Innovative approaches to continuous professional development (CPD) in early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Europe: Findings from a comparative review

Abstract

This article explores innovation as an aspect of in-service continuous professional development (CPD) in ECEC. Based on a literature review and a cross-country analysis conducted in ten European countries, we found that innovation in CPD was understood as a way to improving quality in ECEC. CPD no longer solely deals with practitioners' knowledge and skills. Rather, it encompasses processes such as critical thinking, reflexivity and co-creation within and across ECEC systems.Two overall approaches to innovation in CPD emerged: one can be characterised as developing in systems that lack a national definition for innovation, where there is nevertheless a growing awareness of the need to finding new solutions for ECEC; and one as highly innovative in systems that have a history, culture and societal tradition of innovation. Also, three additional insights were identified as crucial aspects of CPD in terms of innovation: (a) critical reflection; (b) communities of practice; and (c) a growing focus on politics that address social inequality through ECEC. This analysis contributes to filling the gaps in research on innovative CPD in ECEC at three levels: system (macro), inter-organisational (meso) and individual, organisational (micro). Further research is needed to explore more in-depth the identified approaches to innovation related to CPD and their impact on quality development in European ECEC.

The quality of caregiver–child interactions in infant classrooms in Portugal: the role of caregiver education

“…The lead teacher may contribute to the quality of interactions of all staff either formally, through meetings and planning, or informally, through observation, conversations and role modeling. The importance of informal supervision and teamwork has been recently highlighted as an important component of professional development (Jensen and Iannone 2015). In a recent Dutch study (Slot et al 2015) a range of professional development activities was addressed, including more conventional forms (e.g., in-training service) to less studied ones (e.g.,…”

“…Regulated childcare settings for children under 3 years old include centrebased care (i.e., crèche), in private for profit and private non-profit institutions, and home-based care (i.e., family day care), although home-based care is less used. In 2014, places in these formal settings together were available for 49.2% of children Some European projects have highlighted differences and commonalities between countries regarding ECEC systems and curricula (e.g., Gregoriadis et al 2014;Jensen and Iannone 2015) and also regarding teacher education. An analysis of pre-service education in 10 European countries concluded that there is a broad trend to increase demand for university-level qualifications, although substantial differences exist between countries in the study programmes, contents, main principles and practical experiences provided (Jensen and Iannone 2015).…”

“…In 2014, places in these formal settings together were available for 49.2% of children Some European projects have highlighted differences and commonalities between countries regarding ECEC systems and curricula (e.g., Gregoriadis et al 2014;Jensen and Iannone 2015) and also regarding teacher education. An analysis of pre-service education in 10 European countries concluded that there is a broad trend to increase demand for university-level qualifications, although substantial differences exist between countries in the study programmes, contents, main principles and practical experiences provided (Jensen and Iannone 2015). Portuguese legislation (Portaria n.º 262/2011, August 31st) requires early childcare centres to have a qualified lead teacher, with a master degree in ECEC, in each classroom for toddlers Due to the less stringent requirements for lead caregivers in infant classrooms and for auxiliary staff members in all classrooms, Portuguese child care centres have caregivers with widely varying levels of formal education, especially in classrooms for younger children.…”

“…Research has also typically focused on preschool classrooms rather than in infant and toddler classrooms where it is less common to have full-time qualified teachers, especially in countries with two different systems of ECEC for children younger or older than 2 or 3 years of age (cf., Jensen and Iannone 2015). In Portugal, in particular, infant classrooms are not required to have a qualified teacher (Portaria n.º 262/2011, August 31 st ).…”

Guidelines for Selecting Professional Development for Early Childhood Teachers

“…PD is costly in terms of time and money and it is important to ensure that time spent in PD is worthwhile. Continuous PD is identified as an approach to improving the quality of EC around the world (Jensen and Iannone 2018). As in other countries (Jensen and Iannone 2018; OECD 2012), both state and federal PD policies in the US, for example, specify a required number of hours to be completed annually.…”