Recognition of the profession

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

This article describes an initiative that extended the Investigating Quality (IQ) Project’s model of pedagogical development to a partnership between local ECE programs and their ongoing professional learning and an ECE training institution and its preparation of student educators. We begin with an overview of the project and pedagogical development model, describing how it conceptualizes and promotes professional learning as co-constructed in socio-material-historical-cultural-political contexts. We follow this with an analysis of the model’s three key conditions: inquiry based learning, making learning visible, and pedagogical facilitation support. We conclude with considerations for what this model of pedagogical development might mean for the ECE profession.

Kathleen Kummen and B. Denise Hodgins

Journal of Early Childhood Studies

2019

There is broad consensus that high-quality environments for young children depend on teachers who are skilled at nurturing their development and learning, yet low pay and inadequate working conditions routinely hamper teachers in their efforts to apply their skills and knowledge. Yet, the voices of early educators — those working with children from infancy through preschool — are rarely heard, and public awareness of the challenges facing this workforce remains low. Compared to their K-12 peers, early educators are less organized and vocal about their situation, but a persistent state of teacher crisis casts a pall over efforts to ensure high-quality early care and education for all children prior to kindergarten. This study captures the perspectives of early educators about their working environments in one state, New York, and how these environments impact teaching staff practice and wellbeing. In order to teach to the best of their ability, educators require work environments that support their ongoing learning, emphasize time without child responsibilities for professional activities, and offer dependable benefits that ensure their well-being. With prioritization of workforce supports, quality improvement initiatives can make substantive progress towards a system that is equitable, efficient, and effective for children, their families, and educators alike. Capturing the experiences and perspectives of early educators working directly with children as a component of evaluating QUALITYstarsNY presents an opportunity to further refine and strengthen the policies, practices, and resources necessary to facilitate a high-quality system that supports children and their teachers alike.

Alaina Roach O’Keefe, Sonya Hooper, and Brittany Jakubiec

Journal of Early Childhood Studies

2019

These Guidelines are the first international text dealing specifically with the status of early childhood education personnel. The Guidelines set out principles for the promotion of decent work for ECE personnel as a means of ensuring universal access to high-quality ECE services. In this respect they
cover conditions of work and employment of ECE personnel and related issues. More precisely, the issues covered are:

1. General roles, rights and responsibilities
2. ECE objectives and policies
3. Preparation for the profession
4. Recruitment, deployment and retention
5. Professional and career development
6. Employment terms and conditions
7. Learning and teaching conditions
8. Social security and social protection
9. Evaluating ECE personnel to support quality practice
10. ECE governance and social dialogue

The Guidelines are meant to serve as a reference tool on principles that should be reflected in the design and implementation of ECE measures such as policies, strategies, legislation, administrative measures and social dialogue mechanisms, including collective bargaining agreements. The Guidelines can be implemented progressively to achieve their objectives so as to take account of different national settings, cultures, and social, economic and political contexts.

International Labor Organization

2013

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.

Stunting and poor child development are major public health concerns in Malawi. Integrated nutrition and early child development (ECD) interventions have shown potential to reduce stunting, but it is not known how these integrated approaches can be implemented in Malawi. In this paper, the authors aimed to evaluate the current jobs status of community health workers and their potential to implement integrated approaches. This was accomplished by a desk review of nutrition and ECD policy documents, as well as interviews with key informants, community health workers, and community members. They found that Malawi has comprehensive policies and well-outlined coordination structures for nutrition and ECD that advocate for integrated approaches. Strong multidisciplinary interaction exists at central levels but not at the community level. Integration of community health workers from different sectors is limited by workload, logistics, and a lack of synchronized work schedules. Favorable, sound policies and well-outlined coordination structures alone are not enough for the establishment of integrated nutrition and ECD activities. Balanced bureaucratic structures, improved task allocation, and synchronization of work schedules across all relevant sectors are needed for integrated intervention in Malawi.

This report from Early Childhood Ireland maps remuneration within the Irish ECCE Sector. The report presents data on how pay rates vary by role, qualifications and county. The report concluded with future steps including research on the professionalization with the sector.

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.