Europe and Central Asia

This report sheds a light on some of these disparities for the early years workforce. It includes a review of the relevant literature; an analysis of quantitative data covering a large representative sample of workers in England; and 40 interviews with early years practitioners, setting managers and local policy-makers. The most common barriers identified in all three strands of research were pay, work demands, certain demographic characteristics, training and the organisational climate of the early years provider. 

The study addresses the following research questions:

• How stable is the EY workforce in England?
• What are the main barriers to stability?
• How do these barriers vary by region?
• How do these barriers vary by provider type?

Social Mobility Commission

2020

In recent years, although there has been a sizable increase in take-up and provision of early years education in the UK, the sector has struggled to recruit and retain practitioners. This has been partly driven by limited development opportunities and low pay. This qualitative study is part of a multi-strand research project conducted in collaboration with the Education Policy Institute (EPI) and funded by the Nuffield Foundation. The study sought to improve understanding of recruitment and retention challenges in the sector and explore perceptions of ‘quality’ within the workforce.

Methods
The research comprised two elements carried out concurrently:

• Provider case studies – 9 settings were purposively selected as case studies. Across these 23 in-depth interviews were conducted with managers and practitioners.
• Timeline interviews – 19 in-depth interviews tracing professional journeys into and through the sector were conducted with early years professionals

Jonah Bury, Molly Mayer, Fiona Gogescu, Tom Bristow, Fatima Husain

2020

These Guidelines are the outcome of the second part of the SEED project, during which a group reflection pathway, called WANDA1, was piloted with 80 ECEC practitioners with the aim to help them to deal with daily challenges in their practice so they could better support the socio-emotional well-being of children in their care.

The Guidelines include a mix of insights from research and i.e. practitioners’ reflections, as well as practical tools that coaches, mentors and facilitators can use to guide and support ECEC practitioners to reflect on their practice. They are meant to be an inspiration for ECEC pedagogical coaches, mentors and trainers who want to invest in reflecting on practice with teams or groups of practitioners, in order to support the socio-emotional well-being of children.

Margaret Kernan, Giulia Cortellesi, Nima Sharmahd and Chris de Kimpe

2019

The Early Years Professionals’ Survey 2019, conducted by SIPTU Big Start Campaign, was carried out to gather information on the attitudes of those employed in the early years sector in relation to their work and involvement in early years settings and changes they thought could be made to improve the sector. Using the 3,200 survey responses this report gives a picture of the attitudes, experiences and expectations of those working in Ireland's early years sector.

Responses show a sector filled with dedicated professionals. However, despite their passion for the work, many workers found difficult working conditions, low pay and lack of recognition by society as barriers to staying in the sector. The survey report indicates potential changes that could be made in order to improve the quality of working conditions for employees.

Dr. Amy Greer Murphy

SIPTU

2019

There is mounting evidence on the positive link between high quality early childhood development (ECD) personnel and the physical, social, and cognitive development of young children. Despite this growing body of knowledge, the early childhood workforce continues to face challenges such as inadequate training, low remuneration, and a lack of professional recognition. Moreover, a lack of documentation on promising approaches to address these workforce challenges limits opportunities to learn from the implementation experiences of different countries around the world.

To bring light to these challenges, and potential responses to them, the Early Childhood Workforce Initiative (ECWI) has developed 6 country briefs which highlight efforts to support the workforce across different geographies and services.

These country briefs were informed by desk reviews and information collected through key informant interviews (KII) with country experts from implementing NGOs, multilaterals, and research institutions, as well as program managers and government officials across 15 countries. After identifying six promising country approaches to highlight, we conducted further desk research and interviews to inform the country briefs. These interviews were particularly helpful for clarifying the key enablers and barriers to implementation in each country as well as the policy lessons for other countries.

The second of these six briefs comes from Georgia. Training Early Childhood Intervention Workers to Close a Workforce Gap examines the development and implementation of a pre-and in-service training program for the early childhood intervention (ECI) workforce and the creation of accreditation mechanisms for building the capacity of ECI services.

Mihaela Ionescu and Sandipan Paul, International Step by Step Association

2019

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

ISSA’s Quality Framework for Early Childhood Practice in Services for Children under Three Years of Age is grounded in the Convention on the Rights of the Child and stands for the centrality of the child and family in conceptualizing, designing and implementing programs dedicated to this age group, no matter the type of service, program, or sector.

It comprises 31 principles and 143 recommended practices, grouped around 9 Focus Areas, thus covering the complexity of the practices and responsibilities that binds all professionals working in early childhood services.

Through this framework, ISSA launches an invitation for dialogue and joint action among practitioners, managers, policy- and decision-makers, program coordinators, trainers/mentors from all sectors and institutions active in early childhood systems, so they may develop an articulated vision and a shared understanding around quality practices impacting the lives of the youngest children.

This report from Early Childhood Ireland maps remuneration within the Irish ECCE Sector. The report presents data on how pay rates vary by role, qualifications and county. The report concluded with future steps including research on the professionalization with the sector.

Resisting Neoliberalism: Professionalisation of Early Childhood Education and Care focuses on the professionalization of early childhood in Australia, Chile, England, Germany, Ireland and the United States.

This paper questions how the sector manages the constraints imposed by a neoliberal political and social world and calls upon manages the constraints imposed on it in a neoliberal political and social world. It calls on professionals to take a stand in terms of what is considered best practice. The paper further argues that continued debate is needed around the boundaries of what is called the early childhood profession, considering the ways in which the education, health and welfare sectors contribute to a holistic approach balanced against the requirement for a profession to have an identified and discrete body of knowledge.

Mary Moloney, Margaret Sims, Antje Rothe, Cynthia Buettner

International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education

2019

The Wanda method: overview and steps forward  report is the result of an ISSA Peer Learning Activity and involved several members of the ISSA network.

WANDA is a method developed in 2010 in order to support professional group reflection, with specific attention to valuing each other, with respect towards the child, the family, the colleagues, the community. WANDA aims to improve quality in ECEC for children and families.

The specific objectives of the PLA were:

1) Get an overview of what (and how) has been done with Wanda on a local level in each country: which services have been involved, with which frequency did they organize Wanda sessions, what has been the impact, what are the strengths and the critical points that come out, what are the needs of the target groups etc.
2) Co-reflect on the strengths and challenges, with the aim of fine-tuning the different Wanda paths: the aim is not homologating the peculiar experiences of the different contexts, but finding coherency within the differences (agreeing on what is Wanda and what it is not, discussing possibilities and borders, stimulating each other by getting to know the different experiences that took place etc.).
3) Consider all this, thinking together about possible next steps for Wanda, both on a local level in each country involved, and on an international one (f.e. through EU projects).