Europe and Central Asia

GREELCO, Green Learning Community, is an online community designed to connect Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) professionals, offering opportunities to enhance their digital skills, share expertise, and reflect on their practices. Registered members can attend and access recordings of previous study visits and receive updates about upcoming ones. These study visits are available both live via Zoom and on-demand in video format.

Why GREELCO Matters:

1. Community Learning Across Contexts: GREELCO fosters a community where ECEC professionals from diverse national and educational backgrounds can learn from each other. This exchange of ideas and experiences focuses on implementing child-centered approaches to ensure quality practices in kindergarten classrooms.
2. Addressing Professional Isolation: The pandemic has highlighted the issue of professional isolation, limiting opportunities for connection and the sharing of practices. It has also underscored the need to strengthen digital competencies among ECEC professionals.
3. International Exchange and Development: Inspired by recent experiences, GREELCO aims to facilitate valuable international exchanges among professionals. Through virtual study visits to eight kindergartens in different European Union countries, GREELCO provides a platform for sharing best practices and innovative approaches.

Access and Participation:

All these resources and opportunities are provided free of charge, accessible virtually from anywhere. The content is prepared by kindergarten professionals for their peers, including kindergarten management and other interested audiences.

Join GREELCO to connect, learn, and grow within a vibrant community of ECEC professionals.

Access the platform here.

GREELCO partners

Building a strong, reliable, and high-quality ECEC workforce yields positive results that significantly impact the well-being of young children and enable their rounded and healthy development. Therefore, investing in continuous professional development (CPD) and growth of the ECEC workforce must stay high on the agenda of relevant stakeholders, enabling and promoting high-quality programs.

In this analysis, the PIQET consortium delves deeper into the context of CPD and sheds light on professionals delivering in-service continuous professional development opportunities. Why PIQET emphasizes the professionals delivering in-service continuous professional development opportunities and their professional growth and development? Because their professional development does not get enough attention in research and professional discourse, consequently, does not get the recognition when addressing the complexity of quality in ECEC and primary school education.

This analysis provides a comprehensive view of the CPD landscape for CPD Educators, pinpointing challenges and proposing actionable solutions. Committed to shedding light on this often-neglected aspect, PIQET's goal is to heighten the discussion around it, through quality principles that will guide both CPD educators and CPD-providing organizations in ensuring high-quality CPD opportunities and nurturing the professional development of CPD Educators.

Access the analysis and country reports here.

Educational Research Institute Slovenia, Open Academy Step by Step in Croatia, and the International Step by Step Association

2023

The PIQET Principles represent a groundbreaking initiative under the Erasmus+ project, designed to elevate the standard of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for educators across diverse educational landscapes. Authored by a consortium including the Educational Research Institute in Slovenia, Open Academy Step by Step in Croatia, and the International Step by Step Association, this resource articulates a set of nine comprehensive principles aimed at refining the recruitment, training, and ongoing support of CPD educators. These principles are meticulously crafted to address the core needs of educator development, emphasizing subject expertise, diversity and inclusion, participant-centered planning, and continuous self-improvement among others.

Rooted in the values of social justice, equity, and inclusion, the PIQET Principles serve as both a policy framework and a hands-on tool, offering quality statements, indicators, and reflective questions to guide CPD educators in enhancing their practice. This document not only aims to foster a shared understanding of CPD quality across educational institutions but also encourages active contribution and professional engagement within the CPD community, setting a new benchmark for educator professional development globally.

Access the resource here.

Educational Research Institute Slovenia, Open Academy Step by Step in Croatia, and the International Step by Step Association

2023

The SEEPRO-3 study presented here is the fourth in a series of research projects based at the State Institute of Early Childhood Research and Media Literacy (IFP) in Munich and funded by the German Federal Ministry for Family and Youth Affairs (Bundesministerium für Familie, Senioren, Frauen und Jugend). The new SEEPRO-3 study¹ focuses on the 27 member states of the European Union and six non-EU countries - a total of 33 countries. Reports on the early childhood workforce and the early childhood education and care (ECEC) systems in Norway, Switzerland and Serbia are presented for the first time in this context.

Learn more about the history of the SEEPRO project.

Throughout Europe, early childhood education and care (ECEC) systems are continuously evolving through expansion and consolidation, with reforms and innovations shaping many countries. ECEC staff are essential for quality interactions, stimulating environments, and supporting children's wellbeing and learning. However, nearly all countries report staff shortages, highlighting the need to update data on the qualifications and competencies of early childhood leaders, pedagogues, and assistants.

This homepage presents results from the fourth SEEPRO-3 project, with documents for 33 countries. Each country's profile includes:

1. ECEC Workforce Profile (Country Report): Details on qualification requirements, workforce composition, professional education systems, reform initiatives, research projects, and working conditions. These reports, provided by long-term partners, were compiled based on a research specification and reflect extensive collaboration.
2. Key Contextual Data Synopsis (Country-Specific Background Information): Overview of the ECEC system and demographic data, compiled by the project team and reviewed with supplementary data from partners.

Documents are available in English and German, serving a wide audience including educators, government officials, employers, researchers, early years staff, and other stakeholders across Europe and beyond.

Access the country profiles here.

SEEPRO-3

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

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

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

For most children, early childhood education and care (ECEC) provides the first experience of life in a group away from their families. This experience plays a crucial role in children’s learning, development and well-being. The benefits of high-quality ECEC are not restricted to children’s first years of life. However, little is known about this first experience. What do children learn and do in ECEC settings? With which staff do children interact at their centers? Do all children face the same opportunities to enroll in high-quality settings? What are the main spending priorities to raise the quality of ECEC? These are key questions for parents, staff and policy makers. The OECD Starting Strong Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS Starting Strong) is the first international survey that focuses on the ECEC workforce. It offers an opportunity to learn about the characteristics of the workforce, the practices they use with children, their beliefs about children’s development and their views on the profession and on the sector.

This first volume of findings, Providing Quality Early Childhood Education and Care, examines multiple factors that can affect the quality of ECEC and thereby can influence children’s learning, development and well-being.

OECD

2020

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) services for children under six years of age play a fundamental role in laying strong foundations for lifelong learning and wellbeing, especially in the first three years of life. Quality ECEC services can make an extraordinary difference in children’s lives, especially for the most disadvantaged. Research indicates that children from vulnerable groups derive even greater benefit from high-quality ECEC than their peers from more advantaged families.

Our Recommendations:

• Promote the societal value of ECEC services and ECEC profession
• Establish a minimum standard of qualification accompanied by opportunities for career development for ECEC staff working with children under three years of age
• Track data on ECEC staff qualifications and define targets for the levels of qualification of ECEC staff working in ECEC services, especially those working with children under three years of age
• Define aligned competence profiles across different categories of ECEC staff to ensure high-quality service provision
• Implement policies and mechanisms that bring more diversity in the ECEC workforce (gender, cultural background, etc.)
• Increase investments for improving the ECEC staff working conditions (child-adult ratio, child-free time, renumeration, working environment)