Europe and Central Asia

The early years workforce in England from the Education Policy Institute (EPI) compares conditions and characteristics of childcare workers with those in occupations that are often regarded as career alternatives.

The report highlights several key findings:

• A large proportion of childcare workers are struggling financially
• Sector recruitment problems: immediate and long-term
• The workforce has low qualifications, which could affect the quality of childcare provision
• The workforce remains predominantly female

Call to Action on the Social Service Workforce Strengthening in the Europe and Central Asia Region, developed by Oxford Policy Management and UNICEF Europe and Central Asia, seeks to ensure that functions, competencies and qualifications across the social service workforce are aligned so there will no longer be unqualified professionals in roles requiring professional competencies and there will be a range of personnel deployed across a range of services with the right qualifications for the competencies and responsibilities of their position.

The governments of the region are called upon to act upon the following:

1. Agreeing to a common set of definitions of the social service and allied workforces in the ECA region
2. Effective long-term planning of the social service workforce and aligning functions, processes, competencies and qualifications
3. Developing the competencies of the social service workforce
4. Supporting the social service workforce

The Erasmus+ report, Professionalisation of Childcare Assistants in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC): Pathways towards Qualification, focuses on reviewing profiles of ECEC assistants in 15 European countries, as well as the professionalization opportunities available to them. The report makes recommendations on how pathways for qualification and continuous professional development (CPD) can be created for assistants. Examples from Denmark, France and Slovenia show some successful pathways in these areas.

Several key findings were introduced in the report. The first is that ECEC assistants are not recognized in policy documents or research. This is unacceptable considering the high number of assistants in the ECEC workforce. Additionally, ECEC assistants have little opportunity to receive the same qualification as a core practitioner. There should be investment in systems that reward the work of all staff, and opportunities to be upwardly mobile at work. This includes increasing the number of opportunities for professional development that assistants have access to. European countries do not generally provide funding for staff’s non-contact time, causing assistants to miss out on reflection time with their teams.

Together, UNICEF ECARO and ISSA have developed a set of Resource Modules for Home Visitors: Supporting Families for Nurturing Care, intended to better equip home visitors with the latest knowledge and tools to support and engage with the families of young children.

Drawing upon the most recent scientific evidence, the modules have been developed through a consultative process involving international and regional experts, national trainers and home visiting professionals. They can be delivered through various training methods and adapted to train other service providers.

These modules empower home visitors to take a strengths-based approach that promotes nurturing relationships between the caregiver and child as well as contributing to risk reduction by supporting and referring families to other services when necessary. 

The modules are accompanied by several supporting tools. They provide ample opportunity for the learner to be actively engaged in reflection and deliver guidance on the knowledge, skills, attitudes and practices required for home visitors in their “new and enriched role”. These tools can support home visitors to work in partnership with families, to support parents and caregivers, and empower them to provide the best possible environment for their young children.

This report is the final report of the CARE project (Curriculum Quality Analysis and Impact Review of European ECEC). It aims to highlight priorities in ECEC professional development and develop recommendations regarding high-quality provisions for common EU policies. Six policy priorities are identified in throughout the report:

• in-service and ongoing professional development;
• the leveraging of communities of practice (CoP) and communities of innovation (CoI);
• quality in professional development;
• innovative approaches to professional development; and
• addressing the vulnerable through professional development.

As ECEC's policies and systems evolve, so does the work and expectations of those working in the field. This emphasizes the importance of enhanced, continuous professional development.

You may also like Report on “good practice” case studies of professional development in three countries from the CARE project.

The Vision for Specialised Child Protection Services in the Republic of Moldova lays out a common vision on the system of child protection services and includes a variety of specialized services needed in order to form an integrated and coherent system to meet the complex needs of children victims and witnesses of child abuse and neglect.

• This document looks at the core areas within child protection systems:
• policies and standards;
• programmes, services and implementers;
• coordination and oversight;
• resourcing; and
• social norms.

In addition, key monitoring actions are proposed in order to increase the accountability of all those with responsibility for the safety and care of children.

Innovative approaches to continuous professional development (CPD) in early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Europe: Findings from a comparative review explores innovation as an aspect of in-service continuous professional development in ECEC.

A literature review and cross-country analysis conducted in ten European countries uncovered the fact that innovation in CPD was understood a way to improve quality. This finding shows how CPD encompasses processes such as critical thinking, reflexivity and co-creation within and across ECEC systems. This resource highlights insights identified as crucial aspects of CPD in terms of innovation including:

• Critical reflection;
• Communities of practice; and
• A growing focus on politics that address social inequality through ECEC

The analysis is a contribution to research on innovative CDP in ECEC at the micro, meso and macro levels. The authors suggest more research into in-depth and identified approaches to innovation related to CDP and their impact on the quality development in European ECEC. 

This report presents ‘good practice case studies’ of exemplary approaches to innovative in-service Professional Development (PD) of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) practitioners in three countries: Denmark, Italy and Poland.

The report reviews the use of new technologies, peer learning, reflective practice and organizational learning, within the field of Early Childhood Education in Europe. This document presents the case study design, results and interpretations of findings from each of the three case studies The case studies in this report aim to explore new effective approaches to professional development focused on enhancing education and improving workforce training strategies for ECEC practitioners.

This study, the second in this series, focuses on the role of preschool teachers in Ukraine. The country, with a predominantly public network of preschool education, has achieved coverage for a significant proportion of the population.

This study, the second in this series, focuses on the role of preschool teachers in Ukraine. The country, with a predominantly public network of preschool education, has achieved coverage for a significant proportion of the population. Nevertheless, it struggles to meet demand and ensure quality of services. In addition, Ukraine is at a unique moment where increasing attention is being paid in the country to improving the quality of preschool education and supporting inclusion, which have been elevated in recent policy reforms. Taking into account the significance of preschool teachers to the system of preschool education, this study aims to gain a better understanding of their experiences, including their backgrounds, the support that they receive, as well as the challenges that they encounter.

By illustrating the experiences of preschool teachers in Ukraine and identifying the size and scope of the challenges they face, it is hoped that this study will support officials within the Ministry of Education and Science (Ministerstvo osvity i nauky) in Ukraine as well as local education departments to strengthen and support preschool personnel through targeted policies and programs and contribute to the knowledge base around the early childhood workforce.

The Early Childhood Workforce Initiative

2018

Early Childhood Policies and Systems in Eight Countries: Findings from IEA’s Early Childhood Education Study  is an exploration of early childhood education (ECE) provision and its role in children's preparation for school and participation in society. In this context, formal early education and provision of care for young children from birth to the age of primary school is described and analyzed in Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Poland, the Russian Federation and the United States. The data was collected by way of a policy questionnaire, which collected basic information about the wider policy context for ECE in the participating countries. This report provides an overview of strategies, as well as systemic and structural results of ECE policy at the national and, where necessary, subnational levels.

This research study, from International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, presents key findings are presented throughout the report, alongside their supporting evidence.