Sustainable professional learning for early childhood educators: Lessons from an Australia-wide mental health promotion initiative

Abstract

New policy initiatives, such as those concerned with promoting young children's positive mental health, highlight the need for good quality professional education in the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector. However, although a wealth of literature exists from the school sector, little is known about professional Author copy (submitted) workplaces that are conducive to transformation and renewal. Recommendations from participants for improvement included the need to ensure the relevance of content to local contexts, more extended learning opportunities, translation of

Delivering and implementing child and adolescent mental health training for mental health and allied professionals: a systematic review and qualitative meta-aggregation

“…Linked to the latter observation, training sessions should allow open discussion between trainers and trainees: preferred over a lecture format [39,58]. Trainees appreciate being listened to [58], with sufficient time spent within a group format to allow time for this [57].…”

“…Training that facilitates interaction with peers, whether face-to-face or online, can reduce feelings of isolation [41]; with one participant describing the bonds they formed as almost familial [48]. Building a support network that may have been missing before [41] can be especially beneficial in terms of normalising the difficult emotions associated with certain professions [57], creating the sense that they are "all in this together" ( [39], p. 203).…”

“…Trainers should also be experts in the topic they are delivering: learning is best facilitated by a high quality trainer [39,68] who is knowledgeable and passionate about the subject matter [43]. Indeed, a lack of expertise can limit the potential of the training, influencing its subsequent transfer to practice [56].…”

University Lecturers’ Perspectives on Initial Teacher Education for Mental Health Promotion in Schools

“…o Balance between theory and practice: Exposure to sociological and psychological theories about determinants of mental health, alongside opportunities for students to engage in practical application of theory into practice, both in simulated situations such as inquiry and problem based learning, and in actual classroom practice with mentoring and supervision (Askell Williams & Murray Harvey, 2015; o Experiential, reflective, collaborative (students actively engaged in their own learning through an active, self-reflective and collaborative approach with teachers, mentors and peers (Askell Williams & Murray Harvey, 2015;Cefai & Cavioni, 2015;Desimone, 2009). …”

“…Desimone (2009) suggested that quality teacher professional learning in mental health must include content knowledge, active learning, coherence with other content areas of the curriculum, sufficient duration and collective participation of staff. Desimone's model was recently revised Askell-Williams and Murray-Harvey (2015), who suggested a framework consisting of two interconnected components, namely structural (content and delivery) and functional (collaboration, active learning and professional practices, such as professional identity and attitudes and beliefs).…”