Early childhood education and care: Working conditions and training opportunities

Transcription

1 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities Workig paper Click for cotets Wyattville Road, Loughlistow, Dubli 18, Irelad. - Tel: (+353 1) Fax: / [email protected] - website:

2 Whe citig this report, please use the followig wordig: Eurofoud (2014), Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities Workig paper, Dubli. Authors: Daiel Moliuevo, Daphe Ahredt, Adi Buxbaum (Austria Federal Chamber of Labour) ad Wifried Moser (Austria Istitute for Childre s Rights ad Paret Educatio) Research maagers: Daiel Moliuevo ad Daphe Ahredt Eurofoud project: Assessig childcare services i Europe The authors would like to thak the followig for providig commets: Nora Milotay (Europea Commissio), Heio Schofeld (Barardos Irelad), Ja Peeters (Cetre for Iovatio i the Early Years), Birgit Hartel (Charlotte Buehler Istitute for Praxis-Orieted Early Childhood Research), Birgit Riedel (Germa Youth Istitute i Muich), Nóirí Hayes (Cetre for Social ad Educatioal Research) ad Aa Acheta Arrabal (Uiversity of Valecia).

3 Cotets Itroductio Defiitios ad coceptual framework Systematic reviews of i-service traiig ad workig coditios Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities i five Member States Coclusio Bibliography

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5 Itroductio The aim of this workig paper is to provide iformatio about the workig coditios ad i-service traiig opportuities of early childhood educatio ad care (ECEC) workers ad to describe how these factors are liked to outcomes for childre. This paper is part of the research project Assessig childcare services beig carried out by Eurofoud i 2013 ad The project focuses o the two dimesios of early childhood educatio ad care that have bee the mai focus of policy iitiatives at Europea level: esurig that services are accessible ad that they are of good quality. This is the mai message of the 2011 Coucil of the Europea Uio coclusios o early childhood educatio ad care; it is also oe of the mai messages of the 2013 Europea Commissio recommedatio Ivestig i childre: Breakig the cycle of disadvatage. Eurofoud aims to provide research evidece about what works i terms of icreasig the quality ad accessibility of services. Quality is the mai focus of research activities i 2013, while accessibility is the focus i There are several meas to achievig quality i early childhood educatio ad care. The OECD s quality toolbox for early childhood educatio ad care lists the followig five: settig out quality goals ad regulatios; desigig ad implemetig curriculum ad stadards; improvig qualificatios, traiig ad workig coditios; egagig families ad commuity; ad advacig data collectio, research ad moitorig (OECD, 2012d). I this research project, Eurofoud focuses o traiig ad workig coditios, as improvig workig coditios is oe of the priority areas for Eurofoud research activities i the period Aother priority area is improvig stadards of livig ad promotig social cohesio i the face of ecoomic disparities ad social iequalities. Esurig access, quality ad sustaiability i public services is oe of the cluster themes of Eurofoud s work programme. This research project provides iformatio o these issues by lookig at the impact of early childhood educatio ad care o outcomes for childre. Eurofoud iitiated a systematic review a review of research literature that follows a systematic methodology i 2013 (to be completed i 2014) to aalyse how the workig coditios ad traiig opportuities of ECEC staff relate to the iteractios betwee staff ad childre ad outcomes for childre, with the aim of sythesisig the fidigs of primary research studies i Europe. This paper complemets that review by summarisig fidigs from five other systematic reviews. The paper also provides up-to-date iformatio about the workig coditios ad traiig opportuities of ECEC staff i five Member States: Austria, Germay, Irelad, the Netherlads ad Spai. These coutries have fairly well-developed ECEC systems i terms of coverage ad differet degrees of cetralisatio of ECEC services. They were ot covered i the OECD Quality matters i early childhood educatio ad care coutry reports, but they were coutries about which the research team was able to gather recet iformatio regardig the curret situatio of workers ad the latest policy iitiatives. Poor pay, lack of career progressio ad lack of traiig opportuities are some of the recurret issues i this sector. As the research literature preseted here shows, this is the case eve i coutries with relatively well-developed ECEC systems. Despite the public discourse highlightig the importace of services for youg childre ad the vast amout of research uderpiig this message, the workig coditios of ECEC staff do ot reflect the recogised importace of the early developmet of childre (OECD, 2006). It is therefore importat to make a case for ivestig i the workforce by showig the curret situatio ad by providig evidece of the impact of adequate workig coditios ad traiig opportuities o the quality of services, i relatio to iteractios betwee staff ad childre ad child developmet. 1 Durig 2014, Eurofoud will aalyse how services ca be made more accessible ad iclusive for childre who require greater support, lookig at examples of good practice i services for childre who are faced with greater challeges, such as those associated with icome, eighbourhood, disability, learig difficulties ad ethic backgroud. 1

6 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities Workig coditios ad traiig i the EU policy ageda The iterest of Europea istitutios i early childhood educatio ad care origiates i its importace for work life balace, equal opportuities ad access to the labour market. The 1992 Coucil recommedatio o childcare highlighted its relevace for the recociliatio of work ad family life ad icluded a metio of childcare workers, callig for iitiatives that esure due recogitio [ ] to persos egaged i childcare services as regards the way i which they work ad the social value of their work. It also asked Member States to esure that the traiig of workers i childcare services is adequate to the ature of their tasks (Coucil of the Europea Commuities, 1992). I 1996, the Europea Network o Childcare proposed a series of recommeded targets to measure progress i achievig the Coucil s recommedatios over a period of 10 years. These 40 targets addressed the policy framework, fiacial targets, the levels ad types of services, educatio, staff child ratios, staff employmet, evirometal ad health targets, targets for parets ad performace targets (Europea Commissio Network o Childcare, 1996). I additio to these targets, i 2002, Member States adopted targets i childcare provisio for 2010 at the Barceloa Europea Coucil i order to remove barriers to wome s participatio i the labour market. Accordig to the Barceloa targets, Member States eeded to provide formal childcare for at least 90% of childre aged betwee three years ad the madatory school age ad for at least 33% of childre aged uder three years (Europea Coucil, 2002). I 2011, six Member States had achieved both objectives (Belgium, Demark, Frace, Sloveia, Swede ad the UK). Luxembourg, the Netherlads, Portugal ad Spai had achieved the target for childre uder three years of age, while Germay, Italy ad Estoia had achieved the target for childre aged betwee three years ad the madatory school age. Austria ad Irelad had achieved aroud 80% coverage of childre aged from three years to the madatory school age (Europea Commissio, 2013c). It is clear that the mai issues for the EU, up util that poit, were icreasig access to services ad creatig more childcare places i order to facilitate parets etry to the labour market. However, quality featured strogly as a issue of cocer i the Europea Commissio s 2011 commuicatio ad the Europea Coucil s coclusios o early childhood educatio ad care i the same year. Both documets stated that the child ad its family were at the cetre of their policy cosideratios, which costitutes a importat shift i policy focus (Europea Commissio, 2011; Coucil of the Europea Uio, 2011). More recet policy iitiatives i this area also go beyod issues of work life balace ad lik the improvemet of ECEC services to tacklig child poverty ad reducig iequality (Social Protectio Committee, 2012; Europea Commissio, 2013a). The Commissio recommedatio Ivestig i childre: Breakig the cycle of disadvatage advocates ivestig i ECEC services by highlightig their importace i reducig iequalities at a youg age. It calls for icetivisig the participatio of childre from a disadvataged backgroud [ ], regardless of their parets labour market situatio (Europea Commissio, 2013b, p. 6). Greater attetio is also give to its importace i relatio to further stages i the educatio process (Europea Commissio, 2013a). Oe of the bechmarks of Educatio ad Traiig 2020 (ET2020), the ew framework for Europea cooperatio i educatio ad traiig, is icreasig participatio as a foudatio for later educatioal success : by 2020, at least 95% of childre aged betwee four years ad the age for startig compulsory primary educatio should participate i early childhood educatio ad care. The importace of traiig ad workig coditios i deliverig high-quality ECEC services has icreasigly bee reflected i the policy debate at Europea level, maily i relatio to the eed for qualified staff i order to esure goodquality services ad the challeges associated with attractig the right people to the sector. The 2006 Europea Commissio commuicatio o efficiecy ad equity i Europea educatio ad traiig systems poits out the logterm returs of early childhood educatio ad states that the supply of specially traied pre-primary teachers will eed 2

7 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities to be improved i may coutries (Europea Commissio, 2006). The eed for better traiig, pay ad workig coditios for staff ad the challege of attractig ad retaiig suitably qualified staff are also reflected i the coclusios of the Europea symposium o improvig early childhood educatio ad care (Early Matters, 2008). I relatio to policy issues, the Coucil coclusios o early childhood educatio ad care from May 2011 idetified the eed for policy cooperatio amog Member States to promote the professioalisatio of ECEC staff ad to develop policies to attract, educate ad retai suitably qualified staff for early childhood educatio ad care. Sice 2012, a thematic workig group o early childhood educatio ad care, set up by the Europea Commissio, is workig towards establishig a Europea quality framework for these services i The framework will be a collectio of quality criteria i five mai policy areas (accessibility, curriculum, evaluatio ad moitorig, goverace ad fudig, ad workforce). It will be supported by evidece from research ad practice as well as coutry-specific aalysis. The quality criteria will iclude descriptors ad measures of success that are both quatitative ad qualitative. 3

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9 Defiitios ad coceptual framework Several cocepts are used across Europe to describe ECEC services ad staff. (The Europea Commissio is curretly developig a glossary of terms with commo defiitios that will be traslated ito differet laguages.) This workig paper uses, to a large extet, the defiitios established by the OECD. The OECD uses a broad defiitio for services for youg childre, ecompassig differet service arragemets. Accordig to this defiitio, early childhood educatio ad care icludes all arragemets providig care ad educatio for childre uder compulsory school age, regardless of settig, fudig, opeig hours, or programme cotet (OECD, 2001, p. 7). This is also the defiitio most commoly used i EU policy documets ad research projects fuded by the Europea Commissio, although most of them focus o cetre-based day-care (childcare that is provided i licesed cetres outside the home) ad exclude family day-care (services provided by a child-mider i the home of the child-mider or the child). ECEC workforce Staff workig i ECEC services have bee give the geeral label of practitioer by several authors. This term icludes all those who work i ECEC settigs that provide o-paretal educatio ad care for childre uder compulsory school age. These services iclude childcare cetres, urseries, ursery schools, kidergartes, various types of age-itegrated cetres ad family day care provided by home-based workers. Urba et al, 2012, pp The CoRe research project categorises this broad group ito core practitioers, assistats to practitioers ad family daycarers. Core practitioers are defied as the practitioers who work directly with youg childre ad parets. Assistats to the core practitioers help the core practitioer i workig with childre ad families, while family day-carers care for childre i the carer s ow home (CoRe, 2011). The SEEPRO project (Oberhuemer et al, 2010) divides the category of core practitioers ito six profiles. Early childhood professioals i uitary systems 2 study pedagogy at a higher educatio level to become qualified to work i early childhood cetres for childre from birth up to compulsory school age. I split systems, the required qualificatio is sometimes lower. Pre-primary professioals are traied as pre-primary teachers for childre i the two to three years immediately precedig compulsory educatio. Pre-primary ad primary school professioals are qualified at a higher educatio level primarily as teachers for the school system, icludig work i primary schools ad also i pre-primary settigs for the two to three years precedig school etry. Study routes ted to be heavily iflueced by school requiremets. Social pedagogy professioals are usually traied at higher educatio level to work ot oly with youg childre but also with school-aged childre ad youg people ad i some cases adults. The mai focus is o social pedagogy ad social work outside the school system. Ifat toddler professioals are traied to work specifically with those aged uder three years. 2 Aalysts ofte differetiate betwee uitary ad split systems. I a split system, educatio ad care for the yougest childre (up to 3- or 4-years-old) is separate from that for older childre (up to compulsory school age). I a uitary system, provisio for the yougest childre is itegrated ito the broader educatioal system. See CoRe (2011) for more detail. 5

10 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities Healthcare professioals are core professioals preset i some coutries who work with childre aged uder three years ad who have a healthcare qualificatio. This may be a child-focused qualificatio (such as paediatric ursig) or a geeral health or social care qualificatio for workig with people of all ages. Quality i early childhood educatio ad care Differet elemets of early childhood educatio ad care ca be take ito accout whe measurig quality. Structural quality idicators about the characteristics of practitioers ad the educatio ad care settig are usually the basis for regulatios ad stadards. These ca iclude the staff child ratio, group size, wages ad the educatio ad traiig of practitioers. Iteractio or process quality idicators measure what is takig place i early childhood educatio ad care settigs ad iclude iteractios betwee staff ad childre, as well as betwee the childre. This dimesio of quality has a bigger impact o the overall quality of early childhood educatio ad care. Accordig to the From euros to eighbourhoods study: Quality of care ultimately boils dow to the quality of the relatioship betwee the childcare provider or teacher ad the child. A beautiful space ad a elaborate curriculum like a beautiful home ca be impressive, but without skilled ad stable childcare providers, they will ot promote positive developmet. Shokoff ad Phillips, 2000, pp Outcome quality for childre ca be measured with differet idicators. A recet Europea literature review (Lazzari ad Vaderbroeck, 2012) looked at possible relatios betwee early childhood educatio ad care ad the followig outcomes: acquisitio of cogitive skills ad competeces; acquisitio o-cogitive skills ad competeces; successful trasitio ito school; its cotributio to social iclusio. Similarly, i their 2008 literature review, Mitchell et al classified studies i relatio to: cogitive outcomes (mathematics, readig ad literacy, school performace, cogitive scores ad IQ); learig dispositios ad social emotioal outcomes (learig dispositios ad atisocial or worried behaviour); child health. Relatioships betwee differet elemets of quality The relatioship betwee the differet elemets of the three dimesios of quality structural, process ad outcomes is complex. I its research brief o workig coditios, the OECD poits out that research about the effects of workig coditios o child developmet is ot very extesive ad that the fidigs do ot give a clear picture of causality, except i the case of staff child ratio, group size ad staff turover. I the case of other aspects of workig coditios (such as wages ad beefits, schedules ad workload, ad maagemet), research shows that they have a impact o the quality of ECEC services, but it is uclear how they are liked with outcomes for childre (OECD, 2012a). Professioal developmet has a impact o pedagogical quality, which cosequetly has a impact o outcomes for childre (OECD, 2012b). 6

11 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities A cross-atioal study lookig ito the relatioship betwee structural ad process quality foud that o group of variables has a crucial impact o process quality, ad for this reaso, structural characteristics eed to be addressed together (Cryer et al, 1999). Ideed, may studies coclude that it is difficult to isolate the ifluece of oe structural elemet over the others. It is also difficult to determie how factors pertaiig to the same dimesio of quality ifluece each other. For example, Ackerma (2006) poits out that low wages i the US have a impact o traiig, as staff do ot have the fiacial capacity to upgrade their credetials there, a degree costs a teacher oe-third of their salary. Wages also have a impact o turover; some childcare workers use a job i order to receive traiig before fidig employmet i aother sector. Vadell ad Wolfe (2000) poit out that a major complicatio to establishig liks betwee childcare quality ad developmetal outcomes is the absece of cotrolled experimets ivolvig childre radomly assiged to childcare of differet levels of quality, so that it would be possible to cotrol for differet variables. Family ad child selectio biases pose a methodological challege that may have a impact o the quality of research. A certai degree of variability i childcare quality is also ecessary i order to determie the effects of differet levels of quality o the outcomes for childre, but this is ot always foud i studies. Cotrollig for prior child adjustmet to the course is also complicated, as childre usually eter childcare durig the first year of their life, before it is possible to test for cogitive, laguage ad social adjustmet. The coceptual model below was developed by Vadell ad Wolfe (2000) ad takes these issues ito accout. It shows that family characteristics are oe of the ifluecig factors that eed to be cotrolled. The amout ad type of care give also eed to be cosidered. I this model, the impact of structural ad caregiver characteristics o developmetal outcomes is mediated through process quality. Figure 1: Childcare quality ad developmetal outcomes for childre Structural ad caregiver characteristics Childcare processes Childre s developmet Family characteristics Childcare amout ad type Source: Vadell ad Wolfe (2000) Role of systematic reviews Systematic reviews idetify existig research o a particular topic, appraise those studies critically ad the sythesise the fidigs. They ivolve compilig the results of studies udertake i differet cotexts, which meas they ca reveal how differet quality idicators are iflueced by specific cotextual factors. They ca provide a comprehesive overview of what is kow about these relatioships ad how they are aalysed i differet studies. Ulike traditioal literature reviews, systematic reviews follow the same stadards as primary research i terms of explicit, accoutable ad rigorous methods. Detailed methodology ad resources for coductig systematic reviews i the field of social 7

12 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities scieces are provided by the Campbell Collaboratio 3 Co-ordiatig Cetre (EPPI-Cetre). 4 ad the Evidece for Policy ad Practice Iformatio ad I the approach followed by the EPPI-Cetre, reviews start by formulatig a research questio ad developig a coceptual framework ad approach. Reviewers follow a search pla with clear iclusio ad exclusio criteria, which ca relate to the research topic, the method of primary research or the quality of the research. The selected studies are the coded, appraised ad described. Lastly, the mai fidigs of the differet studies are sythesised. Throughout the review process there is a quality assurace system, which ivolves the fial users of the review, as well as peer reviewig ad expert workshops (Gough et al, 2012). By followig strict criteria about the types of studies to be icluded i the review ad the process by which those studies should be searched ad reviewed, systematic reviews aim ot oly to summarise the fidigs of the most relevat research, but also to reduce the level of researcher bias. Systematic reviewig is icreasigly beig used to iform policymakig. The systematic review approach has bee used extesively i the field of early childhood educatio ad care, partly because of the emphasis o evidece-based policy i this field. Educatioal agecies i Eglad such as the Teacher Developmet Agecy (previously the Teacher Traiig Agecy) ad the Natioal Uio of Teachers (NUT) follow the EPPI-Cetre approach whe commissioig sytheses of research evidece (Pe ad Lloyd, 2006). May systematic reviews look ito the effectiveess of early childhood educatio programmes (Chambers et al, 2006) or the impact of early childhood educatio ad care as a whole o the outcomes for childre (Camilli et al, 2010; Darrow, 2009; Pe et al, 2006). Fewer systematic reviews focus specifically o the liks betwee traiig, workig coditios, staff child iteractios ad outcomes for childre; those that do are summarised i the ext sectio. Note o the studies reviewed The reviews cited i this paper sythesise fidigs from quatitative ad qualitative primary research that employs a rage of research desigs. These iclude experimetal studies, quasi-experimetal studies, radomised cotrolled trials, survey-based research, evaluatios ad comparative aalyses. I experimetal studies, ivestigators cotrol the variables to be observed, whereas i observatioal studies they caot be cotrolled, oly observed. Radomised cotrolled trials are a type of experimetal study where study subjects are radomly allocated either to the itervetio that is meat to be aalysed or to a cotrol group. Quasi-experimetal studies are similar to a radomised cotrolled trial, except that i these studies, it is ot possible to radomly assig a elemet. 3 4 Iformatio o the Campbell Collaboratio is available at Iformatio o the EPPI-Cetre is available at 8

13 Systematic reviews of i-service traiig ad workig coditios This sectio presets evidece of how the workig coditios ad traiig opportuities of staff i early childhood educatio ad care are related to iteractios betwee staff ad childre ad outcomes for childre, as sythesised i differet systematic reviews. Reviews of i-service traiig It is well established that ECEC practitioers have a key role i relatio to the quality of ECEC services ad that havig better-qualified staff is strogly associated with better outcomes for childre. However, as the OECD poits out, it is ot oly their specific qualificatio that matters. The relatioship betwee the level of educatio of staff ad child outcomes is a complex issue (OECD, 2012b). What seems just as importat i esurig quality care ad positive outcomes is that practitioers stay up to date i their kowledge of pedagogical developmets. Specialised educatio ad traiig eable them to create the pedagogical eviromet that ECEC care demads. This sectio presets evidece-based fidigs from two systematic literature reviews about the effects of i-service traiig for ECEC staff o process quality (for example, child outcomes ad staff child iteractios): Fukkik ad Lot (2007) ad Zaslow et al (2010). It uses the defiitio of i-service traiig developed by Litjes ad Taguma (2010): all plaed programmes of learig opportuities for staff members of ECEC providers for the purpose of improvig the performace of idividuals i already assiged positios. The Fukkik ad Lot review is a aggregative review, meaig that it collates fidigs from existig quatitative data to provide stroger evidece o the effect of i-service traiig. It is complemeted by a arrative review of several qualitative studies. The review by Zaslow et al is a large America cofigurative review that orgaises fidigs from primary studies to work towards a better uderstadig of the features of i-service traiig. The reviews are accoutable i that they are trasparet i their approach to sythesisig fidigs, ad reduce the bias ad error that ca be ecoutered whe coclusios are draw from a sigle primary study. They are also valuable because they reflect the richess of questios, approaches ad research methods of the primary research studies. Both reviews deal with i-service traiig i geeral ad with specific subjects i the areas of early childhood educatio ad child developmet, above ad beyod geeral educatioal attaimets, icludig courses o social ad ethic diversity. The study populatios cosist of ECEC staff, icludig those i maagerial positios. Fukkik ad Lot (2007) The Fukkik ad Lot review evaluated 17 primary studies; all were (quasi-) experimetal studies that provided empirical support for the assumed causal lik betwee caregiver traiig ad quality childcare. Idividually, the studies provided cotradictory results, ad ot all of them showed favourable child outcomes. By reviewig ad collatig the hitherto icoclusive evidece from these primary studies, Fukkik ad Lot set out to aswer the questio Does traiig matter? O the basis of earlier studies, the researchers assumed that istructio iflueces the professioal competecies of caregivers, which uderlie their professioal performace or, more specifically, their iteractio with childre (p. 297). 9

14 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities The coceptual framework of the meta-aalysis set some parameters for the review. The primary research studies were carried out betwee 1980 ad The populatio cosisted of caregivers i childcare. The review looked specifically at specialised caregiver traiig, with a focus o teacher child iteractio. (It lists the ames of all the programmes that were covered by the primary studies.) The primary studies tested the effects of specialised caregiver traiig o caregiver competecies. 5 The latter was defied as the professioal kowledge, attitudes, ad skills that are related to teacher child iteractio (p. 296). A few of the studies examied the various dimesios of teacher child iteractio that affect the social, emotioal, laguage ad cogitive developmet of childre. Characteristics of the studies Usig curret educatioal theories, Fukkik ad Lot divided caregiver competecies ito three separate ad complemetary learig domais professioal kowledge, attitudes ad skills i order to categorise the fidigs. I 10 of the 17 studies, the traiig programmes covered all three domais, i 4 the programmes focused o kowledge ad skills, ad i 3 the programmes focused oly o skills. The large majority of the tested traiig programmes (=15) covered various topics. Nie of the programmes tested had a fixed curriculum it was the same for each traiee while this was ot the case for eight programmes. I 11 studies, the i-service traiig was itegrated with practice, while i the other 6 studies, the traiig was provided outside the childcare settig without ay follow-up activities at the cetre. I ie of the studies, the traiig programme was coducted at a sigle locatio, while i eight, several locatios were used. I ie of the studies, the traiig icluded the provisio of idividual feedback ad support by a persoal traier or coach. I all but oe study, the settig was cetre-based care; oe study ivolved a family-care settig. Study coclusios Fukkik ad Lot s review showed that traiig does matter, providig a importat message to policymakers: take together, the curret empirical evidece demostrates that specialised traiig improves the pedagogical competecies of caregivers i childcare, icludig their professioal attitude, kowledge ad skills (p. 305). However, the research showed that ot all itervetios are equally effective. I particular, it appeared that large-scale programmes that are desiged to a variety of traiig formats ad to a wide variety of learers are ot highly effective ad that learig gais are larger for the attitude domai compared to the skills ad kowledge domai (p. 306). I coclusio, the review showed that: traiig that ivolves fixed-curriculum courses is more effective; large-scale traiig programmes are less effective; caregiver skills are ameable to istructio. 5 This was the review s mai research questio. I additio, it explored the study characteristics that are associated with experimetal results ad examied the limited evidece o the trasfer effects of specialised caregiver traiig o childre s behaviour ad developmet. A positive relatioship was foud regardig the latter, but it was ot statistically sigificat. 10

15 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities The aggregatio of results revealed a statistically sigificat effect of specialised traiig o geeral caregivers competecies. 6 Further research I order to draw firmer coclusios o the impact of traiig o child outcomes, Fukkik ad Lot idetified a eed for further research, which should aim to idetify the specific itervetios that improve childcare quality. The review also showed that, i order to help policymakers desig professioal developmet policies, it is importat to cosider the type of traiig caregivers eed. While the review showed that programmes with fixed-curriculum courses ad smaller settigs are more effective, isufficiet evidece was available about the kid of i-service traiig programmes that teach caregivers the pedagogical qualities they eed. Eve five years after the review, little further kowledge had bee gathered about the effectiveess of differet traiig strategies to help ECEC practitioers stay updated (OECD, 2012b). Oe example of further research i this area is a 2011 evaluatio of a idividualised learig itervetio programme i the US. This programme was desiged for early childhood educators ad ivolved experieced teachers, who delivered high-quality classroom learig experieces, actig as metors. It icluded three compoets: a semiar for metor teachers, metor teachers supportig the professioal developmet of less-experieced teachers (kow as protégé teachers) throughout the school year, ad coordiator meetigs with metor teachers to support them. Sixtee metors ad 16 protégé teachers i Head Start classrooms were selected ad the radomly assiged to treatmet ad cotrol coditios i the study. 7 The results of the study demostrated that metorig, particularly whe it is delivered by experieced teachers who have bee traied to be metors ad ivolves support for the metors, ca ehace the cogitive, laguage ad social emotioal developmetal progress of youg childre. I additio, the metors ad protégé teachers ivolved i the programme reported ehaced professioal growth (Gallagher et al, 2011). Clearly, coclusios caot be draw o the basis of oe study. Oly a meta-aalysis of a adequate umber of evaluatios ca produce sufficietly strog evidece about which itervetios improve childcare quality. Zaslow et al (2010) This view is corroborated by the large-scale cofigurative literature review carried out by Zaslow et al i 2010 o behalf of the US Departmet of Educatio. This systematic review aalysed existig research o the professioal developmet of early childhood educators to work toward the idetificatio of a set of core features that characterise effective professioal developmet. I this study, traiig was defied as: professioal developmet that does ot result i credits toward a higher educatio degree. Traiig may be provided through workshops or professioal meetigs. O-goig traiig may be a i-service requiremet i differet types of early care ad educatio. There may also be iitial or pre-service traiig requiremets for licesig i childcare. Zaslow et al, 2010, p The aggregatio resulted i a effect size of d = 0.45 (S.E. = 0.10), which correspods to a medium effect size. The Head Start is a programme i the US that provides comprehesive early childhood educatio addressig educatio, health, utritio ad paretal ivolvemet to childre from low-icome households ad their families. 11

16 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities Coceptual framework The researchers distiguished four targets of professioal developmet iitiatives, where efforts were focused o stregtheig itervetios: 1. Improvig the huma ad social capital of early childhood educators. Research o this target looked at the extet to which qualificatios of early childhood educators are related to the quality of the eviromet, iteractios with childre ad outcomes for childre. 2. Stregtheig the istitutios or orgaisatios providig the professioal developmet. Research o this target examied the quality of higher educatio ad traiig programmes. 3. Improvig outcomes for childre i specific developmetal domais. These studies focused o the effectiveess of various approaches i terms of improvig outcomes for childre i specific developmetal domais, such as early literacy, mathematics ad social behaviour. These studies usually ivolved implemetig specific curricula or activities ad a examiatio of early educator practices or outcomes for childre after implemetatio. 4. Improvig the overall quality of childre s experieces ad outcomes i early childhood settigs. Studies i the fourth target area looked at approaches to professioal developmet aimed at improvig the overall quality of childre s experieces ad outcomes. The authors cosidered a broad rage of studies coverig all four targets. Systematic iclusio criteria were used to select evaluatio studies. These pertai to the third ad fourth targets. Accordig to the authors, the iclusio criteria for these studies were as follows. Rigour of evaluatio: Evaluatios were rated accordig to five methodology levels, icludig experimetal, quasiexperimetal, pre-post with compariso group, pre-post without compariso group, ad descriptive. Age rage: Evaluatios of professioal developmet programmes ivolvig childre from birth through to kidergarte were icluded i the review. Most of the studies reviewed pertaied to childre aged 3 5 years. Early educator: For the purpose of the review, early educator icluded pre-school teachers, pre-kidergarte teachers, kidergarte teachers ad childcare staff carig for childre from birth through to kidergarte etry. Educators i both private ad public settigs were icluded. Workers i family childcare settigs were ot excluded from the review, although few evaluatios focused o these eviromets. Professioal developmet: Evaluatios icluded i the review had to iclude some form of professioal developmet as part of the treatmet itervetio. For example, they had to iclude credit-bearig classes, traiig o a curriculum, iclass coachig, or other activities aimed to improve educators kowledge of child developmet or practice i the classroom or home-based childcare settig. Assessmet of effectiveess: Evaluatios had to measure or evaluate chages i at least oe of three key areas: early educator kowledge, practice, ad child outcomes. 12

17 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities Improvig outcomes for childre i specific developmetal domais Uder the third target, the review looked at research ito stregtheig professioal developmet targetig improvemets i specific developmetal domais for childre. This icluded 37 studies that reported o evaluatios of professioal developmet approaches aimed at promotig childre s early laguage ad literacy developmet. 8 It idetified three sets of outcomes from this professioal developmet: educator kowledge, educator practice ad child outcomes. Six of the 37 reported effects for educator kowledge, poitig to evidece of a tedecy for participatio i professioal developmet to icrease caregiver kowledge. The majority (= 26) measured educator practice, ad, i most cases, participatio i professioal developmet was also foud to improve educator practice, although effect sizes varied sigificatly (from small to large). Child outcomes were also measured by 26 of the 37 studies, ad they typically poited to positive outcomes. 9 Zaslow et al idetified the followig features that help improve educators kowledge or skills i teachig early literacy, with the ultimate goal of improvig literacy outcomes amog childre (p. 41): a strategy that icludes supervisors as well as caregivers i professioal developmet activities; comprehesive coverage of cotet i early literacy research ad literacy istructio; multi-modal approaches to deliverig professioal developmet; itesive ad extesive admiistratio of professioal developmet (rather tha a oe-off short dosage); ogoig moitorig of adherece to the implemetatio of traiig through o-site follow-up observatio ad metorig. Oly 3 of the 26 studies measurig child outcomes explicitly addressed the sustaiability of improved outcomes. This limited evidece idicates that professioal developmet for literacy istructio ca have short-term, sustaied effects o child outcomes. Logterm effects may partly deped o the itroductio of additioal elemets of literacy istructio that build o the mastery of earlier elemets, as well as supports for cotiued laguage ad literacy growth received i later years of schoolig. p. 46 A further seve studies that evaluated approaches for professioal developmet i early mathematics curricula were reviewed. Carried out betwee 2002 ad 2008, all of these studies reported gais o measures of childre s mathematical kowledge ad ability. Due to the small umber of studies, it was ot possible to draw strog coclusios. However, the review did idetify the followig four features as potetial outcome cotributors: well-articulated ad research-based curricular goals; the availability of a maual ad set of activities for implemetig the curriculum; the match betwee the comprehesiveess of the curriculum ad the extesiveess of professioal developmet; havig supervisors ad providig o-site follow-up support to educators. 8 9 Fiftee of the studies were experimetal, eight were quasi-experimetal, aother eight were pre-post with compariso group, oe was pre-post without compariso group ad four were descriptive. The researchers oted that, regardig the primary studies, it was ot possible to idetify the specific aspects of the implemetatio of traiig that are causally liked to child outcomes. 13

18 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities The review icluded 14 studies o child social behaviour. It stated that the hypothesis that emerged here is that: with broader goals comes the eed for the provisio of more backgroud o childre s developmet ad thus more extesive course work or traiig. However, there is still a implicatio i the work that specificity of goals i terms of desired teacher behaviour, ad o-site work to provide feedback ad assure fidelity, cotribute to positive outcomes although the latest study dates back to p. 67 Improvig the overall quality of childre s experieces ad outcomes i early childhood settigs Uder the fourth target, which focuses o research o approaches to i-service traiig that aim to improve the overall quality of early childhood educatio ad care, 10 studies were reviewed that examied the effectiveess of comprehesive curricula iteded to improve the istructioal practices i childcare cetres, as well as childre s developmetal outcomes across multiple domais. All of these studies were relatively recet, havig bee carried out i 2007 or 2008, ad all were experimetal. They provide iformatio about the potetial of curricula i combiatio with i-service traiig to affect the practices of caregivers regardig childre s developmetal outcomes. However, they do ot provide isight about which strategies would work best to achieve positive outcomes. Also uder the fourth target, 11 studies focused explicitly o the processes ad priciples of professioal developmet. Evidece from these studies idicate that while a commo theme i the literature o best practice is that traiig must be itesive ad cotiuous, specific guidelies o itesity ad duratio are difficult to fid i the literature. The literature suggests that o-site cosultatio may ot be effective at low levels of itesity, eve whe combied with traiig, but may be more successful at higher levels of itesity. This would ivolve loger ad more frequet o-site visits over a loger period of time. Aother fidig to emerge from these studies is the importace of opportuities for teachers to directly apply taught kowledge. Fially, it emerged that differet types of early childhood settigs differ i terms of degree of isolatio of the early educator ad o-goig supervisio ad support by admiistrators. Fidigs suggested that respose to professioal developmet differs, depedig o the level of ogoig supervisio ad moitorig. Oly oe study addressed the sustaiability of the effects of professioal developmet approaches aimed broadly at improvig overall quality, ad oe preseted fidigs o the implicatios of professioal developmet for child outcomes (Zaslow et al, 2010, p. 74). Hece, the reviewers called for further research i this area. Study coclusios Similar to Fukkik ad Lot (2007), Zaslow et al cocluded that sigificat questios remai about which features of professioal developmet for early childhood educators are most effective for improvig both educator ad child outcomes (p. xii). They argued that followig o from the Fukkik ad Lot review, a importat ext step i the research o traiig is to distiguish amog differet approaches to traiig to discer which specific features of traiig itervetios show the strogest evidece of desirable outcomes (p. 15). The review provides a umber of importat isights ito the features of i-service traiig. Amogst these is the fidig that the foudatio of each professioal developmet programme its goals, objectives ad capacity to provide participats with clearly defied teachig strategies may be just as importat as its method of implemetatio. I terms of implemetatio, a more iclusive delivery icludes maagers ad support staff to share ad build o existig kowledge related to beeficial improvemets i classroom literacy eviromets as well as improvemets i child outcomes over time (p. 38). Whe it comes to traiig itesity, the review shows that eve small amouts of i-service traiig are associated with positive child outcomes. This ca be explaied by the fidig that traiig targetig a very 14

19 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities specific set of skills ca be less itese tha programmes with a broad focus. Programmes that teach ew skills may eed to be more extesive. Reviews of workig coditios Fidigs preseted i this sectio have bee sythesised i three systematic reviews o two aspects of workig coditios (staff child ratio ad umber of childre per group) where there is research showig a lik betwee these aspects ad outcomes for childre: Vadell ad Wolfe (2000), Hutsma (2008) ad Mitchell et al (2008). Vadell ad Wolfe s review focused o evidece regardig the impact of childcare quality ad whether the quality of childcare i the US eeded to be improved. Two of their review questios were: How is childcare quality measured? Does quality of childcare have meaigful effects o childre s developmetal outcomes? Amog the studies icluded i Vadell ad Wolfe s review, 29 explored relatioships betwee structural ad caregiver characteristics ad process quality usig statistical tools of aalysis such as Pearso correlatios ad t-tests. Other studies icluded multiple regressio techiques i order to isolate the relative impact of differet characteristics. The studies were published betwee 1979 ad 2000 ad icluded research o childcare homes, day-care cetres, family day-care, as well as care provided by gradparets i the US. A further 27 studies examied the relatioship betwee process quality ad child outcomes while cotrollig for family factors such as family icome, observed materal sesitivity, socioecoomic status, paretal age ad educatio, childcare history ad the educatio level of the mother. The studies cosidered child outcomes both withi childcare settigs, through the immediate reactios of childre, ad outside the care settigs. They also icluded elemets of structural quality i the aalysis. The systematic review carried out by Hutsma i 2008 summarised the evidece available from research studies ad grey literature published betwee 1979 ad 2007 i order to aswer the followig questios: What are sigificat idicators of quality i childcare, ad how have they bee measured? What does research have to say about the child outcomes of high-quality care, as compared with low-quality care? What is the quality of research o childcare quality? The scope of the review was fairly broad, icludig ot oly childcare i cetres ad family day-care, but also, to a certai extet, care provided by frieds ad relatives. The third systematic review preseted i this sectio was udertake i 2008 by Mitchell et al from the New Zealad Coucil for Educatioal Research. Its aim was to provide the coutry s Miistry of Educatio with a sythesis of the research available regardig the impact of early childhood educatio for childre ad families. More cocretely, it looked at the developmetal, educatioal, social ad ecoomic outcomes for childre i early childhood educatio ad care ad their families. It also cosidered whether outcomes vary by differet populatio groups or ECEC cotexts, ad how differet outcomes ifluece each other. 15

20 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities The review by Mitchell et al icluded 117 studies reported betwee 1995 ad I order to be icluded i the review, studies eeded to provide adequate details regardig their sample, research methods, aalysis ad fidigs so that their robustess could be appraised by reviewers. I the sythesis, the size of ay impact was reported i terms of effect sizes wheever possible. The child outcomes, where the impact of structural quality was aalysed, were classified ito the followig categories: cogitive outcomes, icludig academic-related topics such as mathematics, literacy, itelligece tests, as well as school readiess, grade retetio ad special educatio placemet; dispositioal ad social emotioal outcomes, icludig learig dispositios such as idepedece, perseverace, participatio, curiosity ad social competece, as well as the egative outcomes of atisocial or worried behaviour. Staff child ratio The review udertake by Hutsma showed that the staff child ratio is associated with higher global quality scores, high process quality ad better child outcomes. Coversely, havig a large umber of childre per caregiver is associated with lower levels of process quality. As the impact of ratios o quality is liked to other elemets such as qualificatios ad traiig, wages ad group size, it is difficult to establish precisely the optimal staff child ratio. Oe of the studies reviewed explaied that the associatio betwee ratios ad child outcomes is due to the fact that havig more staff per group of childre makes it more likely that there will be positive adult child iteractios (Muto et al, 2002). Hutsma poited out that most of the studies available focused o services for childre aged 3 5 years, which did ot give a good overview of the effect of ratios o childre, because ratios have a more positive effect o youger childre. Moreover, most of the studies reviewed were correlatioal ad very few were experimetal. Fidigs from experimetal studies De Schipper et al (2006) udertook a study i the Netherlads that experimetally maipulated the child caregiver ratio i order to examie the effects o the quality of the iteractio by assigig to the same caregiver differet umbers of childre, thus cotrollig for traiig, salary ad group size. The results of this experimet showed that smaller groups of childre resulted i higher quality caregiver behaviour, supportive presece ad respect for autoomy, with the ratio effects beig stroger for youger childre. The caregiver s expressio of positive affect towards childre was ot affected by the staff child ratio. Childre (particularly youger oes) were more cooperative i smaller groups. They authors poited out that although the differeces i the quality of the caregiver for ratios 3:1 ad 5:1 were relatively small, they may costitute the differece betwee adequate versus iadequate care, especially for toddlers. The systematic review udertake by Vadell ad Wolfe sythesised the evidece from studies likig structural ad process quality. The studies looked ito ECEC services for childre up to 68 moths old. They showed that low staff child ratios allowed caregivers to sped less time maagig childre i the classrooms, ad childre appeared to be less apathetic ad less distressed. Practitioers were also able to provide care that was warmer, ad more stimulatig, resposive ad supportive. Global process quality scores were higher whe the staff child ratio was low. Oe study icluded i the review foud that scores of good ad very good o the Ifat/Toddler Eviromet Ratig Scale (ITERS) 10 ad the Early Care Eviromet Ratig Scale (ECERS) 11 were more frequetly give i ifat classrooms with ratios of 1:3 or less ad i toddler classrooms with ratios of 1:4 or less. 10 The ITERS scale measures process quality i cetres for childre youger tha 2.5 years. It has 35 items divided ito 7 domais ad is scored o 7-poit scales. 11 The ECERS scale has 37 items that evaluate 7 aspects of cetre-based care for childre aged 2.5 to 5 years: persoal care routies, furishigs, laguage reasoig experieces, motor activities, creative activities, social developmet ad staff eeds. 16

21 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities A study i Swede icluded i the Mitchell et al review foud that childre i classes with a higher staff child ratio ad smaller group sizes had ehaced mathematical abilities at eight years, with those havig received cetre-based early childhood educatio ad care havig better scores tha those i family day-care (Broberg et al, 1997). A study from the US foud that child outcomes were best predicted by staff child ratios at 24 moths ad by practitioer traiig ad educatio at 36 moths (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 1999). Aother US study foud that those childre i early childhood educatio ad care that followed the recommeded staff child ratios (1:3 at 6 ad 15 moths, 1:4 at 24 moths ad 1:7 at 36 moths) had higher scores i receptive commuicatio ad higher expressive commuicatio skills at 36 moths (Burchial et al, 2000). O the other had, the studies icluded i this review did ot fid associatios betwee staff child ratios ad social or emotioal gais for childre. Number of childre per group Hutsma s review foud that group size had a lower impact tha other structural variables, with studies showig differet results ad class size beig combied with other mechaisms. Oe of the studies icluded i the review poited out that it is very difficult to create a situatio where all variables other tha group size are held equal, ad therefore fidigs based o regressio techiques have to be iterpreted carefully (Muto et al, 2002). Overall, the research reviewed showed that process quality was higher if the umber of childre i a group was either at or below the recommeded maximum level. This is also reflected i the studies reviewed by Vadell ad Wolfe, where a associatio was foud betwee group size ad positive caregivig. However, the studies icluded i the review by Mitchell et al did ot fid ay effects of group size o laguage scores or o ay other child outcomes whe the effects of other structural measures were cotrolled. As for the lik betwee group size ad staff child ratio, a study icluded i the Hutsma review (Blau, 1999) used a large logitudial sample of childre from the US Natioal Logitudial Survey of Youth ad foud small positive effects of small group size o childre aged 3 6 years, but oe regardig staff child ratio. The Vadell ad Wolfe review icluded studies that cofirmed that group size predicted caregiver behaviour, eve whe cotrollig for staff child ratio. I these studies, caregivers were more resposive, socially stimulatig ad less restrictive whe there were fewer childre i their classrooms. These relatios were also observed i childcare homes. A meta-aalysis coducted by Camilli et al (2010) provides further isight ito why smaller groups ad lower ratios are beeficial. This study looked ito 123 comparative studies of early childhood itervetios that were either quasiexperimetal or radomised. Each study provided a umber of cotrasts, defied by the authors as the compariso of a group of childre who received a programme of educatioal or other services with a group who received a alterative itervetio or o itervetio. The meta-aalysis udertake by the authors foud that idividuatio (idividualised istructio) had a positive effect o cogitive ad school outcomes. This eabled teachers to moitor the situatio of childre ad better tailor the curriculum. It also showed that childre were better able to lear the processes that gover a classroom, such as sittig ad payig attetio to the teacher. 17

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23 Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities i five Member States This sectio presets a aalysis of workig coditios ad traiig opportuities of ECEC staff i five Member States: Austria, Germay, Irelad, the Netherlads ad Spai. Austria Data preseted for Austria is based largely o the results of a study coducted by the Austria Istitute for Childre s Rights ad Paret Educatio (Istitut für Kiderrechte ud Elterbildug), which deals with the legal ad istitutioal framework for elemetary educatioal bodies i Austria (Klamert et al, 2013). I 2009, i accordace with the secod ecoomic recovery package, the ie Budesläder (federal subdivisios), which are resposible for childcare provisio i Austria, received a cotributio of 70 millio from the federal govermet. This was to reimburse the costs of the itroductio of a madatory kidergarte year for all five-year-olds, at a miimum of 20 hours per week, free of charge. Sice the, the reimbursemet has bee kept at the same level ad will be cotiued i future withi the framework of agreemets accordig to Article 15a of the Austria Federal Costitutio betwee the federal govermet ad the ie Budesläder. I the same year, a agreemet was siged to promote further ivestmet i childcare provisio, with a special focus o childcare facilities for those aged 0 3 years. This agreemet icluded a aual cotributio of 15 millio from the federal state ad was reewed twice to guaratee the same paymet each year (except i 2011, whe 10 millio was cotributed) util Recet govermet plas idicate eve higher ivestmet i this field, amoutig to 350 millio util These plas for better childcare provisio are fully i lie with the recommedatios of the Europea Commissio i the Social Ivestmet Package (Europea Commissio, 2013a) ad with the coutry-specific recommedatios for Austria. These plas to improve the provisio of childcare i Austria ievitably raise cocers regardig potetial short-term recruitig problems. I order to attract uemployed people or employees from other sectors to switch to pedagogic childcare ad other related careers, two active labour market istrumets have bee implemeted. Sice July 2013, people ca apply for a traiig scholarship called Fachkräftestipedium at the public employmet service (Arbeitsmarktservice, AMS). This covers livig expeses for a maximum duratio of three years for those begiig pedagogic traiig at level 5 of the Iteratioal Stadard Classificatio of Educatio (ISCED) (short-cycle tertiary-level programmes) for betwee four ad eight semesters (AMS, 2013a). The Bildugsteilzeit programme facilitates a combiatio of workig time reductios ad qualificatio measures (AMS, 2013b). This brief overview of iitiatives ad additioal resources i the ECEC field shows that, eve i times of budget cosolidatio, this is a credible ad sustaiable priority for the Austria federal govermet. However, there are structural problems regardig the federal system, described below. ECEC settig I order to assess the workig coditios ad i-service traiig of childcare workers, three specific elemets of the Austria ECEC system should be take ito accout. First of all, the Austria ECEC sector is maaged o a decetralised basis at the Budesläder level, makig it difficult to maitai equal quality stadards (such as staff child ratio ad group size) of early childhood educatio ad care throughout Austria. This i tur makes it difficult to geeralise about the workig coditios of childcare workers i Austria. May experts i research ad practice express a wish for cetral admiistratio, ad demad the atioal govermet provide a geeral stadard framework for early childhood educatio ad care i all ie Budesläder (Platform EduCare, udated). Secodly, due to the high degree of 19

24 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities decetralisatio, resposibility for o-pedagogic staff does ot lie with the Austria Federal Miistry for Educatio. Except for the iitial traiig of ECEC teachers ad pedagogical staff, the miistry has o say i ay ECEC decisios. A more stadardised system would lead to better educatioal stadards for assistats, resultig i improved traiig ad career opportuities for childcare workers. Fially, Austria has a age-group-differetiated system, leadig to differet qualificatio requiremets ad workig eviromets depedig o age groups (0 3 year-olds ad 3 6-yearolds). This is i cotrast to orther Europea coutries, where the itegrated model is predomiat. This meas that, i Austria, qualificatio requiremets ad workig coditios ca vary depedig o the age group of the childre. Up util some years ago, it was possible to specify that ECEC teacher traiig be limited to the curriculum for 0 3-yearolds for staff workig i istitutioalised settigs. Nowadays, every ECEC teacher should be traied i the educatio ad care of 0 6-year-olds, because the curriculum covers didactics ad pedagogy for the first six years of childhood. Nevertheless, qualificatio requiremets still differ. I four of the ie Austria Budesläder (Salzburg, Tirol, Vorarlberg ad Niederösterreich), traiig as a ECEC teacher is ot a legal requiremet for the care of 0 3-year-olds. Furthermore, there are weaker qualificatio requiremets, differet wages ad differet workig coditios for childmiders (Tageselter). Similar argumets apply for the icreasig quatity of Kidergruppe (paret-orgaised childre s groups) i the capital Viea. Workig coditios Staff child ratio The staff child ratio (for childre aged 3 6 years) is regulated by law at Budeslad level. The Europea Commissio Network o Childcare (ECNC) recommeds a staff child ratio of 1:15. This is based o the recommedatio of the Natioal Associatio for the Educatio of Youg Childre (NAEYC) that the staff child ratio should be at least 1 pedagogic staff member per 10 childre (Hayes et al, 1990, p. 65; Textor, 1999). Takig oly the pedagogically traied staff ito cosideratio, oe of Austria s ie Budesläder fulfils these requiremets throughout Austria a average staff child ratio of 1:24 ca be foud. If the assistats are icluded i the calculatios, the situatio looks more favourable. However, such calculatios are somewhat misleadig, as the qualificatio requiremets for assistats vary substatially betwee the differet Budesläder. Accordig to Europea stadards, assistats are usually educated to upper secodary educatio level ISCED level 3 while i four of the ie Budesläder o formal educatio level is required (see Baierl ad Kaidl, 2011, p. 21f). There are o bidig commitmets to chage this usatisfactory situatio. However, some form of agreemet is reportedly beig plaed betwee the state ad the Budesläder that would regulate the miimum educatio stadards of assistats throughout Austria. Workload The workload of pedagogic staff is closely related to group size, staff child ratios, salaries ad staff turover. Aother importat factor is the amout of preparatio time staff are give, ad this differs greatly betwee the Budesläder. I the state kidergartes, based o a workig week of 40 hours, staff are give aywhere betwee 5 ad 10 hours preparatio time, depedig o the Budeslad. I private kidergarte facilities, it is difficult to get a overview of how much time is reserved for preparatio due to a lack of iformatio ad the fact that each facility has a differet collective agreemet (Kollektivvertrag). Group size As with the staff child ratio, group size is regulated at the Budesläder level (both for those aged 0 3 years ad 3 6 years). The NAEYC recommeds limitig the maximum group size to 20 childre per group i a kidergarte. This recommedatio has bee legally regulated oly i Tyrol. Austria geerally follows the less striget UNICEF recommedatio of a 1:24 staff child ratio. 20

25 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities Wages Throughout Europe, remueratio i early childhood educatio ad care is movig towards schoolteacher levels. The startig salaries of both groups are quite similar. Accordig to the AMS, the gross iitial salary of pedagogic staff rages from 1,760 to 1,950 per moth (before the deductio of taxes ad social security cotributios). For primary schoolteachers, the icome level is about 10% higher ad reflects to a certai degree the differet qualificatio requiremets for teachers (ISCED 5) i compariso to pedagogic staff workig i kidergartes (ISCED 3 4). The startig salaries of childcare workers i Austria vary cosiderably. These differeces exist betwee the Budesläder, betwee public ad private etities (the latter provide a certai miimum icome), ad eve betwee muicipal ad Budesläder kidergartes withi the same Budeslad. I Austria, about 100 icome schemes are i use for childcare workers. Turover rate Research o turover of pedagogic staff i Austria is ot available. It ca be assumed that the turover is high due to relatively low ad divergig startig icomes ad due to the fact that the decisio to go ito this professio is usually made at a youg age. (See Ackerma, 2006; Hutsma, 2008; Malove ad Guzell, 1997; Moo ad Burbak, 2004; OECD, 2012b; ad Uicef, 2008, p. 23.) Further research is eeded o this subject. I-service traiig As i other coutries, further educatio for pedagogic staff i Austria is regulated locally ad is therefore subject to sigificat regioal variatios. Assistats, i additio to carryig out acillary tasks, are also directly ivolved with the childre. As already metioed, there are o miimum stadards for the traiig of assistats i Austria; some are employed i kidergartes without ay formal traiig. At least some form of further educatio ad i-service traiig should be offered to eable the assistats to carry out their jobs competetly (Eurydice 2009, p. 109). No iformatio o the availability of such programmes was foud. There are workshops ad semiars for kidergarte teachers that are also ope to assistats. However, it may be difficult for assistats to avail of these opportuities due to time ad fiacial costraits. No part of this traiig is obligatory, as there are o miimum stadards regardig the traiig of assistats. The provisio of traiig programmes is importat ot oly for assistats but also for those traied to work i kidergartes without a third-level qualificatio (Eurydice 2009, p. 109), which ca still happe i Austria. I most Budesläder, it is madatory to coduct betwee two ad four traiig days per year. However, Lower Austria offers oly two days every three years, while i Carithia ad Viea, o traiig is required by law. It suggests that further educatio for pedagogical staff is ot take sufficietly seriously i some Budesläder. Germay Much of the recet political focus i Germay has bee o expadig the childcare sector. O 29 May 2013, uder the Europea Semester, Germay was oe of 11 Member States to receive a coutry-specific recommedatio regardig the 2002 Barceloa Targets. The recommedatio for Germay is to further icrease the availability of childcare. While as of 1 August 2013, the 2008 Child Care Fudig Act etitles childre aged 1 3 years to a childcare place ad 813,000 ew places were to be established by this date, a fierce debate is ogoig regardig the actual expasio achievemets. This debate is ot oly about quatity; quality cocers are also beig raised. A recet govermet-fiaced study rated oly 3% of ECEC facilities as beig good; 85% were foud to be of average quality, while 12% were rated as poor. The study foud that ECEC facilities ofte lacked the two mai elemets for good-quality care: space ad well-qualified staff. It argued that the expasio of high-quality childcare should be Germay s mai family policy priority (Erdma, 2013). The recetly formed Germa govermet agreed to prioritise govermet policy o childcare provisio, qualificatios, i-service traiig ad laguage traiig durig its ext term (Berlier Zeitug, 2013). 21

26 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities ECEC settig Before discussig the curret ECEC settig i Germay, it is importat to ote the lastig impact of the pre-uificatio developmet of very differet models of childhood services. I the Germa Democratic Republic, childcare for childre aged 3 6 years was uiversal, while for childre aged uder 3 years, provisio was higher tha i other easter Europea coutries. Coversely, i the Federal Germa Republic, childcare was ot part of the statutory educatio system. Rather, resposibility was located withi the system of child ad youth welfare services. Eve today, childre i the former Germa Democratic Republic states are far more likely to be erolled i early childhood educatio ad care tha are childre i the former Federal Germa Republic states (Oberhuemer, 2010; Bertelsma Foudatio, 2013). I Germay, the traditioal forms of early childhood care are: kidergarte for childre aged 3 6 years; ifat ad toddler cetres (Kiderkrippe) for childre aged 0 3 years; family day-care (Kidertagespflege) for childre aged 0 3 years. Nowadays, childcare teds to be more diversified. New forms, such as cetres for childre aged 0 6 years, paret iitiative groups for childre aged 3 6 years, playgroups ad crèches with a specific educatioal philosophy (such as Motessori cetres), are becomig more ad more commo. Early childhood care is located withi the child ad youth welfare sector. Resposibility for orgaisig ad securig fudig lies with muicipalities. The Miistry for Family Affairs ca have a role i stimulatig developmet. I the federal states, early childhood educatio ad care teds to be govered by the Miistry of Educatio or the Miistry of Social Affairs; this varies depedig o which departmet has resposibility for youth affairs. Uder the priciple of subsidiarity, muicipalities cooperate with o-govermetal orgaisatios ad churches, which provide about two-thirds of the provisio. The subsidiarity priciple developed out of the traditioal role of churches ad welfare orgaisatios i social affairs. Public authorities are oly obliged to provide care whe o-govermetal agecies are uable to do so. Workig coditios Staff child ratio ad workload Staff child ratios are regulated at state level ad are calculated o the basis of full-time equivalets of staff divided by full-time equivalets of childre. The staff child ratio recommeded by the Bertelsma Foudatio is 1:3 for childre aged 0 3 years. However, the Foudatio s 2013 report State by state: Moitorig early childhood educatio (Lädermoitor Frühkidliche Bildugssysteme) shows that Breme is the oly state to meet this recommedatio. There is cosiderable variatio betwee states but the report draws particular attetio to a lack of staff i several easter states. While the average Germa staff child ratio is 1:4.5, it is 1:6 i the easter states compared to 1:3.7 i the wester states. Sachse-Ahalt has the highest umber of childre per staff member with a staff child ratio of 1:6.5. The complex methods used to calculate these rates may make it difficult to iterpret these data, but the situatio i some of the regios of the former East Germay is discocertig, as childre there ted to atted childcare more ofte ad for a greater umber of hours tha childre i wester states, where the lack of childcare places is greatest (Bertelsma Foudatio, 2013). To meet the risig demad for a professioal workforce, the umber of professioal traiig schools has rise cosiderably, from 423 i 2009 to 561 i 2011, with a correspodig rise i studets (Duded et al, 2013). Attempts have also bee made to create ew pathways ito the professio for career chagers; here the focus is ot just 22

27 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities o icreasig the workforce but also o icreasig the proportio of me i the sector. Oe example is the More me i childhood educatio (Mehr Mäer i Kitas) programme, fuded by the Europea Social Fud. Group size There are o federal regulatios cocerig group size. I the state of Bade-Württemberg, there is a regulatio that calls for maximum group sizes of childre aged 3 6 years i part-time care (Bertelsma Foudatio, 2013). Wages It is evisaged that 30% of the ew places will be i the family settig (Kidertagesplege), yet the professioalisatio of this type of care is cosidered to be below par. Oe explaatio for this is the low pay that carers i this settig receive; betwee 2009 ad 2012, their hourly rate icreased from 3.65 to 4.13, with large regioal variatios, ragig from 2.10 to 6.70 i From this hourly rate, carers still eed to pay for the food ad toys of the childre they look after, brigig their average pay to below the poverty lie. I geeral, the job has a low status ad i order to attract better qualified people, there is a clear eed to develop this type of day-care ito a real professio. O a positive ote, the qualificatio level of family day-carers has improved: i 2006, oly 15% had completed vocatioal studies ad a qualificatio-based course, compared to almost 25% i 2012 (Erdma, 2013). It should be oted that low pay is ot just a issue affectig Kidertagesplege employees; ECEC workers geerally receive lower wages tha primary schoolteachers (Oberhuemer, 2010). A study of the fiacial situatio of ECEC workers shows that, i 2009, the average et icome was 1,350 for core professioals ad aroud 1,245 for childcare assistats (Fuchs-Rechli, 2010). Turover rate A recetly published study about structural quality ad ECEC staff foud o statistically sigificat differeces i the turover rate betwee large ad small childcare cetres or betwee private ad public cetres. I total, 58% of private cetres ad 68% of public cetres with up to 50 childre reported staff chages over the past two years. The correspodig figures for larger cetres are 75% ad 76%, respectively (Vierickel ad Voss, 2013). 12 I-service traiig Sigificat progress has bee made i the developmet of stadards ad good practice for the professioal traiig of ECEC staff. Util recetly, the system was best described as havig a absurd particularisatio ad structural arbitrariess (Becker, 2002, p. 240): there were o cross-atioal stadards; semiars ad courses were orgaised by a wide rage of providers; ad liks betwee idividual qualificatios were more or less abset (Oberhuemer et al, 2010, p. 187). This chaged with the WiFF project, lauched i 2009 by the Federal Miistry of Educatio ad Research, the Robert Bosch Foudatio ad the Germay Youth Istitute. WiFF, a acroym for advacig the further educatio of early childhood professioals, actively supports lifelog learig. Through it, several guides have bee developed o courses i a umber of relevat fields, such as laguage developmet, childre uder four years, cooperatio with parets, ad multicultural iclusio. The WiFF website icludes a course databak with a search egie that lists all the available courses i each federal state. I a 2011 survey, researchers idetified 8,693 such traiig opportuities for ECEC staff. Although the majority of the providers are based i the wester states (with 18% of them i Bayer), the traiig cetres are well distributed throughout Germay. At the same time, the study shows that semiars make up 80% of the traiig opportuities, whereas formal cotiuous traiig modules oly represet 7% of what is o offer. Not surprisigly, much of the available traiig is of short duratio, ifrequet, ad hoc ad without follow-up (Baumeister ad Grieser, 2011). WiFF also surveyed 4,268 ECEC staff about their experieces ad perceptios of i-service traiig (Beher ad Walter, 2012). This survey foud that further traiig is part of the work cotract for most ECEC staff (97%), with a average 12 See the profile for Austria for iformatio o geeral turover rates. 23

28 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities of 4.5 traiig days beig made available. The average umber of days take is 4.4. Almost half of staff (45%) rate the time available for traiig as beig too low. Over half (52%) idicated that their workplace orgaises i-service traiig ad 40% have a persoal traiig pla. Over four-fifths (82%) atteded a semiar (which corroborates the fidigs above), while just 15% atteded a course that lasted more tha a week. Uptake was foud to be far higher amog ECEC staff i maagerial positios, ad the top three thematic subjects were ifats (0 3 years); laguage ad observatio; ad documetatio. Six out of 10 respodets (59%) idicated that the available traiig courses completely or almost completely met their requiremets (i terms of theme coverage). The survey foud that the mai reaso for i-service traiig is to icrease professioal competecies. Reasos such as earig more or chagig jobs are much less importat. Not havig eough time, costs ad persoal reasos are the most frequetly cited reasos for ot takig part i i-service traiig. Seve out of 10 respodets rated the quality of the iservice traiig system positively, although 57% would like to see more trasparecy. I terms of outcomes, the coectio with career developmet could be improved (84%) ad the recogitio of the qualificatio obtaied could be better (66%). Three out of five respodets would like to the traiig courses more adapted to the eeds of ECEC staff. Fially, respodets rated the climate for further traiig very positively ad idicated that the eed for i-service traiig is widely accepted i Germay. However, 58% idicated that absece from the workplace due to traiig puts a heavy burde o remaiig staff; for 50%, this is a area for improvemet. Early childhood educatio i Thürige As part of the Bertelsma Foudatio s moitorig of early childhood educatio ad care, it provides detailed iformatio o the performace of each Germa federal state. 13 This sectio presets some moitorig data about the federal state of Thürige, because of all 16 states, it has the highest proportio of youg childre i early childhood educatio ad care: 90% of two-year-olds atted childcare, as do 95% of three-year-olds. Furthermore, youg childre i this Germa state ted to sped more hours tha the average Germa child i care: of those uder three years attedig a ECEC facility, 60% do so for at least 45 hours per week, which is cosiderably higher tha the Germa average of 38%. This high ad large uptake of childcare makes the call for high-quality childcare eve more importat. I this regard, Thürige stads out as oe of the federal states with above-average performace. The staff child ratio is the lowest of the easter states (as oted earlier, there is a lack of staff i this part of Germay, but i Thürige the ratio of 1:5 is just above the Germa average of 1:4.5). Betwee 2012 ad 2013, the umber of people workig i the childcare sector icreased by 17% i Thürige. I additio, the qualificatio level of ECEC staff is above the atioal average: 88% are qualified childcare practitioers, compared to the average figure of 72% for Germay as a whole. As always, there is room for improvemet. The Bertelsma Foudatio otes that the relatively high proportio of staff carryig out both maagerial ad pedagogical tasks is a area for attetio i Thürige, particularly because the staff child ratio is still higher the atioal average. Irelad State ivolvemet i early childhood educatio ad care i Irelad has historically bee weak, with the exceptio of child protectio ad childcare services for childre i disadvataged areas (Corriga, 2004). The sector has bee characterised as diverse ad fragmeted, with the commuity ad volutary sector ad the private busiess sector beig the mai providers (Oberhuemer et al 2010). 13 See 24

29 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities Early childhood workers are curretly i the spotlight after a documetary, aired i May 2013 o atioal televisio, showed childre beig subjected to eglect ad mistreatmet i some crèches. I late May, the Irish Miister for Childre ad Youth Affairs preseted her ageda for improvig quality i pre-school services. It icludes ehacig supports for the implemetatio of the existig quality frameworks for workig i early childhood educatio ad care ad its curriculum, ad reviewig the professioal traiig system for early educatio practitioers (Departmet of Childre ad Youth Affairs, 2013a). Shortly after the documetary was broadcast, the Associatio of Childhood Professioals was established as a atioal body. The Report of the Expert Advisory Group o the Early Years Strategy (Departmet of Childre ad Youth Affairs, 2013c) recommeds the establishmet of a ECCE 14 Quality Support Service/Natioal Early Years Metorig service to support ECEC services ad the establishmet of a pla to implemet existig quality frameworks. Workig coditios Group size, staff ratios ad duratio of fudig Table 1 sets out the staff child ratios established by law i Irelad. 15 Table 1: Madatory staff child ratios i Irelad Pre-school service Age of childre Number of adults Number of childre Sessioal services 0 1 years years years 1 10 Full-time ad part-time day-care 0 1 year years years years 1 8 Drop-i cetres 0 6 years 1 4 (oly 2 or fewer uder 15 moths) Child-miders (family day-carers) 0 6 years 1 5 (icludig their ow) or 2 fewer Overight pre-school service 0-1 years 1 3 childre less tha 15 moths old 1 6 years 1 5 Notes: Sessioal services iclude playgroups, crèches, Motessori groups, playschools, ad child-miders lookig after more tha 3 childre that offer plaed programmes cosistig of up to 3.5 hours per sessio. Whe a full day-care service also takes childre o for less tha a full day, sessioal service adult umbers apply. Pre-school services i drop-i cetres cotai groups of 24 childre at most. Source: Citizes Iformatio, 2011 I 2010, a free pre-school year of educatio ad care was itroduced for childre aged over three years ad two moths ad uder four years ad seve moths. The 2012 state budget icluded savigs cuts i the free pre-school year by icreasig the staff child ratio from 1:10 to 1:11. Also from September 2012, the followig ew staff child ratios apply to the pre-school sessio elemet of services for service providers availig of the free pre-school year. 14 The Irish govermet refers to early childhood care ad educatio, abbreviated as ECCE. 15 As laid out i the Child Care (Pre-School Services) (No 2) Regulatios 2006 ad the Child Care (Pre-School Services) (No 2) (Amedmet) Regulatios

30 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities I order to qualify for a capitatio grat from this scheme, based o the umber of childre, pre-school services eed to fulfil a series of criteria. The miimum umber of pre-school leaders ad assistats i a service providig the free preschool year is curretly stipulated as follows. Up to 11 childre: 1 pre-school leader childre: 1 pre-school leader ad 1 pre-school assistat childre: 2 pre-school leaders ad 1 pre-school assistat childre: 2 pre-school leaders ad 2 pre-school assistats The staff child ratios outlied above apply oly to the sessioal pre-school elemet of the service ad oly where all of the childre i questio are withi the eligible age rage, which is betwee 2.5 years ad 6 years. Outside of the preschool sessioal services, providers must apply the staff child ratios i respect of full-time, part-time or sessioal services as outlied i the previous table (Departmet of Childre ad Youth Affairs, 2013b). Accordig to a atioal logitudial study of childre, called Growig Up i Irelad, the average umber of childre for each staff member i cetres was betwee four ad five, but the ratio for the ifat sectio may have bee lower (McGiity et al, 2013). 16 Fudig for the free pre-school year covers 38 weeks. This meas that may staff with the required qualificatios may be uemployed util the ext fuded period begis. This is cofirmed by a survey by the members-based orgaisatio Early Childhood Irelad of its members i 2011, accordig to which may ECEC service providers offer employees cotracts for 38 weeks rather tha 52 i order to keep the same fees for parets (Early Childhood Irelad, 2012). Wages The Natioal Childcare Strategy 2000 highlighted the eed to develop a atioal pay scale for workers i early childhood educatio ad care. However, the fact that services are maily delivered through the private ad commuity sectors meas that orgaisatios i these sectors are actually settig the terms ad coditios (Oireachtas Library ad Research Service, 2012). Childcare services provided i disadvataged areas have ofte bee part of the Commuity Employmet scheme, a programme that provides log-term uemployed people ad other disadvataged groups with part-time ad temporary placemets withi their commuity. A side effect of the scheme is high turover rates, as participats may avail of the scheme oly for oe year. It has also bee poited out that this programme may have cotributed to keepig ECEC salaries low, as the allowaces paid by the employmet agecy are closer to previous welfare paymets tha to salaries i similar professios (Corriga, 2004). A salary survey udertake i September 2012 by Early Childhood Irelad showed that, for all uqualified workers (except those i maagerial positios), hourly rates started at the miimum wage (Figure 2). Wages are geerally based o qualificatio levels as set out by the Natioal Framework of Qualificatios (NFQ). Wages for staff with level 5 qualificatios, certificates for which are vocatio-specific ad require a geeral uderstadig of the subject matter, 16 Cetre-based carers were asked to report the total umber of childre i the cetre ad the total umber of childcare staff (i fulltime equivalet) lookig after them. 26

31 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities average per hour. Staff with level 7 qualificatios (the equivalet of a ordiary bachelor s degree) ear a average of per hour. Qualificatios icrease salary to a greater extet i the case of pre-school leaders ad maagerial ad supervisory roles. Higher qualificatios do ot seem to have a strog ifluece o salary except i the case of Motessori teachers ad maagerial posts. Staff ted to get paid oly for the time that they sped directly with childre (Early Childhood Irelad, 2012). The Report of the Expert Advisory Group o the Early Years Strategy poits out that i compariso, primary schoolteachers o the lowest poit o the basic salary scale ear double ( 30,700 per year) the salary of ECEC workers. It recommeded that professioalisatio should be supported by requirig adherece to a agreed salary scale as a coditio of public fudig, for example through reform of the capitatio grat (Departmet of Childre ad Youth Affairs, 2013c). Figure 2: Average hourly pay rates for childcare workers, by job category ad qualificatio level, Irelad Hourly rate of pay ( ) Pre-school leader Pre-school assistat Room leader Childcare assistat A er-school leader A er-school assistat Motessori teacher Special eeds assistat Supervisor Assistat maager Maager Other/ admi/cook No qualifica o Level 5/6 qualifica o Level 7 qualifica o Notes: Level 6 correspods to a higher certificate; level 7 correspods to a ordiary bachelor s degree. Source: Early Childhood Irelad, 2012 The lik betwee salaries ad qualificatios is iflueced by the free pre-school year. This establishes a miimum qualificatio of level 5 o the NFQ (or equivalet) i childcare or early childhood care ad educatio for pre-school leaders as a eligibility criterio for fudig. 17 I-service traiig Traiig has developed o a ad hoc basis, is ofte ot certified, ad is of variable quality. May staff are qualificatio poor, experiece rich (Corriga, 2004). A survey carried out i 2011 amogst Early Childhood Irelad members showed that less tha half of facilities have staff with the atioal guidace for the protectio ad welfare of childre, Childre First (Early Childhood Irelad, 2011). More tha half (55%) of family day-carers have o recogised qualificatio or traiig (McGiity et al, 2013). 17 See for further iformatio. 27

32 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities The Model Framework for Educatio, Traiig ad Professioal Developmet i the Early Childhood Care ad Educatio Sector (2002) established five stages of professioal developmet for practitioers with differet levels of skills ad resposibilities ad a set umber of supervised practice hours i a ECEC service. 18 This framework highlighted the problems created by the lack of atioal credit system, i terms of recogisig traiig programmes or havig a credit-based framework for qualificatios. This also has implicatios for havig a clear career structure or ideed a professioal idetity. Sice the, the five occupatioal profiles have bee associated with differet levels of qualificatios that the NFQ established i Stadards for awardig ECEC courses at differet qualificatio levels have bee established or reviewed. I additio, sice 2006, there is a Natioal Quality Framework for Early Childhood Educatio (Síolta). This quality framework is composed of 12 priciples, 16 stadards ad 75 compoets of quality. It icludes oe stadard i relatio to professioal practice, which is the specified i five compoets that emphasise the eed to provide evidece that they have achieved a certai skills level ad the eed to cotiue professioal developmet. Sice 2009, there is also a early childhood curriculum framework (Aistear), with guidelies regardig how the learig of childre ca be supported. While the free pre-school year iitiatives suggest that services must adhere to the priciples of the two frameworks, either of these frameworks which were developed with the support of the Departmet of Educatio ad Skills has bee fuded for a atioal roll out. There is cofusio i the sector regardig the status of the frameworks ad, i terms of traiig, they have bee used sporadically across the coutry ad across services. There is a move to itegrate the two frameworks, ad a small fud has bee allocated i the 2013 budget to the Departmet of Childre ad Youth Affairs for this iitiative (Hayes, 2013). A crucial ifluecig factor whe it comes to the qualificatios ad traiig of staff is the itroductio of the Free Preschool Year Scheme i 2010, which establishes miimum qualificatio criteria i order to qualify for fudig (see above). Also, i 2010, a Workforce Developmet Pla for the ECEC sector was developed. Access to traiig was oe of the major issues idetified durig the cosultatio o the pla, with 40% of the curret ECEC workforce ot havig the qualificatios required to participate i the free pre-school year. Access to traiig is challegig partly because there are few distace-learig opportuities. Oe of the iequities i relatio to fudig withi the educatio system is that, while primary teachers of childre aged 4 6 years have access to paid cotiuig professioal developmet ad are give time to avail of it, ECEC workers must pay for their ow traiig ad must access this traiig i their ow time (Hayes, 2013). The Associatio of Childhood Professioals asked, i Jue 2013, for progressio routes for traiig. I additio, the largest trade uio i Irelad (SIPTU) has asked the govermet to icrease ivestmet i childcare traiig, icludig classroom-based learig ad o-the-job traiig ad developmet (SIPTU, 2013). O 15 November 2013, the Miister for Childre ad Youth Affairs aouced that 900,000 was to be allocated to Early Childhood Irelad ad the Border Couties Childcare Network to provide traiig at levels 5 ad 6 before the ed of The 2014 budget will iclude 1.5 millio for traiig ad up-skillig (Early Childhood Irelad, 2013). 18 The five profiles, ad associated umber of hours required, are: basic practitioer (supervised practical experiece amoutig to a miimum of hours i a ECEC service); itermediate (miimum of 320 hours); experieced practitioer (500 hours); advaced (supervised practical experiece as appropriate); ad expert. 28

33 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities The Netherlads The 2005 Childcare Act (Wet Kideropvag) completely re-orgaised the Dutch childcare sector (for childre aged 0 4 years) by edig the provisio of public services. Oly private for-profit or ot-for-profit providers ow operate i the childcare market. While the chage i policy led to a sigificat icrease i childcare places, from 5.7% i 1990 to 34% i 2008, the developmets with regards to quality ad cost efficiecy have bee less positive (Platega, 2013). Followig recet govermet austerity measures, the umber of childre attedig a childcare cetre has goe dow from 715,000 i 2010 to 683,000 i 2013 ad the expectatio is that, by the ed of 2013, demad will have falle by close to 30%. The sector employs 8,000 fewer people tha i 2012, ad the progosis is that employmet will shrik by betwee 20% ad 25% compared to 2011 (Bracheorgaisatie Kideropvag, 2013). Experts have wared that the dowsizig of the sector may have a direct egative effect o the quality of childcare (Fukkik et al, 2013, p. 41). The sector s social parters have also voiced strog cocer about the effect of the cuts o quality. O 28 Jue 2013, the employer s orgaisatio set a letter to all political parties, warig them of the possible effects ot oly i terms of quality but also i relatio to the labour participatio of mothers with youg childre. AbvaKabo, the sector s trade uio, coducted a survey of 2,322 ECEC employees, which shows that 76% feel that the delivery of quality care at their cetre is uder pressure (AbvaKabo, udated a). I respose, it seems that the Dutch govermet overtured its decisio to reduce the 2014 budget by a further 175 millio. ECEC settig I the Netherlads, childre ca eter school from the day they tur four years, although school attedace oly becomes madatory at five years. The two most commo formal ECEC arragemets for childre aged 0 4 years are crèches (kiderdagverblijve) ad care by a host family (gastouderopvag). 19 Less commo arragemets iclude parets participatio crèches (ouderparticipatiecrèches), i which parets share the care for childre, ad a qualified caregiver lookig after childre i their ow home (leidster aa huis). A recet tred is for crèches to stay ope 24 hours a day. Childre aged 2 4 years ca atted a playgroup (peuterspeelzaal) twice a week for two or three hours. The primary objective of playgroups is to stimulate childre s socio-emotioal ad motor developmet. For youg childre with learig difficulties, there are VVE playgroups. VVE stads for Voor- e Vroegschoolse Educatie, meaig pre-school ad early educatio. These playgroups help disadvataged childre icrease their chaces for better school ad social experieces. Workig coditios Iteratioal comparisos poit to relatively good workig coditios for Dutch ECEC staff, at least i compariso to their colleagues i other coutries (OECD, 2010). Staff child ratio ad group size I the Netherlads, the staff child ratio ad the maximum umber of childre i a group is regulated by law. As these vary depedig o a umber of factors, ECEC services make use of a calculatio tool that has bee developed o behalf of the Miistry of Social Affairs ad Employmet. 20 A recet chage i the calculatio method appears to have had a positive effect o group size but a egative effect o the staff child ratio. Uder the ew rules, the ratio reduces the maximum group size uder certai specific coditios: with two care providers, a group that cosists of eight childre aged uder oe year is ow allowed to have oly oe older child, whereas i the past it was permitted to have four older childre i the group. However, at the same time, the ew method teds to icrease the group sizes (due to roudig-up issues), which icreases the workload of staff members ad puts pressure o the quality of childcare. 19 Childcare for childre aged four years ad over (out-of-school care, Buiteschoolse opvag) is ot cosidered i this paper. 20 See the website 29

34 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities Wages While salaries of ECEC staff are sigificatly below that of schoolteachers, wages are set to rise slightly ow that the social parters have settled o a ew collective agreemet, followig a log stalemate. 21 Workers will receive a icrease of 1% i August 2013 ad February 2014, ad a 2% icrease i December 2014, as well as two oe-off paymets i March ad September However, workers will lose their ed-of-year bous as of This agreemet was reached o 23 May 2013 (see CAO Kideropvag, 2013). Turover rate A compariso of ECEC staff workig coditios i OECD coutries shows that turover rates amog childcare staff is lowest i the Netherlads, at 8.9% (OECD, 2011). Workload A 2010 study comparig workig coditios of ECEC staff with those of Dutch employees as a whole showed that those workig i early childhood educatio ad care were slightly less positive i compariso to other Dutch workers about their workload (44% vs. 42%) (Figure 3). However, they perceived less work pressure tha is the case for Dutch employees i geeral (21% vs. 32%) ad were less likely to feel that they had to work very quickly (22% vs. 34%) (Kideropvag FCB, udated). Figure 3: Workig coditios of ECEC workers compared to those of all workers, the Netherlads 43.7% 42.1% 31.7% 34.4% 36.9% 37.2% 28.4% 26.9% 21.3% 22.0% Works uder me pressure Works very quickly Has large workload Works extra hard Perceives work as hec c Employees i childcare Employees i geeral Sources: Visser, S. de ad Schoemakers, F. (2012) (childcare sector); TNO, (2013) (workforce as a whole). I-service traiig The collective agreemet that applies to the sector stipulates i-service traiig for ECEC staff. The agreemet requires staff to follow traiig activities eeded i order to carry out their job properly. The cost of traiig is paid by the employer. Career developmet plas eed to specify the traiig budget, whereby traiig focuses o curret ad future fuctioig withi ad outside of the orgaisatio (AbvaKabo, udated b). 21 Salary levels i ECEC start at 1,775 per moth, goig up to about 2,420, whereas school teachers commece their career at 2,073, which ca icrease up to approximately 2,

35 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities Sice the establishmet, i 2008, of the Bureau Kwaliteit Kideropvag (BKK), a govermet agecy that cotrols ad moitors childcare quality, the system of i-service traiig has sigificatly improved. 22 The aim of the BKK is to improve the pedagogical quality of childcare by bridgig the gap betwee educatio ad practice ad by providig traiig to ECEC staff (Boostra et al, 2013, p. 15). To achieve this, the BKK carried out the Workig o Excellet Childcare programme betwee 2009 ad 2012, which had four priorities: the developmet of a pedagogical framework; i-service traiig budgets; talet maagemet to promote the further developmet of ECEC staff; ad the promotio of collaboratio betwee educatio ad traiig (BKK, udated). The budget for i-service traiig has bee made available through a 40 millio subsidy from the Departmet of Social Affairs ad Employmet. A mid-term evaluatio of the BKK s effectiveess poits to icreased awareess amog ECEC staff of the i-service traiig budget: by 2010, aroud 40% of ECEC facilities had made use of the subsidy (Bureau Bartels, 2011 p. 32). The evaluatio also shows that the majority of subsidy requests were made either to do more i terms of pedagogical schoolig (52%) or to improve the pedagogical kowledge ad skills of staff members (51%) (Bureau Bartels, 2011, p. 36). Regardig the priority to stimulate the developmet of taleted staff, the evaluatio shows that by 2010, 64% of ECEC facilities had already worked o this; for these cetres, a sigificat focus was to eable taleted employees to follow additioal schoolig (Bureau Bartels, 2011, p. 61). A further measure to improve the quality of Dutch ECEC staff has bee the developmet of a iteractive video traiig method. The NCKO study foud that the iteractive skills of ECEC staff with childre i their group ted to be below average, ad the traiig is geared towards improvig these skills (Fukkik et al, 2013, p. 39). The developmet of this particular method is based o experimetal research that showed that through video feedback itervetio, the iteractio skills of ECEC staff improved. I particular, the study foud that video iteractio guidace (VIG) has positive ad persistet effects o the use of stimulatig teacher behaviour ad o their levels of sesitive resposiveess ad verbal stimulatio (Fukkik ad Tavacchio, 2010, p. 1,657). Cotiuous learig i childcare cetres Oe of the priorities of the BKK Workig o Excellet Childcare programme is to tur childcare cetres ito learig orgaisatios (BKK, udated). This cocept requires a orgaisatio to be set up i a way that eables its workers to lear cotiuously, ot just through official traiig but with ad from each other, with the aim of achievig commo goals, ad to work at improvig the etire orgaisatio. Ispired by Dutch research ad research commissioed by the Europea Commissio (Slot et al, forthcomig; CoRe, 2011), pilot projects were carried out i 11 childcare cetres across the Netherlads i The projects varied ot oly i size, ragig from small to large cetres, but also i the extet to which the orgaisatios had previous experiece with the learig orgaisatio cocept. The pilot projects highlight that, i a learig orgaisatio, ECEC staff feel more egaged with the orgaisatio ad have a better uderstadig of their skills ad those of their colleagues. This i tur provides more time to focus o the childre s eeds, which i tur is beeficial for the childre. The pilots provided valuable isights ito what is eeded to trasform childcare cetres ito learig orgaisatios. I a learig orgaisatio, i-service traiig is focused o the eeds of the idividual ECEC staff member, takig ito accout developmets i research ad policy. Feedback ad leadership are igraied i these orgaisatios where coachig is the orm, alogside a willigess to be critical. O the basis of these 11 pilots, the BKK is ow plaig to eable learig orgaisatios develop throughout the childcare sector. 22 See for further detail. 31

36 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities Spai ECEC settig Early childhood educatio ad care i Spai is volutary ad cosists of two cycles up to three years ad 3 6 years. Educatio for 0 3 years is regulated o a regioal level, usually by departmets of educatio, although sometimes by departmets of social welfare. The first cycle depeds mostly o fudig from muicipalities; the state has more ivolvemet at the secod cycle. Royal Decree 132/2010 establishes the miimum criteria eeded for ECEC cetres for childre aged 3 6 years, i terms of space, ratios ad staff qualificatios, as well as the staff qualificatios required for ECEC services for childre aged 0 3 years. The state also sets criteria for staff qualificatios uder the 2006 Educatio Act (Ley Orgáica de Educació). Article 2.1 of the Act establishes that staff should have a teachig degree. Staff for childre aged 0 3 years ca also iclude seior ECEC specialists, ECEC assistats ad other staff with appropriate qualificatios for the care of childre of this age group. It follows that there is greater heterogeeity i ECEC services throughout the coutry for 0 3-year-olds tha for 3 6-year-olds. Oly 7 out of 17 regios have legislatio settig out the miimum criteria for ECEC services. May regios (comuidades autóomas) do ot have ispectio services i place other tha those related to health ad safety criteria, while other regios ispect oly some cetres (Sarmieto ad Ruiz, 2011). I may regios, the presece of childre with special eeds does ot lead to a decrease i staff child ratios (UNAF, 2012). A opiio survey udertake by the World Associatio of Early Childhood Educators (AMEI-WAECE) i 2011 amogst Spaish early childhood educators showed that the mai reasos perceived behid poor quality i ECEC services, accordig to the iterviewees, were: the high umber of childre per classroom (particularly i the secod level); the low recogitio of ECEC staff; ad the view that early childhood educatio ad care is becomig more related to welfare ad less cocered with educatio (AMEI-WAECE, 2011). I 2008, the Miistry of Educatio started a pla called Educa3 to stimulate early childhood educatio for those aged 0 3 years. It aimed to create more childcare places for this age group that met criteria i relatio to the quality of the childcare settig, curriculum ad staff qualificatios. Fudig is coditioal to havig at least oe teacher specialisig i early childhood educatio for every six classrooms. The Educa pla allocated 5 millio to traiig ad icluded the goal of icreasig the availability of traiig courses i early childhood educatio i collaboratio with the regios. There were also plas to icrease accreditatio for staff experiece. Educa3 also icluded the followig measures to icrease i-service traiig opportuities ad improve quality: expadig vocatioal traiig opportuities for early childhood educatio teachers (ciclos formativos para técico superior e educació ifatil); improvig the recogitio of experieced professioals ad offerig specific distat learig or osite traiig modules; promotig the exchage of experieces betwee ECEC cetres ad their participatio o EU programmes; promotig ICT to icrease the quality of early childhood educatio ad care. As part of the measure to promote ICT, a website was developed for professioal traiig ad family educatio to facilitate access to educatio resources, ad the exchage of experieces ad didactic materials. 32

37 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities Two factors are likely to reduce policy iterest i early childhood educatio ad care, as well as fudig of it: the impact of the crisis o public fiaces i Spai ad the fact that the curret govermet cosiders the first cycle of early childhood educatio ad care as a family matter (UNAF, 2012). Workig coditios Group size ad staff child ratio ECEC staff child ratios for 0 3-year-olds are regulated at regioal level. The most frequet group sizes i Spai are: 8 per toddler group; betwee 12 ad 14 i groups of childre aged 1 2 years; ad 20 i groups aged 2 3 years (Eurypedia, 2013). Staff child ratios for 3 6-year-olds are regulated by the state. The legal maximum group size is 25 childre, which is i lie with the limits set i almost two-thirds of Europea coutries (Lloret, 2013). Sice 2012, as part of the austerity measures, the maximum limit ca be exteded by 20% i situatios where ew staff are ot hired or the replacemet rate for staff is below 50% (Eurypedia, 2013). Accordig to data from the OECD, the ECEC staff child ratio i Spai i 2011 was 12.8, which is below the OECD average (14.4) ad the EU21 average (13.1) (Miistry of Educatio, Culture ad Sport, 2013). Wages ECEC teachers are paid the same as primary schoolteachers. Educators i the secod cycle (3 6 years) have workig coditios ad remueratio closer to those of teachers i primary educatio; this icludes havig holidays durig the school-break period, rather tha just oe moth, as is the case for first-cycle educators. This situatio is ecouragig those workig i the first cycle to pursue traiig i order to qualify as secod-cycle teachers or primary schoolteachers (Peñalver, 2009). Staff i the public sector follow the paymet scales established for all civil servats, as well as collective agreemets. Staff i the private sector are paid accordig to three collective agreemets at the atioal level; oe agreemet is for o-subsidised private educatio cetres, oe is for subsidised private educatio cetres ad oe is specifically for ECEC cetres. The collective agreemet specific to early childhood educatio ad care was reewed i 2010 ad will apply util the ed of 2013 for all staff i private ECEC cetres i Spai, as well as public cetres maaged by private compaies. The collective agreemet states that salary icreases up util 2013 would be i lie with fluctuatios i the cosumer price idex. I 2013, mothly wages were: 1,360 for maagerial staff, 1,343 for a ECEC teacher ad 837 for a seior ECEC specialist. Workig hours Accordig to this ew collective agreemet specific to private ECEC settigs, the maximum workig hours per week is 32 hours for teachers, 38 hours for seior specialists ad 39 hours for all other staff. Staff i the public sector ted to work 35 hours a week, with hours spet i the cetre (icludig 5 hours of o-cotact time for meetigs ad talk with parets) ad 5 hours for class preparatio at home (Oberhuemer et al, 2010). I-service traiig Up to recetly, traiig had ot adapted to the requiremets of the 2006 Educatio Act, with early-years teachers still beig more prepared for work i primary school tha i ECEC settigs (Oberhuemer et al, 2010). However, the reform of Europea higher educatio has bee fully implemeted, ad the iitial traiig for ECED teachers ca ow differ sigificatly from primary educatio traiig. This ca vary by uiversity. I a opiio survey by AMEI-WAECE, ECEC staff i Spai expressed their cocers regardig the fact that educatio was too theoretical (Sáchez Mulitero, 2009). The fact that, up util recetly, the first cycle of early childhood educatio ad care did ot ivolve a educatioal 33

38 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities aspect meat util that staff at this level did ot have the access to the same cotiuig professioal developmet (CPD) opportuities as other educators. Those i private ECEC cetres that do ot deliver educatio services have more limited access to traiig (Peñalver, 2009). This was addressed i the 2010 collective agreemet for private cetres. Article 36 of that agreemet stated that CPD udertake volutarily by staff should be paid by their employers. Article 37 wet o to state that if traiig is part of a CPD pla, employers should make it possible for staff to udertake this traiig durig workig hours. I order to stimulate traiig, Article 56 set out that employers pay staff a supplemet if traiig udertake i the past three years adds up to 60 hours i the case of teachig ad maagig staff ad 45 hours for auxiliary staff (as log as the traiig was orgaised or authorised by the employer). However, the ew educatio law (Ley Orgáica para la Mejora de la Calidad Educativa), approved i December 2013, may brig chages to this as well to other aspects of traiig ad workig coditios. 34

39 Coclusio The evidece gathered from the systematic reviews highlights the positive impact of adequate staff child ratios i early childhood educatio ad care o outcomes for childre. The lik is much clearer here tha it is regardig group size. There is also evidece that staff child ratios are particularly importat for small childre. This evidece should be take ito accout i the reforms targetig ratios i Irelad ad Spai as part of the austerity measures, ad i relatio to plas for the expasio of childcare places i Austria ad Germay. The Irish experiece shows that havig a clear qualificatio ad traiig framework is importat i terms of the career structure ad professioal idetity of childcare workers. I Irelad, the Netherlads, ad Germay, cosultatio processes to develop traiig frameworks have bee useful i idetifyig gaps ad eeds ad providig some coordiatio across disparate traiig schemes. A similar exercise seems to be eeded i Austria, where there is a lack of clarity regardig existig traiig courses ad eeds. I Germay ad the Netherlads, programmes ad agecies have bee established to promote ad moitor i-service traiig, respectively. The two systematic reviews of studies o iservice traiig show that it leads to improvemets i the pedagogical competecies of childcare workers i relatio to professioal attitude, kowledge ad skills, as well as to a improvemet i outcomes for childre. There is, however, isufficiet evidece to ascertai which aspects of traiig brig most beefits for childre. Aother importat fidig is that eve less itese forms of traiig ca improve outcomes for childre. This should be take ito accout whe desigig traiig programmes. ECEC staff i Irelad have expressed the eed for traiig courses with a format that is compatible with their work commitmets. Short semiars seem to be favoured i Germay, while video iteractio guidace has already had good results regardig iteractio skills i the Netherlads. Approaches that have bee implemeted, i the coutries studied here, to esure access to traiig iclude: havig a umber of traiig days stipulated i staff cotracts (Germay); ad icludig traiig i collective agreemets, as is the case i the Netherlads ad Spai, where collective agreemets stipulate that i-service traiig should be reimbursed by the employer. I additio, the collective agreemet i Spai gives icetives to udertake traiig i the form of salary bouses. This cotrasts with the curret salary structure i Irelad, which gives very few icetives to upgrade qualificatios beyod the level required to be eligible for the Free Pre-school Year scheme. Oe of the reviews explais that shorter forms of traiig ca be beeficial because they usually target a very specific set of skills. As staff workig with ifats ad toddlers have varyig qualificatio requiremets, shorter forms of iservice traiig eed to be tailored to specific eeds i order to be effective. This does ot seem to be happeig i Spai, where available traiig is ot specific to early childhood educatio ad care. While there is plety of evidece about the beefits for childre of early childhood educatio programmes (particularly i relatio to specific curricula ad programmes), few systematic reviews focus specifically o the lik betwee workig coditios, traiig ad outcomes for childre. Moreover, may reviews lookig ito the associatios betwee differet aspects of quality do ot isolate the effects of differet aspects of structural quality. Furthermore, the results of studies that do isolate the impact of these differet elemets eed to be iterpreted with cautio, due the ifluece of the duratio of the childcare received ad other factors, such as differet elemets of workig coditios, other aspects of early childhood educatio ad care, ad the ifluece of social ad family backgrouds. The lik betwee structural quality ad outcomes for childre is a complex relatioship mediated by process quality. By gatherig evidece from studies throughout the EU28, the systematic review commissioed by Eurofoud will give a clearer picture of this relatioship. 35

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41 Bibliography All Eurofoud publicatios are available at AbvaKabo (2013), De extra rekeregel, available at AbvaKabo (udated a), Nieuws, available at AbvaKabo (udated b), 2. Bij- e ascholig, available at Ackerma, D. (2006), The costs of beig a child care teacher: Revisitig the problem of low wages, Educatioal Policy, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp Alcrudo, P., Aloso, A., Escobar, M., Hoyuelos, A., Media, A. ad Vallejo, A. (2012), Plateamieto, situació y perspectivas de la educació de 0 a seis años, Plataforma Estatal e Defesa de la Etapa de Educació Ifatil de cero a seis años, Madrid. AMEI-WAECE (2011), Tercer estudio de opiio: El estado de la Educació Ifatil e España, available at AMS (Arbeitmarktservice) (2013a) Fachkräftestipedium, available at AMS (2013b), Bildugsteilzeitgeld, available at Baierl, A. ad Kaidl, M. (2011), Kiderbetreuug i Österreich. Rechtliche Bestimmuge ud die reale Betreuugssituatio, ÖIF Workig Paper No. 77/2011. Baumeister, K. ad Grieser, A. (2011), Berufsbegleitede Fort- ud Weiterbildug frühpädagogischer Fachkräfte Aalse der Programmagebote, Weiterbildugsiitiative Frühpädagogische Fachkräfte (WiFF), Muich, available at Becker, W. (2002), Fortbildigskozepte i Zeiche des Iovatiosdrucks, i Ftheakis, W. E. ad Oberhuemer P. (eds), Ausbildugsqualität. Strategiekozepte zur Weiteretwicklug der Ausbildig vo Erzieherie u Erzieher, Weiheim & Basel, Beltz, Ladsberg, pp Beher, K. ad Walter, M. (2012), Qualifikatioe ud Weiterbildugfrühpädagogischer Fachkräfte Budesweite Befragug vo Eirichtugsleituge ud Fachkräfte i Kidertageseirichtuge: Zeh Frage Zeh Atworte, Frühpädagogische Fachkräfte (WiFF), Muich, available at Berlier Zeitug (2013), Spitzerude eiigt sich auf Koalitiosvertrag, 27 November. 37

42 Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities Bertelsma Foudatio (2013), Lädermoitor Frühkidliche Bildugssysteme 2013, available at BKK (udated), Lerede orgaisatie i de kideropvag, available at Blau, D. M. (1999), The effects of childcare characteristics o child developmet, Joural of Huma Resources, No. 34, pp Boostra, M., IJsbrad, J. ad Abell, A. (2013), De kideropvag op weg aar ee lerede orgaisatie, CED Groep, Rotterdam, available at Bracheorgaisatie Kideropvag (2013), Feite e Cijfers, available at Broberg, A. G., Wessels, H., Lamb, M. E. ad Hwag, C. P. (1997), Effects of day care o the developmet of cogitive abilities i 8-year-olds: A logitudial study, Developmetal Psychology, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp Burchial, M. R., Roberts, J. E., Riggis Jr, R., Zeisel, S. A., Neebe, E., ad Bryat, D. (2000), Relatig quality of cetre based child care to early cogitive ad laguage developmet logitudially, Child Developmet, Vol. 71, No. 2, pp Bureau Bartels (2011), Moitorig e evaluatie Stichtig Kwaliteit Kideropvag tussemetig 2011, Bureau Bartels, Amersfoort, available at Camilli, G., Vargas, S., Rya, S. ad Barett, S. (2010), Meta-aalysis of the effects of early educatio itervetios o cogitive ad social developmet, Teachers College Record, Columbia Uiversity, Vol. 112, No. 3, pp CAO Kideropvag (2013), Oderhadeligsresultaat , CAO Kideropvag, Utrecht, available at Chambers, B., Cheug, A. ad Slavi, R. E. (2006), Effective preschool programs for childre at risk of school failure: A best-evidece sythesis i B. Spodek (ed.) Hadbook of research o the educatio of youg childre, Lawrece Erlbaum, New York, pp Citizes Iformatio (2011), Regulatio of pre-school childcare services i Irelad, available at _of_preschool_childcare_services.html. CoRe (2011), Competeces requiremets i ECEC A study for the Europea Commissio Directorate Geeral for Educatio ad Culture, Fial report, Uiversity of East Lodo, Uiversity of Ghet, Lodo, Ghet. 38

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