Insights from Survey of Early Childhood Workforce in 9 Countries
OECD' s Teaching and Learning International Survey Shows Shortages of Staff
Blog Post
Nov. 20, 2019
The Learning Sciences Exchange (LSX) is a cross-sector fellowship program designed to bring together journalists, entertainment producers, policy influencers, and researchers around the science of early learning. As part of the program, our fellows contribute to various publications, including New America’s EdCentral blog; BOLD, the blog on learning development published by the Jacobs Foundation; and outside publications. The excerpt below, written by LSX Fellow Elizabeth Shuey, who is a policy analyst for the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, is from "Early childhood education and care practices across countries," published on BOLD on November 18, 2019.
The importance of high-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC) is now widely recognised. With expanding access and enrolment in ECEC programmes across countries, governments are increasingly interested in answering questions like: Who are the staff working with young children? What do children learn and do in ECEC settings? Is the quality of ECEC settings the same for all children?
The OECD Starting Strong Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS Starting Strong) was designed to answer these questions, and many more. It is the first international survey of the ECEC workforce and took place in 2018 in nine countries: Chile, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Israel, Japan, Korea, Norway and Turkey.
The first results from TALIS Starting Strong highlight the very different contexts and ECEC systems of these countries, but also suggest some clear similarities. For example, in all nine countries, staff report using more practices to support children’s socio-emotional development compared with practices that put a specific focus on literacy and numeracy development.
Another common theme across countries is a shortage of ECEC staff. This is reported by staff as a top barrier to their participation in professional development activities: There are no other staff available to fill in for them. It is also reported by ECEC leaders as a barrier to their effectiveness in their jobs.
To continue reading, please see "Early childhood education and care practices across countries," published by BOLD on November 18, 2019.
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