3.1 Four Strategies to Strengthen the ECE Workforce

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Figure 3.1 Four Strategies to Strengthen the ECE Workforce

ATTRACT

Attract high quality candidates to the ECE workforce by enhancing the status of the ECE profession

Strengthening the ECE workforce PREPARE

Equip ECE educators with appropriate and relevant skills, knowledge, dispositions, and competencies

SUPPORT

Provide ongoing support and professional development to protect ECE educators’ well-being

RETAIN

Ensure educator retention by implementing minimum working conditions and providing conditions that promote job satisfaction

Source: Original figure for this publication. Note: ECE = early childhood education.

Successful attainment of these principles is dependent on broader implementation of systemic supports to underpin work across the four areas. These systemic supports should include a transparent system of award and remuneration opportunities; high-quality, relevant, and supportive incremental training and PD; and effective monitoring and evaluation of structural components of ECE that are fed back to, and support, the workforce for effective delivery of ECE. Although the principles outlined here may be equally applicable across ECE and other education sectors, there are important distinctions in the considerations listed within each principle. These distinctions reflect global consensus, embodied in the concept of “nurturing care” (Black et al. 2017), around the importance in ECE of holistic

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approaches that require close relationships with families and communities. They also reflect international agreement on the unique nature of curriculum focus, pedagogical approaches, physical environments for learning, and interactions between educators and children (Kaga, Bennett, and Moss 2010). Given these distinctions and the younger age of children served in early childhood classrooms, early childhood educators require dispositional attributes that enable them to deliver high-quality educational experiences to young children.

Why Is the Quality of the ECE Educator Important?

Teachers have a critical role to play in creating positive physical and psychological environments for learning. They can shape children’s educational outcomes and attitudes toward education through their pedagogical skills and demeanor. The quality of the ECE educator is one of the most important predictors of educationally rich classroom interactions and thereby the quality of the program (Perlman et al. 2016; Slot, Lerkkanen, and Leseman 2015). Like members of any workforce, ECE educators can be vulnerable to stress, and relevant supports are required to ensure that they can respond appropriately to a range of challenges in providing a safe, nurturing environment for young children (Kinkead-Clark 2019). To be effective, ECE educators need to have a unique set of professional and pedagogical knowledge, skills, and dispositions that equip them with the motivation and drive to deliver high-quality educational experiences to young children. These attributes can be acquired through preservice training, in-service programs (for upgrading professional qualifications), or PD activities. A combination of all of these is widely acknowledged as preferable for establishing and maintaining high-quality teaching across both LMICs and high-income countries (HICs).

Key Takeaways

• Early childhood educators have a critical role to play in creating positive physical and psychological environments for learning. They can help shape children’s educational outcomes and attitudes toward education through their skills and by motivating children. • The quality and capacity of the ECE educator are among the most important predictors of educationally rich classrooms and of overall ECE quality. • To be effective, ECE educators need to have a unique set of professional and pedagogical knowledge, skills, and dispositions that equip them with the motivation and drive to deliver high-quality educational experiences to young children.