Education & Care

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 Asia-Pacific ECCE Teacher Training Handbook for Social and Emotional Learning (APETT-SEL) including ten modules were developed in partnership with Asia-Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood (ARNEC), as part of the “Empowering ECCE Teachers with a Transformative Vision of Education” project which was financially supported by the Government of Japan and implemented by UNESCO Bangkok.

The handbook and modules addresses the importance and recognition of social and emotional learning (SEL)’s importance and aims to correspond to the lack of robust and more contextually relevant and culturally sensitive social emotional learning (SEL) program for teachers to effectively deliver SEL in the Asia-Pacific region. The resources consists of 10 modules along with the teacher training handbook:

• Theme 1: Calm, clear and kind teachers (Self-care for teachers) - three modules
• Theme 2: Building a pro-social and responsive classroom (Children’s Social and emotional learning) - four modules
• Theme 3: Celebrating similarities and differences (Diversity, inclusion, cultural responsiveness and equity) - one module
• Theme 4: Zones of knowing and doing (Measurement and assessment) - two modules

Monisha Singh Diwan, published by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization - UNESCO

2022

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

An increasing number of children are growing up in environments in which more than one language is spoken. For many of these children, early childhood education and care (ECEC) is often their first contact with the majority language of the country in which they are growing up. This situation adds to the crucial role that ECEC professionals play in children’s education.

This report aims to formulate research- and practice-based policy recommendations for high-quality continuous professional development (CPD) to support ECEC professionals working with multilingual children and families.

This report is built upon two sources of secondary data: 1) a literature review on multilingualism, CPD, ECEC and diversity, which draws on scientific research articles, international reviews and reports of relevant European projects (presented in Chapter 2); 2) two case studies: one on Griffbereit and Rucksack KiTa in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, and another on Elmer Childcare services in Brussels, Belgium (presented in Chapter 3). Chapter 4 of the report provides general recommendations, while Chapter 5 explores how the report’s key findings and recommendations apply to CPD relating to working with multilingual children and families with a refugee background.

Lisandre Bergeron-Morin, Brecht Peleman, Hester Hulpia

2023

Early childhood home visiting programs support pregnant women and families with young children so they can be healthy, safe, and better prepared to reach their goals. The success of these programs is dependent upon recruiting and retaining a skilled, committed, and satisfied workforce. This brief summarizes findings from the Home Visiting Career Trajectories study—a national study of the home visiting workforce—on workplace factors in recruiting and retaining qualified staff.

This document investigates the characteristics of home visitors and their supervisors, the characteristics of home visiting jobs, and the factors that contribute to the recruitment and retention of home visitors. It provides information on the career pathways and work experiences of home visitors and their supervisors to support Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) awardees, local programs, and home visiting model developers in recruiting, training, and retaining qualified staff. The document presents the findings of a national descriptive study of the home visiting workforce in local agencies receiving MIECHV funding, with a focus on the workplace factors that relate to home visitor recruitment and retention.

Sarah Benatar, Amelia Coffey, and Heather Sandstrom

2020

Reflective supervision is a form of supervision that supports home visiting implementation quality by helping providers develop critical competencies and manage powerful emotions that often accompany the work. Sessions focus on the complexity and importance of all relationships (e.g., supervisor-supervisee; provider-client; parent-child) over administrative compliance or performance evaluation. Quality reflective supervision delivered over time may lead to improvements in service quality, staff retention, and family outcomes. Most evidence-based home visiting models encourage the use of reflective supervision, as does the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program.

Despite this general acceptance, home visiting lacks a clear, agreed-upon definition of reflective supervision and an understanding of key elements and best practices. The field also lacks evidence that reflective supervision achieves its intended outcomes, and an understanding of the elements that work best for specific contexts and supervisees. The Supporting and Strengthening the Home Visiting Workforce project seeks to identify gaps in knowledge about reflective supervision and home visitor professional well-being and to develop a conceptual model for each to support future research, policy, and practice.

Allison West and Patricia Madariaga, Johns Hopkins University Mariel Sparr, James Bell Associates

2022

The work of early childhood education and care (ECEC) professionals is the major driver of the quality of an ECEC system. As evidence accumulates on the strong benefits of investing in early education, countries need effective policies to attract, maintain and retain a highly skilled workforce in the sector. This report looks at the makeup of the early childhood education and care workforce across countries, assessing how initial preparation programs compare across different systems, what types of in-service training and informal learning activities help staff to upgrade their skills, and what staff say about their working conditions, as well as identifying policies that can reduce staff stress levels and increase well-being at work. The report also looks at which leadership and managerial practices in ECEC centers contribute to improving the skills, working conditions and working methods of staff. The OECD Starting Strong Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS Starting Strong) is the first international survey that focuses on the early childhood education and care workforce. It offers an opportunity to learn about the characteristics of ECEC staff and center leaders, their practices at work, and their views on the profession and the sector.

This second volume of findings, Building a High-Quality Early Childhood Education and Care Workforce, examines factors that influence the skills development of ECEC professionals, their working conditions and well-being at work, and leadership in ECEC centers.

OECD

2020

The experience of children under age three with early childhood education and care (ECEC) is crucial for their learning, development and well-being and for parents’ return to work. Despite increasing recognition of the importance of ECEC for the youngest children, little is known about this sector. The OECD Starting Strong Teaching and Learning International Survey  (TALIS Starting Strong) is the first international survey that focuses on the ECEC workforce. It asks staff and leaders about themselves and their settings, including the practices they use with children and their views on the sector.

This thematic report focusses on ECEC for children under age three, an option of the Survey in which four countries (Denmark, Germany, Israel and Norway) participated. The report answers many questions that are important for parents, actors in the field, and policymakers.

OECD

2020