Health & Nutrition

The early childhood development sector plays an important role in fostering the education, health and care of young children. Early childhood education and care services are currently the subject of significant reforms nationally. These reforms have substantial implications for the associated workforce. This report, the second of three on education and training workforces, focuses on the early childhood development workforce. It follows the Vocational Education and Training workforce report released in May 2011. The third report, on the Schools workforce, is underway and will be completed in April next year.

The Commission’s recommendations and findings seek to support the future development of the early childhood workforce required to underpin the nationally agreed reforms. In particular, guidance is provided on the provision of quality early childhood education and care services to children with additional needs, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and children in rural and remote locations.

This end of project evaluation examined how well Children First (CF) had responded to Mid Term Review recommendations as well as evaluation questions regarding innovative, sustainable and effective models of service delivery; quantity, quality and timeliness of results; capacity development for partners and communities; and institutionalization of models within relevant government structures.

CF sought to mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe by developing and improving on effective models of care and support for OVC and leveraging the experience of national and community-based organizations to increase access to quality holistic services for OVC. CF sought to mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe by developing and improving on effective models of care and support for OVC and leveraging the experience of national and community-based organizations to increase access to quality holistic services for OVC. Over the five-year project period, CF included 22 partner organizations that provided education, health, child protection services and advocacy for OVC.

The Innovative Pedagogical Approaches in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE): A Resource Pack includes case studies from nine countries. Each is an example of an innovative pedagogy developed according to a specific context and with concern for sustainable learning.This resource pack discounts the idea that ECCE should solely rely on a “universalized ‘one size fits all’ model" and emphasizes the need for ‘real-life’ approaches that connect children with their communities. Innovations in ECCE in the Asia-Pacific region are often intended to improve not only the lives of children but also those of the entire community. These examples of transformational pedagogy are inspirational reads for practitioners, researchers, and policymakers.

The appendices from the Critical Competencies for Infant-Toddler Educators Related Professional Criteria, provide clear and concise guidance on essential knowledge and skills for infant-toddler educators.

Illustrating how criteria from various partners can be used together to support the preparation and professional development of infant-toddler educators, this document includes related professional criteria, tools and child development benchmarks.

Ultimately, high-quality ECEC services must not only be accessible, affordable, and available, but also desirable and relevant to all families and responsive to changing demographics and evolving needs in order to be successful.

The recommendations that follow are intended to provide a comprehensive set of guiding principles for policymaking at the local, national, and federal levels, as well as for funders and other stakeholders, and are based on the knowledge generated from the Transatlantic Forum on Inclusive Early Years’ (TFIEY) convenings. While these recommendations are focused on issues in ECEC that may particularly impact children in a low-income or migrant context, they are considerations that can benefit all young children and families in ECEC systems across the EU and US regardless of their background. Investing in inclusive, high-quality ECEC is a win-win situation: for all children and their families and for society.

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.

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the family—which includes all primary caregivers—are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment.

Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

The goal of the integrated programme guide for ECD in emergencies is to guide the humanitarian community in designing a response that takes into account the needs of young children. This programme guide can be used in times of emergency preparedness, response, and early recovery, and for building resilience. It is designed for use by UNICEF Programme Officers as well as for representatives from other UN agencies, NGOs and government divisions responsible for designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating ECD interventions.