 1991 and 2011. Data was collected from teachers in child care centers through focus group discussions. Results suggest vast changes on both the micro and macro levels of ECE.

Social Status and Professional Development of Early Childhood and Preschool Teacher Profession: Sociological and Pedagogical Theoretical Frame takes a look at the relationship between the concepts of social status and professional development in the early childhood and preschool teacher workforce,. The paper aims to determine early childhood and preschool teachers attitudes about the position and the relevance of their profession in their society. It further aims to explore whether or not their is a connection between such attitudes and these professionals' attitudes about professional development.

The early years workforce: a fragmented picture, produced by the Education Policy Institute, gathered administrative data about early years providers and staff in England. The aim of this report was to create a clearer picture of the demographics, pay and qualification levels of the early years workforce. Further, the report set out to understand how these characteristics vary across school-based settings, private, voluntary and independent providers and childminders.

This project used readily available, official resources in order to generate new researched questions that require additional analysis. The early years workforce: a fragmented picture provides a glance into early years provision in England, data about the workforce and the implications for children in funded provision.

This regional (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Moldova, Romania and Serbia) overview aims to sketch the social service workforce—with a focus on those engaged in the child protection system—in southeast Europe. Specific research areas include, but are not limited to the following:
1. Perceptions and understandings of social service work
2. Who does what and where
3. Policy and regulatory frameworks
4. Organization and funding of child protection systems
5. Competencies and standards for the social service workforce
6. Professional development opportunities
7. Motivation and support
8. Working conditions for the workforce
The finding of the study can be used for improving the child protection system and the lives of children, families and communities by multiple stakeholders which among other include: national governments, professional social service worker associations, NGOs and civil society agencies that rely on the social service workforce to provide child protection services, and educational institutions who train social service workers.
This report represents part of a global research movement to map the social service workforce in diverse regions, which aims at highlighting promising approaches and unique elements to certain countries whereas at the same time identifies common challenges and trends across regions.

Child Protection Hub

2016