Policy document

Connecticut Voices for Children released a second crisis response report, as part of a series of reports, that outlines what the state can do to support children and families during and after the COVID-19 crisis. The report, entitled “The State of Early Childhood: Can Connecticut’s Struggling Family Child Care Providers Fill a 50,000 Child Care Gap Amidst the Coronavirus Recession?” examines the status of Connecticut’s child care industry, specifically family child care providers, before the coronavirus pandemic and finds the state continues to see the following: a shortage of child care slots, high child care costs that are not affordable to most families, and a continuing divide between preschool experience between higher- and lower-income towns. The report explores responses to the pandemic that can help state policymakers create a stronger early childhood environment necessary for rebuilding Connecticut’s economy.

Connecticut Voices for Children

2020

This INEE Guidance Note addresses a gap in the tools that are currently available to educators and professionals operating in emergency and crisis contexts. This INEE Guidance Note encourages more intentional and consistent implementation of practical, goodquality psychosocial interventions on the education frontlines by teachers, education administrators, parents, counselors, peers, ministries, and other education personnel in three concrete ways:

• The Guidance Note clarifies the education sector’s importance in supporting the psychosocial wellbeing of children and youth.
• The Guidance Note provides educators with practical tips and advice about how to integrate PSS into formal and non-formal education efforts.
• The Guidance Note highlights linkages between PSS in education and other sectors. This Guidance Note was developed for all professionals who carry out or support formal and non-formal educational activities for children and youth during humanitarian crises. It is also useful to government entities, policy-makers, community groups, humanitarian workers, parents, peers, and families for planning, programming, policy, and advocacy purposes, and to mechanisms such as the Education Cluster and other education coordination or working groups.

The INEE Guidance Note on Psychosocial Support can be found in Arabic, English French, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish via the link below.

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) – the phase before primary education – is increasingly acknowledged as providing the foundations for lifelong learning and development. This second edition of Key Data on Early Childhood Education and Care in Europe charts the progress made in the key quality areas identified in the Council Recommendation on High Quality ECEC Systems.

The report provides indicators on the key quality areas of governance, access, staff, educational guidelines as well as evaluation and monitoring. Cross-cutting these key areas, it presents a child-centred approach, with special attention being paid to the inter-relatedness of policies in different areas. The importance of inclusiveness in education is also stressed as high quality ECEC is considered to be one of the best ways to increase equity and equality in society.

Part one provides policymakers, researchers and parents with comparative information on the current ECEC policies across Europe. Part two gives an overview of the key features of national ECEC systems accompanied by a diagram of their structure.
The scope of the report is wide, covering centre-based and regulated home-based provision in both the public and private sectors in the 38 European countries (43 education systems) participating in the EU's Erasmus+ programme. It includes the 28 Member States of the European Union as well as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia and Turkey.

European Commission

2019

Recruiting and retaining skilled staff is a long-standing challenge for the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector. OECD countries are increasingly demanding that ECEC staff be highly skilled and highly qualified, but a combination of low wages, a lack of status and public recognition, poor working conditions, and limited opportunities for professional development mean that recruitment and retention are frequently difficult. What can countries do to build a highly qualified and well-trained ECEC workforce? What is the best route to increasing staff skills without exacerbating staff shortages? How can countries boost pay and working conditions in the context of limited resources? Building on past OECD work on early childhood education and care, and drawing on the experience of OECD countries, this report outlines good practice policy measures for improving jobs in ECEC and for constructing a high-quality workforce.

OECD

2019

The Early Childhood Higher Education Inventory, administered by the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment at the University of California at Berkeley, assists policymakers and other stakeholders to develop a more coordinated and comprehensive professional preparation and development system for the early care and education workforce. The Inventory is a mechanism to describe the landscape of a state’s early childhood degree program offerings, at the associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels. The Inventory captures variations in program goals, content, child age-group focus, student field-based learning, and faculty characteristics and professional development needs. This information allows policy makers, institutions of higher education and other stakeholders to identify the gaps and opportunities in the available offerings, make informed policy decisions, and assess the capacity of the higher education system over time. There are reports for 14 states (Tennessee, Arkansas, California, Florida, Indiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Washington)

Center for the Study of Child Care Employment (Berkeley)

2018

Public policy work is often incremental. Sometimes successes are realized by steady movement along the same path. Sometimes great strides are made by starting over and doing something bold. There is not one single right way to approach policy work. But before any plans are made and actions are taken, it is crucial that all stakeholders are aware of the current policies and contexts. Workforce Designs: A Policy Blueprint for State Early Childhood Professional Development Systems (the Blueprint) provides a common framework that can help advocates and policy-makers take stock of existing workforce policies.
The planning guide provides five steps and guiding questions to help conduct an environmental scan of state early childhood workforce system policies and to begin planning action steps:
Step 1. Gather and Describe: What are your current state workforce system policies?
Step 2. Analyze: Do the policies apply or meet the policy-making principles?
Step 3. Determine: What are your goals?
Step 4. Discuss and Consider: What are your opportunities?
Step 5. Plan: What are your priorities?

NAEYC - National Association for the Education of Young Children

2008

The National Association of Social Workers, has developed the Practice Standards & Guidelines which provide benchmarks that describe the services that social workers should provide; that employers should support and that consumers should expect. Standards/guidelines reflect current and emerging best practice trends and are a critical component of the professional social worker's toolkit. They are useful for both new and experienced practitioners, and can be effective advocacy tools. The Association has developed different sets of Practice Standards and Guidelines, in order to present the sector that social workers are working.

NASW - National Association of Social Workers

NAEYC formulated this state professional development systems policy blueprint as part of the Early Childhood Workforce Systems Initiative. This initiative focuses on the underlying state public policies that support integrated early childhood professional development systems. This blueprint focuses on the policies that connect professional development activities and that support and make possible effective implementation of a state system of professional development. It highlights principles and six policy areas that build or sustain an integrated system—a system that ensures quality in all settings in which early childhood professionals work. These principles and highlighted policy areas look beyond the status quo; they are aimed at the development and retention of a competent and stable early childhood workforce—a skilled cadre of effective, diverse, and adequately compensated professionals. This policy blueprint also includes a listing of sample state strategies in each of the six key policy areas. Since state policies do not begin—and will not end up—in the same place, this tool is intended to serve as a starting point for states to expand, change, and adapt for their own political and professional contexts and needs.

Sarah LeMoine

NAEYC - National Association for the Education of Young Children

2008

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