Shining a light on exemplary early childhood educators. What enables their work?

QUT researcher Associate Professor Megan Gibson has led a new report on the work in early childhood education and care (ECEC). 

 

Shining a Light on Early Childhood Educators’ Work reports on a five-year Australian study funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) which saw six researchers from QUT, Macquarie University, Charles Sturt University, Manchester Metropolitan University (UK) and Rutgers (US), working together with four PhD students and nine research assistants to investigate what exemplary early childhood educators do and what enables their work. 

 

This research focused on the work of educators in high-quality early childhood services. Using the ACECQA National Quality Standard as a proxy, the highest rated early childhood centres in Australia were examined in depth to identify what exemplary educators do and what is important for those services who seek to emulate them to consider.

 

“The focus on high-quality settings was because research tells us that the quality of children’s and family’s experiences in early childhood make a difference not only in their day though also impacting outcomes over time,” Dr Gibson explained. 

 

Shining a Light comes at a time when early childhood workforce shortages are unprecedented, with well over 10 000 positions advertised daily and the sector estimated to require over 37 000 additional educators by next year, 2024. 

 

“We know that ‘quality’ educators and ‘quality’ early childhood education and care is what makes a difference to the lives of children,” Dr Gibson continued. 

 

“In order to better understand the work of the highest quality or exemplary educators we researched the nature of the work, what educators actually do and what they identify as important to enable and sustain their work.” 

 

The research team took a deep dive into not only what educators do, but also what happens across qualification levels, and across positions, looking at the roles of Director, early childhood teacher, room leader, educator and assistant. 

 

“We have talked with and watched 100s of exemplary educators, enabling understandings of why and what educators working the highly rated centres in Australia do and the systems and structures that enable this work,” she said. 

 

Three phases of data collection included a time use diary app, focus groups and case studies. The innovative time use diary app, developed specifically for this study, captures the breadth of what educators spend their time on during the day across 10 domains or activities.

 

Key findings 

 

Key findings from the study include:

 

• All educators were engaged in each of the 10 domains of work

 

• What educators did varied according to qualification and position

 

• Rapid changes of work activity and multi-tasking were typical

 

• Educators enjoyed their work.

 

There were differences in educators’ work by type of early childhood service, preschool/kindergarten and long day care, but overall researchers found that educators “had a strong sense of worthiness and agency, worked above and beyond their position description with a passion for their work, had honed capabilities and engaged in ongoing professional development”. 

 

Significantly, giving the pressing workforce challenges educators who participated in this research had an average tenure in their service to over 10 years, with educators in positional leadership roles (e.g., director/manager) longer. High-quality early childhood centres tend to keep educators in the sector, an important measure to sustain the workforce.

 

The research also identified a number of systems and structures that support and enable exemplary work in early childhood, including:

 

• Leadership

 

• Clear communication and expectations

 

• Physical environments that are inviting for children and for adults

 

• Effective organisation systems.

 

As one director put it, “…there is kind of soulful, kind of non-judgmental way of operating….Caring about people seeing potential in people (children, families, educators).”

 

The report makes visible the complexity of work in the early childhood sector – what it entails and how ECEC can, collectively as a sector, better support exemplary practice, Dr Gibson said. 

 

“Pervading misconceptions about the nature of the work, and destructive narratives about work in the sector being easy and care work do little to elevate the professional status of work in early childhood,” she continued, “and in doing so make it difficult to both attract new educators and retain those already in the sector.”

 

Recommendations to drive the profession forward

 

The report makes a number of recommendations to grow and sustain the work of exemplary early childhood educators, including: 

 

1. Invest in professional development

 

2. Create authentic opportunities for educator agency

 

3. Provide the conditions in the workplace for educators to have sustained time to fully engage in their work (non-contact time, room meetings, paid staff meeting, flexibility).

 

4. Grow and sustain leadership.

 

“We invite further considerations about whose responsibilities the recommendations are, including service providers, governments, education and training providers, educators and teachers, peak associations, and regulatory bodies,” Dr Gibson said. 

 

“We encourage shared responsibilities by all of these groups in our early childhood sector so that all children in all early childhood services have high-quality early childhood education”.

 

“The key takeaway from this study is that Australia’s young children require qualified early childhood educators who understand how to support, nurture, challenge, and include every young child they work with. If early childhood educators are to do the best by the children in their care, then they need and deserve supportive organisational contexts that allow them to thrive professionally,” (Shining a Light report Closing Statement, p. 34, Sharon Ryan EdD, Rutgers, USA) 

 

“These kinds of organisations are respectful and collegial spaces, led by individuals who understand how important it is to create early childhood programs as learning organisations for both educators and young children”

 

To access the report in full, please see here.