Monitoring & mentoring

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

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

The ICM Standards for Midwifery Education (2021) are an essential pillar of ICM’s efforts to strengthen midwifery worldwide by promoting high quality education programs that prepare midwives who meet the ICM definition of a midwife. The ICM Standards for Midwifery Education are based on foundational ICM Core Documents and Position Statements. Importantly, the Standards address inclusion of the Essential Competencies for Midwifery Practice (2019) as the basis of the midwifery curriculum.

The purpose of the ICM Standards for Midwifery Education (2021) is to establish benchmarks for midwifery education programs, promote high-quality teaching and learning processes, incorporate the ICM Essential Competencies for Midwifery Practice (2019) into the curriculum, provide a framework for designing and evaluating midwifery education programs, assist in continuous quality improvement, enable systematic reporting of quality indicators, and contribute to improving midwifery education programs worldwide.

International Confederation of Midwives

2021

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

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

The goal of the research ‘Bulgaria grows with its children: Building professional competences for early childhood development’ (hereinafter referred to as ‘research on the early years workforce’ and ‘the research’) is to outline the main directions for improvement of the professionalization of the early years workforce on the basis of data – quantitative and qualitative – as well as to formulate recommendations for policy development in this area.

This summary shares the main results and recommendations derived from this research.

Dr. Natalia Mihaylova and included Dr. Ivanka Shalapatova, Elitsa Gerginova, Savelina Roussinova, and Dimitar Ivanchev

2021

A well-supported, appropriately equipped, empowered, and protected social service workforce is essential to mitigating the damaging effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Social service workers can build on their existing strong ties to children, families, and communities to rapidly respond in ways that are effective. However, to do so, they must stay safe and healthy. This document is intended to provide guidance on how to support the social service workforce and empower them to safely serve children, families, and communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. This guidance is for governments, non-governmental organizations, social service workers, and their supervisors.

Global Social Service Workforce Alliance, UNICEF, International Federation of Social Workers, Alliance for Child Protection in Humanitarian Action

2020