Research study

The Early Childhood Education Workforce in Europe Between Divergencies and Emergencies

Summary:

Across and beyond Europe, demographic, social and economic pressures both at the macro and the micro level are impacting on the work contexts of early childhood educators. Alongside heightened drives towards expansion and increasing regulation of the field, expectations are intensifying. Additionally, goals and targets for higher education and vocational education at the European policy level are generating restructurings of the national qualification systems for work in the early childhood field. In this dynamic context of change the SEEPRO (Early Education/care and Professionalisation in Europe) study, based at the State Institute of Early Childhood Research in Munich and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Family and Youth Affairs, set out to map the qualification requirements and workplace settings of early years practitioners in their country-specific context. Similarities and differences across the 27 countries of the European Union were documented and analysed. The findings of the study show considerable divergencies across Europe in terms of formal education and training requirements and the desired professional profiles for working with young children. Against this background of diversity, similarities in terms of workforce emergencies and challenges have also emerged: one is a common lack of truly flexible and inclusive pathways linked to formal professional recognition and status for all practitioners in the field; another is the continuing need to seek more effective ways of including men in the early childhood workforce.

Resource web file:
ijccep.springeropen.com

What Knowledge and Skills Do Chinese Kindergarten Teachers Need in a Time of Reform: Director’s Perspectives

Summary:

This paper reports on a research program that investigates policy and practice relating to the building of a Chinese early childhood workforce in a context of changed government policy, improved standards regarding teacher qualifications and curriculum content, and changing parental expectations. The evolving context reflects the fact that recent economic development in China has witnessed enhanced need for a workforce that is suitable for jobs that require advanced skills and a high capacity to learn. This identified need has brought a renewed interest in early childhood education. Subsequently, policy makers have raised questions regarding what early childhood teachers should know and the skills they need to acquire to be competent practitioners.

The research findings draw on interviews conducted with 24 kindergarten directors from provinces across China. The interview explored opinions about skills and attributes teachers require, level and form of knowledge they need, and how teachers’ capacities might be enhanced.

Rethinking early childhood workforce sustainability in the context of Australia's early childhood education and care reforms

Summary:

Early childhood workforce sustainability is an important issue, with implications for children, families and national productivity, as well as for educators themselves. Yet, in many national contexts, workforce challenges continue to undermine efforts to support sustainability.

In this article, we evaluate efforts to address early childhood workforce challenges in the Australian context, where extensive early childhood reforms are underway. We argue that attempts to address workforce challenges in current policy initiatives are limited and may be insufficient for sustaining the early childhood workforce in the long term. Given the critical role that the early childhood workforce plays in Australia’s early childhood reform agenda, we then consider how workforce sustainability could be rethought and other possibilities generated for addressing entrenched workforce challenges. We conclude by arguing that greater attention to the everyday politics of educators’ practice, along with the forces shaping these milieux, may be a way of generating new possibilities for supporting workforce sustainability.

Resource web file:
ijccep.springeropen.com

Issues and Tasks for Early Childhood Education and Care Workforce in Korea

Summary:

This research overviewed the present situation of Korean early childhood education and care workforce's certification, education and training, and working conditions, according to the elements to assure the quality of teachers. Results show that structure and condition of the initial teacher training system, certificating system, professional development system and working environment and treatment of kindergarten teachers were slightly better than child care center teachers', and national/public kindergarten teachers' were better than private kindergarten teachers'. The hidden issues behind it such as marginalization, traditional child care discourse and the underestimation of caring were pointed out, which must be considered in addition to the elements related to teachers' quality that appear on the surface, when the integration plan of kindergarten and child care center teachers is discussed.

Child Care Staff: Learning and Growing Through Professional Development

Summary:

Child Care Staff: Learning and Growing Through Professional Development offers insights and shares innovative practices about the current professional development and support activities currently offered to the Australian early childhood workforce.

Drawing on the views and experience of 684 child care service directors/managers/owner-operators and staff across Australia, this publication aims to answer questions about how professional development impacts children’s outcomes and the measures of effective support services.

Resource web file:
www.ecrh.edu.au

A Review of the Literature: Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Personnel in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Summary:

A Review of the Literature: Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Personnel in Low- and Middle-Income Countries was commissioned to inform the development of a common survey instrument for the UNESCO pilot Survey of Teachers in Pre-Primary Education (STEPP) which will collect data on Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) personnel in selected low- and middle income countries (LMICs). The authors address three questions in this literature review:

  • What is the evidence on the relationship among personnel characteristics, the quality of ECCE services and child outcomes?
  • What are the training requirements, working conditions, setting characteristics of ECCE personnel in LMICs? What beliefs do these personnel hold?
  • What are the trends and main issues surrounding the above-mentioned characteristics and their implications for access and quality?
Resource web file:
unesdoc.unesco.org

Starting Strong IV: Monitoring Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care

Summary:

Research suggests that, when it comes to early childhood education and care, quality matters most. A growing number of countries are establishing monitoring systems to ensure quality and accountability in these programmes.

This new publication explores how countries can develop and use these systems to enhance service and staff quality for the benefit of child development. It offers an international perspective and concrete examples to help policy makers, monitoring experts and practitioners in the field develop their own monitoring policies and practices.

Resource web file:
www.oecd-ilibrary.org

Quality Matters in Early Childhood Education and Care

Summary:

ECEC professionals’ qualifications and working conditions are inseparably linked to the quality of education and care children receive. This series of reports present why do workforce qualifications, education, training and working conditions matter for better child development. Each of the reports also describe where each of the respective countries (Slovak Republic, Japan and Finland) stand compared to other countries in terms of workforce qualifications, training and working conditions, what are the challenges they face and what strategies have been employed in order to address those challenges.

Resource web file:
www.oecd-ilibrary.org

Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8: A Unifying Foundation

Summary:

Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress.

Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.

Study on the diversity within the teaching profession with particular focus on migrant and/or minority background

Summary:

This study consolidates the evidence base across the EU28 regarding the diversity of the teaching workforce with regard to migrant and/or minority background. Increasing diversity within the teaching profession is one potential response to the evolving needs of an increasingly multicultural learner population. In particular, the study has: identified and analysed the existing statistical data on the current diversity of the teaching workforce; explored the prevalence of the different barriers to teacher diversity; mapped the policies and initiatives implemented; and, examined the evidence on the effectiveness of the policies. To do so, the study methodology comprised: a literature review drawing on both European and international research; primary research with national experts for the compilation of 28 country profiles; ten in-depth cases studies of policies/initiatives promoting teacher diversity; a comparative analysis of findings; a virtual Policy Delphi; and, two high-level diversity expert seminars. In this executive summary, we set out the main findings and recommendations emerging from the research.

Resource web file:
bookshop.europa.eu