The Early Childhood Education Workforce in Europe Between Divergencies and Emergencies

Abstract

Across and beyond Europe, demographic, social and economic pressures both at the macro and the micro level are impacting on the work contexts of early childhood educators. Alongside heightened drives towards expansion and increasing regulation of the field, expectations are intensifying. Additionally, goals and targets for higher education and vocational education at the European policy level are generating restructurings of the national qualification systems for work in the early childhood field. In this dynamic context of change the SEEPRO (Early Education/care and Professionalisation in Europe) study, based at the State Institute of Early Childhood Research in Munich and funded by the German Federal Ministry of Family and Youth Affairs, set out to map the qualification requirements and workplace settings of early years practitioners in their country-specific context. Similarities and differences across the 27 countries of the European Union were documented and analysed. The findings of the study show considerable divergencies across Europe in terms of formal education and training requirements and the desired professional profiles for working with young children. Against this background of diversity, similarities in terms of workforce emergencies and challenges have also emerged: one is a common lack of truly flexible and inclusive pathways linked to formal professional recognition and status for all practitioners in the field; another is the continuing need to seek more effective ways of including men in the early childhood workforce.

Models and organisational characteristics of preschool teachers’ professional training in some EU countries and Ukraine

“…The problem of preschool teachers' professional training in some European Union countries was covered by German scholars (Bauer et al, 2012;Kotthoff & Denk, 2007;Terhart, 2003); French scholars (Dajez, 1994;Bernard, 2015;Fraisse, 2010;Kyvik, 2009); British scholars (Barton, 2003;Furlong, 2005;Terhart, 2003;Whitty et al, 1997). A particular attention should be paid to thorough works (Caena, 2011;Cameron & Moss, 2007;Moss, 2008;Neuman, 2005;Oberhuemer, 2011;Ostinelli, 2009, Gonzalez & Wagenaar, 2003, which provide comprehensive views on professional training of preschool teachers in Europe.…”

Stakeholders’ Construction on the Quality of Pre-primary Education in Tanzania

“…Stakeholders' preference on at least a certificate level of teacher education in Tanzania differed with the practice in foreign countries particularly from the developed world. For instance, Oberhuemer (2011) found that 22 out of 27 developed countries in Europe with an exception of Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, the Slovak Republic, and Malta set a bachelor degree as a minimum credential for teaching the 3-6 year-old preschool children. The bachelor degree as the prerequisite for teaching in pre-school is common to other countries like USA (Burchinal, Hyson & Zaslow, 2008;Kelley & Camilli, 2007;Saracho & Spodek, 2007;Barnett, 2003;Textor, 1998), in Norway (Strand, 2006), Australia (Fenech et al, 2006), Sweden (Sheridan, 2014), and the United Kingdom (Nutbrown, 2012).…”

La formación inicial de los profesionales de la Educación Infantil en Inglaterra, Francia y España

“…Desde diversos ámbitos se insiste en la necesidad de implantar sistemas integrados de EI para que puedan alcanzarse perfiles profesionales coherentes de alto nivel en toda la etapa (Oberhuemer, 2011), en los que impere el concepto de educación integral y se tengan en consideración tanto el componente asistencial de cuidado como el educativo (Van Laere, Peeters y Vandenbroeck, 2012).…”