Promising practice

This article describes an initiative that extended the Investigating Quality (IQ) Project’s model of pedagogical development to a partnership between local ECE programs and their ongoing professional learning and an ECE training institution and its preparation of student educators. We begin with an overview of the project and pedagogical development model, describing how it conceptualizes and promotes professional learning as co-constructed in socio-material-historical-cultural-political contexts. We follow this with an analysis of the model’s three key conditions: inquiry based learning, making learning visible, and pedagogical facilitation support. We conclude with considerations for what this model of pedagogical development might mean for the ECE profession.

Kathleen Kummen and B. Denise Hodgins

Journal of Early Childhood Studies

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).

In many countries around the world, the early childhood workforce often experiences poor recognition for their work which translates to lower wages and qualifications, fewer opportunities for career development and inadequate professional development, in comparison with other professionals working to support older children and adults.

Recently, the Early Childhood Workforce Initiative conducted key informant interviews in 15 countries to understand country priorities and challenges, as well as promising approaches to supporting the early childhood workforce. The recruitment and retention of staff and volunteers as well as working conditions were among the major challenges surfaced in those conversations.

The webinar will address the following questions pertaining to the theme:

• What working conditions do members of the early childhood workforce face?
• To what extent are challenging working conditions a barrier in recruiting and retaining the early childhood workforce?
• To what extent do working conditions influence the quality of service delivery?
• What efforts have been taken in different countries to improve the working conditions of various categories of early childhood workers?

- How do countries design and implement such efforts in the face of resource constraints?

- What factors can support the introduction of policies to improve working conditions?

- What challenges are encountered in introducing these policies?

This discussion aims to cover different country contexts, and will refer to various categories of professionals and paraprofessionals from different sectors.

This webinar is intended for policymakers and program implementers interested in learning more about the working conditions that members of the early childhood workforce face as well as approaches that have been used to improve them.

Access the recording via the YouTube link below. You may also resources from the webinar, such as reccomended readings from the panel and the webinar slides, here.

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 role of social work in international child protection: best practices in stakeholder cooperation focuses on the intersection of law, policy implementation, and social work in child protection, specifically child protection involving children who are separated by an international border from their families.

In addition to providing an overview of the role of social work in child protection this paper also presents several key strategies for building cooperation and collaboration between social workers and legal and judicial partners.

Authors, Julie Gilbert Rosicky of the University of Oregon and Felicity Sackville Northcott of Johns Hopkins University, offer detailed recommendations for mutually supportive and sustainable international social work and legal cooperation.  

Worthy Work, STILL Unlivable Wages: The Early Childhood Workforce 25 Years after the National Child Care Staffing Study offers a snapshot of today's early childhood teachers in the United States. The report takes a look through four lenses:

• Then and Now: Trends in Wages, Education, and Turnover Among Early Childhood Teachers, 1989-2014. A comparison of available evidence reveals the extent of change in center-based teachers’ wages, education, and rates of turnover over the past quarter century.
• Economic Insecurity Among Early Childhood Teachers. New evidence reveals the serious consequences of inadequate compensation on this predominantly female, ethnically diverse workforce.
• The Public Costs of Inadequate Compensation. An examination of how widely early childhood workers and their families use public benefits offers a first look at some of the hidden costs of the low wages endemic to this workforce.
• Policy Efforts to Improve Early Childhood Teaching Jobs. An appraisal of state and national efforts to improve the quality of early care and education in the United States focuses on how adequately these have addressed the low wages of the teaching workforce.

The report also offers thoughts on paths forward and reinvigorating the national conversation on the status and working conditions of teaching staff.

Excerpt

"In the 25 years since the release of the National Child Care Staffing Study, combined developments in science, practice, and policy have dramatically shifted the context for discussions about the status of early childhood teaching jobs, and the importance of attracting and retaining a well-prepared workforce that is capable of nurturing young children’s learning, health and development. Three narrative elements of this changed early care and education landscape set the stage for the new evidence presented in this report:

• A developmental story. Since 1989, we have gained exponentially greater knowledge of the powerful role of children’s earliest encounters with caregiving adults in setting a sturdy or fragile foundation for lifelong development.
• An economic story. There is now a far more widespread appreciation for the wise investment that high-quality early care and education (ECE) constitutes for children, families, and society at large.
• A policy story. For the first time since 1971, when national child care legislation made it all the way to a presidential veto, there is serious debate at the federal level, echoed in virtually every state, about the vital importance of improving the quality of early education, with vast implications for what we expect of the early childhood teaching workforce."

The EC Workforce 2020 Plan sets out a three-year roadmap for a comprehensive professional development system designed to recruit, retain, compensate, develop, and support a high-quality, diverse, early childhood workforce.The first section of this plan outlines the shared vision and guiding principles that underpin the goals provided in the document. Next, the plan details six goals:

• Workforce development
• Recruitment and retention
• Compensation
• Leadership
• Finance
• Data and continuous quality improvement

The plan also highlights key objectives and activities to best support and advance the workforce. 

Based on its long experience in working with practitioners, mostly in challenging contexts, ISSA has articulated an approach that embeds the values and practices that are considered to lead to meaningful and sustainable mechanisms for continuous professional growth.

An important outcome of this process is called “Roads to Quality”. This is more than a guidebook explaining how the resources in the ISSA Quality Resource Pack can be used to increase the quality of practices in early childhood education services. It stands for ISSA’s approach towards practitioners’ professional growth and nurturing their professionalism. It stands for the systemic change in early childhood education systems that should reflect the concern to invest in professionalism. As a democratic and inclusive professional learning community, ISSA promotes learning within its network, while at the same time bringing in knowledge and innovation from outside the network.

With this guidebook, ISSA proposes not only a quality framework for early childhood education practices—including a range of resources supporting its translation into practice—but also a “know-how” approach that reflects the consistency between scaffolding children’s development and learning, and scaffolding practitioners’ professional growth in such a way that each achieves their full potential.

Changing Systems & Practice to Improve Outcomes for Young Fathers, Their Children & Their Families recognizes that, though there is an increasing interest in supporting fathers, little attention has been paid to the importance of engaging fathers under the age of 26 – particularly young fathers who are involved in child welfare systems.

This brief makes recommendations for child welfare system policy and practice, recognizing the important role that fathers play in improving their child's outcomes. The document highlights policies and programs seeking to identify, engage and support young fathers. It also includes links to practice guides and resources aimed at supporting the implementation of these recommendations. The policy recommendations in this brief address these challenges:

• The lack of attention to the dual roles and needs of young fathers who are simultaneously navigating a transition to adulthood while learning to parent;
• The invisibility of young fathers in child welfare systems and the dearth of opportunities for them to support the well-being of their children and families;
• The lack of data on the characteristics and needs of young fathers; and
• The lack of cross-system collaboration among the education, juvenile/criminal justice, early childhood education (ECE), child support enforcement, health care, homeless services, housing and mental health systems to support young fathers and their families.

Throughout the brief, voices of young fathers are shared.