‘Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Brings a Wide Range of Benefits… But All These Benefits Are Conditional on Quality’: Questioning the Only Quality Reform Agenda

2019 ◽  
pp. 65-90
Author(s):  
Elise Hunkin
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Reform Agenda ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Education And Care

scholarly journals Supporting teacher professionalism through tailored professional learning

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Nolan ◽  
Tebeje Molla
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Teacher Professionalism ◽  
Reform Agenda ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Quality Learning ◽  
Continuing Professional Learning

The issue of continuing professional learning for educators in the early childhood education and care sector is in the spotlight in Australia due to the government's reform agenda, which seeks to professionalize the workforce. In an effort to ensure quality programmes are on offer for all children, educators are expected to upskill. The assumption is that quality learning opportunities for children are aligned with a more skilled and capable workforce. This is problematic due to the diversity of the early childhood education and care workforce and its ability to convert professionalization opportunities into achievements. The focus of this article is a study that problematized the alignment of professional attributes valued in the policy space and in the field of practice to understand educator agency, a key element of professional capability. Once this alignment is known, professional learning experiences can be tailored to better support the professionalization of these educators.

scholarly journals Influences on Politicians' Decision Making for Early Childhood Education and Care Policy: What Do We Know? What Don't We Know?

2009 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 194-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Bown ◽  
Jennifer Sumsion ◽  
Frances Press
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Policy Decisions ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Education And Care

Politicians play a key role in determining policy content and outcomes for early childhood education and care (ECEC). As a result, the quality of formal ECEC provisions for children rests considerably on the policy decisions of politicians. Despite direct and indirect effects of politicians' policy decisions for the ECEC field, few studies explore influences on politicians' policy decisions, and fewer still pertain to ECEC. In light of the significant gap in the research investigating how and why politicians make the decisions that they do, the authors present a case for a research agenda to investigate politicians' policy decision-making processes in ECEC. A review of the literature pertaining to influences on political decision making reveals some possible influences on politicians' decision making generally, but not for ECEC policy specifically. Using the policy sphere of ECEC to illustrate the complexities of social policy development and implementation in a democratic political system, the authors put forward a conceptualisation of policy that generates a wide range of questions to inform the development of a research agenda. They conclude with a discussion of the possible implications that a research agenda investigating politicians' policy decisions in ECEC might have for the early childhood field.

Social Investment and Childcare Expansion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margarita León
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Perfect Match ◽  
Preschool Education ◽  
Conceptual Level ◽  
Social Investment ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care

The chapter first examines at a conceptual level the links between theories of social investment and childcare expansion. Although ‘the perfect match’ between the two is often taken for granted in the specialized literature as well as in policy papers, it is here argued that a more nuance approach that ‘unpacks’ this relationship is needed. The chapter will then look for elements of variation in early childhood education and care (ECEC) expansion. Despite an increase in spending over the last two decades in many European and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, wide variation still exists in the way in which ECEC develops. A trade-off is often observed between coverage and quality of provision. A crucial dividing line that determines, to a large extent, the quality of provision in ECEC is the increasing differentiation between preschool education for children aged 3 and above and childcare for younger children.

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