Envisioning the Impact of Decisions Made about Early Childhood Professional Development Systems by Different Constituent Groups

2007 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peggy Apple ◽  
Mary Benson McMullen
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Early Childhood Professional ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Childhood Professional ◽  
Principal Decision Making ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Joint Problem Solving

In this article the authors explore the need for early childhood practitioners and scholars to engage in joint problem solving to create and support early childhood education and care (ECEC) professional development systems in which all constituents benefit. Primary constituent groups and principal decision-making bodies are defined and analyzed, and the interrelated influences within professional development systems are considered. At the heart of the discussion is how decisions made by all constituent groups are interrelated and affect all parts of the system. For instance, decisions made about professional qualifications have an impact upon pre- and in-service ECEC professionals, current ECEC professionals, children and their families, and individuals within ECEC businesses and communities. Although the discussion in this article is about these issues as they are played out within the USA, the authors believe that the implications raised may be usefully considered by ECEC professionals and those engaged in professional development in other cultures and contexts.

scholarly journals Contesting early childhood professional identities: A cross-national discussion

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja Arndt ◽  
Mathias Urban ◽  
Colette Murray ◽  
Kylie Smith ◽  
Beth Swadener ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Professional Identities ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Policy Context ◽  
Early Childhood Professional ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Childhood Professional ◽  
Divide And Rule ◽  
Cross National

In this collective article, the authors explore constructions of early childhood practitioners and how they disconnect and reconnect in a global neo-liberal education policy context. The contributions to the conversation provide windows into shifting professional identities across five national contexts: New Zealand, the USA, Ireland, Australia and Denmark. The authors ask who benefits from the notion of distinct professional identities, linked to early childhood education as locally and culturally embedded practice. They conceptualize teachers’ shifting subjectivities, drawing on Kristeva’s philosophical conception of identity as constantly in construction, open and evolving. Arguments for the urgency to counter the global uniformity machine, streamlined curricula, standardized assessment and deprofessionalization are not new. However, the authors wonder whether these arguments are missing something. Does our localized and highly contextualized identity construction enable ‘divide and rule’ politics by global agents such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, World Bank and international corporations? The authors’ (preliminary) answer is to build individual and collective professional identities that are grounded in diverse local contexts and in a broader transnational professional (political) consciousness and collective voice.

Implementing an Early Childhood Professional Development Course Across 10 Sites and 15 Sections: Lessons Learned

NHSA Dialog ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 275-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer LoCasale-Crouch ◽  
Marcia Kraft-Sayre ◽  
Robert C. Pianta ◽  
Bridget K. Hamre ◽  
Jason T. Downer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Early Childhood Professional ◽  
Childhood Professional ◽  
Early Childhood Professional Development ◽  
Development Course

scholarly journals The Impact of COVID-19 on Eating Environments and Activity in Early Childhood Education and Care in Alberta, Canada: A Cross-Sectional Study

Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 4247
Author(s):  
Lynne M. Z. Lafave ◽  
Alexis D. Webster ◽  
Ceilidh McConnell ◽  
Nadine Van Wyk ◽  
Mark R. Lafave
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Healthy Eating ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
The Impact

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) environments influence children’s early development and habits that track across a lifespan. The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of COVID-19 government-mandated guidelines on physical activity (PA) and eating environments in ECEC settings. This cross-sectional study involved the recruitment of 19 ECEC centers pre-COVID (2019) and 15 ECEC centers during COVID (2020) in Alberta, Canada (n = 34 ECEC centers; n = 83 educators; n = 361 preschoolers). Educators completed the CHEERS (Creating Healthy Eating and activity Environments Survey) and MEQ (Mindful Eating Questionnaire) self-audit tools while GT3X+ ActiGraph accelerometers measured preschooler PA. The CHEERS healthy eating environment subscale was greater during COVID-19 (5.97 ± 0.52; 5.80 ± 0.62; p = 0.02) and the overall score positively correlated with the MEQ score (r = 0.20; p = 0.002). Preschoolers exhibited greater hourly step counts (800 ± 189; 649 ± 185), moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) (9.3 ± 3.0 min/h; 7.9 ± 3.2 min/h) and lower sedentary times (42.4 ± 3.9 min/h; 44.1 ± 4.9 min/h) during COVID-19 compared to pre-COVID, respectively (p < 0.05). These findings suggest the eating environment and indices of child physical activity were better in 2020, which could possibly be attributed to a change in government-mandated COVID-19 guideline policy.

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