Towards Competent Systems in Early Childhood Education and Care. Implications for Policy and Practice

Abstract

The close connection between the quality of provision for young children and professionaliation of the field has long been supported by international research. That the two are inseparable aspects of one picture is beginning to become accepted at European policy level, as evident in recent high level EU policy documents. This article explores the reciprocal relationship between quality and professionalisation, drawing on the findings of the study on ‘competence requirements in early childhood education and care’ (CoRe), jointly conducted by the University of East London and the University of Gent, and funded by the European Commission. Based on a review of literature in several European languages and data from a 15‐country survey and seven in‐depth case studies, CoRe has identified systemic conditions for a professionalisation of the entire early childhood system, beyond the formal qualification levels of individual practitioners. The article argues for a critical and systemic reconceptualisation of professional practice in a competent system.

Dialogue and Interaction in Early Childhood Education: A Systematic Review

“…Among the 108 low-income families who participated in the study, children (age 2) whose mothers communicated using diverse vocabularies produced, on average, 33.5 unique words in a 10-minute interaction period compared to only 24.5 unique words for children whose mothers used less diverse vocabularies (Pan et al, 2005). These results are consistent with recent European research that argues the quality of ECEC depends on the type and quality of interactions that children have with diverse adults such as professionals, relatives, and other community members (Urban, Vandenbroeck, Van Laere, Lazzari, & Peeters, 2012), mainly because such communicative interactions are key to acquire functional skills (Popp & Wilcox, 2012). Language is developed in the context of social interaction, and the better the quality of the communicative interactions, the better the language and overall cognitive development.…”

The preschool teachers’ beliefs about children’s general skills according to the Estonian national curriculum: an added explanation to the causes of the “schoolification” of early childhood institutions

“…By definition, schoolification is the process of formal early childhood education becoming more school-like. The most characteristic aspects of schoolification, as noted by several authors internationally, are to establish national curricula for preschool education institutions (Bennett, 2005;Oberhuemer, 2005a;Urban & Dalli, 2008;Urban et al, 2012), to focus more intensively on learning activities and the preparation of children for schools of general education (Clausen, 2015;Gunnarsdottir, 2014), to more strictly regulate the professionalism of early childhood educators to professional standards and other regulations (Osgood, 2009;Urban, 2008), and to evaluate children's learning outcomes by standardised evaluation principles (Gunnarsdottir, 2014). …”

“…Haridusteaduste instituut, Tallinna Ülikool, Narva mnt 25, 10120 Tallinn; neudorf@tlu.ee riiklikke õppekavu (Bennett, 2005;Oberhuemer, 2005aOberhuemer, , 2005bUrban & Dalli, 2008;Urban, Vandenbroeck, van Laere, Lazzari, & Peeters, 2012), pöö-rata suuremat tähelepanu laste koolivalmiduse tagamisele ning õpitegevustele (Belfield & Garcia, 2014;Einarsdottir, 2006;Platz & Arellano, 2011;Puccioni, 2015), standardiseeritult hinnata laste õpi-ja arengutulemusi (Gunnarsdottir, 2014) ning rangemalt reguleerida lasteaiaõpetajate professionaalsuse nõudeid (Osgood, 2009;Urban, 2008). Need tendentsid ilmnevad hoolimata sellest, et Euroopa Komisjoni, UNESCO ja teiste rahvusvaheliste organisatsioonide konsensusliku arusaama järgi on alusharidus laiapõhjaline ja holistlik ning toetab laste õpetamist, kasvatamist ja arendamist tasakaalustatult .…”

Early Childhood Education Intervention Programs in the Netherlands: Still Searching for Empirical Evidence

“…However, there are also signs that the situation is changing and that some positive effects may occur in the long run. Positive effects may depend on a particular set of conditions including the specific approach, the duration and intensity of the care, the quality and efforts of the caregivers, and the continuity of the service or program with the children's later care and education [10][11][12][13][14][15]. This article presents an update on the Dutch situation.…”

“…Quality generally is seen as the most important factor contributing to the effectiveness of ECE [13,14,21,22]. Although the evidence for strong effects of quality in general and, more specific, of teachers' qualification on children's social and cognitive development is inconclusive, there are indications that better qualifications contribute to stronger effects [15,[22][23][24].…”