scholarly journals Professional Identity: Shaping Attraction, Retention, and Training Intentions in Early Childhood Education and Care

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina S Cranitch
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Professional Identity ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
And Training

Factors influencing early childhood education and care educators’ reporting of child abuse and neglect

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-108
Author(s):  
Natasha J Ayling ◽  
Kerryann Walsh ◽  
Kate E Williams
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Child Abuse ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Child Abuse And Neglect ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Abuse And Neglect ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
And Training

Mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect is a complex yet essential responsibility tasked to many professional groups working with children, including the early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce. This paper provides a narrative review synthesising the empirical literature on factors influencing ECEC educators’ reporting of child abuse and neglect, including knowledge and training, attitudes, thresholds for reporting, work experience and context, inter-organisational co-operation and self-efficacy. These factors can act as barriers and facilitators to effective reporting practice and are likely to interact in dynamic yet modifiable ways. Findings from the review may be useful for informing future education and training initiatives for the ECEC workforce. Further research is warranted in this area.

Professional linkages at the transition to school: Boundaries and linked ecologies

2020 ◽  
pp. 147821032097311
Author(s):  
Sue Dockett ◽  
Bob Perry
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Professional Identity ◽  
Identity Construction ◽  
Professional Roles ◽  
Transition To School ◽  
Professional Networks ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
The Common

The transition to school brings early childhood and school educators together in the common aim of promoting a positive start to school. This transition also highlights the boundaries and professional linkages that contribute to this aim. Conceptualising boundary spaces as sites of professional identity construction and negotiation, we explore professional linkages between early childhood education and care and school educators during transitions to school, using Abbott’s linked ecologies framework. To do this, we examine data from two studies, exploring the proposition that collaboration – in the forms of professional networks and transition statements (shared documentation) – have the potential to act as linkages across the ecologies of early childhood education and care and school education. Our conclusions support this potential but note that the nature and impact of these linkages is variable. Further, we argue that contradictions and tensions in the perceived professional roles of educators are evident within these linkages.

Professional identity in the infant room

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (3) ◽  
pp. 244-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belinda Davis ◽  
Rosemary Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Professional Identity ◽  
Early Childhood Teachers ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Professional Recognition ◽  
Steady Growth ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Infant Learning

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has shown that there is a steady growth in the numbers of infants attending early childhood services. Despite growing interest in infant learning, recognition of infant teachers as specialised professionals is limited. This research aims to explore the role of early childhood teachers working with infants in early childhood education and care settings through the following questions: (1) What are the teachers’ reported reflections about their role in working with infants? (2) How does this help shape their professional identity? Visual methodologies alongside narrative inquiry were used to capture the lived experiences of infants and their teachers in early childhood education settings. Thematic analysis was conducted within a constructivist paradigm utilising descriptive codes based on Molla and Nolan’s classes of professional functionings. Findings showed infant teachers’ pedagogical work with infants to be subtle, based on specialised understandings of individual children and this age group. The teachers were self-aware, making purposeful pedagogical decisions based on knowledge and experience. Nevertheless, communicating this work with parents, untrained staff and employers remains a challenge. Professional recognition and identity should be reconceptualised with wider recognition of the specialisation of infant teachers including changes in policy and remuneration.

Partnership with families in early childhood education: Exploratory study

2021 ◽  
pp. 183693912097906
Author(s):  
Catherine Murphy ◽  
Jan Matthews ◽  
Olivia Clayton ◽  
Warren Cann
Keyword(s):  
Early Childhood ◽  
Early Childhood Education ◽  
Training Needs ◽  
High Confidence ◽  
Childhood Education ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Education And Care ◽  
Parent Concerns ◽  
And Training ◽  
Parents Experiences

CHILDREN LEARN in the context of relationships with important caregivers. The early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector increasingly recognises that supporting strong relationships between families and ECEC services is a powerful way to improve children’s educational, health and wellbeing outcomes. We report findings from a study which, via online surveys and focus groups with parents and educators, sought to understand (a) parents’ experiences of collaborative practice, (b) educators’ confidence in working with families, and (c) educators’ perceptions of training needs. The results suggest families commonly feel welcomed and respected but desire improvements in educator communication. Most educators reported high confidence to share children’s progress but less confidence to greet families by name, raise or respond to parent concerns, or work with families facing significant parenting stressors. These findings indicate a need for practice support and training to improve educators’ skills and confidence in partnering with families.

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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