Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities Workig paper Click for cotets Wyattville Road, Loughlistow, Dubli 18, Irelad. - Tel: (+353 1) 204 31 00 - Fax: 282 42 09 / 282 64 56 email: iformatio@eurofoud.europa.eu - website: www.eurofoud.europa.eu
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).
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 1 5 9 19 35 37
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 2014. 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 2014. 1 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 2013 2016. 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 2013 2016 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
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
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 2014. 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
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. 510 511 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
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. 314 315 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
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
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 http://www.campbellcollaboratio.org/. Iformatio o the EPPI-Cetre is available at http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/. 8
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
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 2005. 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
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. 13 6 7 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
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
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
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 2004. 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
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
Early childhood educatio ad care: Workig coditios ad traiig opportuities The review by Mitchell et al icluded 117 studies reported betwee 1995 ad 2006. 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