Early childhood systems need more professionally prepared leaders, expert argues

As early childhood systems become increasingly complex, greater investment is needed in preparing the people responsible for turning policy ambitions into programs that work for children and families, a US early childhood expert has argued.

The people shaping early childhood policy need more specialised professional preparation to navigate increasingly complex systems spanning education, health, housing and family support, according to child development and policy expert Michael H. Levine.

Writing in an opinion piece published by The Hechinger Report and republished by The Washington Post Mr Levine argued that considerable attention had been directed towards expanding early childhood programs and improving access, but less attention had been given to developing the professionals responsible for designing and implementing those systems.

“We are not producing nearly enough leaders with the specialized expertise to turn good policy ideas into lasting systems that work,” Mr Levine wrote.

His argument focuses not on leadership within individual early childhood education and care (ECEC) services, but on the development of a stronger professional pipeline for people working across early childhood policy, administration and systems leadership.

Early childhood policy has become increasingly complex, Mr Levine argued, requiring professionals to work across traditional policy boundaries.

Decisions affecting young children and their families can involve early education, health care, housing, economic security and family support, creating a need for leaders who understand both child development and the systems through which services are delivered.

Mr Levine argued that people entering early childhood policy roles often bring valuable expertise from areas such as education, social work, health or public policy, but may not have received specialised preparation that brings those disciplines together through an early childhood lens.

The challenge, he suggested, is not a lack of commitment among those working in the field, but the absence of a sufficiently developed professional pathway specifically focused on early childhood policy.

Mr Levine pointed to work underway in the United States to establish early childhood policy as a distinct area of graduate-level professional preparation.

In July, 56 graduate students and faculty members representing 12 universities gathered in Washington, DC, as part of efforts to strengthen the pipeline of people entering early childhood policy roles.

Participants brought experience from areas including early childhood education, Head Start, health care, social work, home visiting and family support.

The initiative reflects an approach that combines academic preparation with professional and lived experience of the systems serving children and families.

Mr Levine highlighted Early Childhood Policy in Institutions of Higher Education (ECPIHE), a consortium led by the National Center for Children and Families at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Over approximately a decade, the initiative has supported the development of graduate programs at 17 higher education institutions, with the aim of preparing professionals specifically for early childhood policy and systems roles.

Strong preparation for early childhood policy leadership requires more than knowledge of how young children learn and develop, according to Mr Levine.

Professionals also need the capacity to translate research into policy, understand implementation, work across government and community systems and recognise how decisions in one policy area can affect another.

This becomes particularly important when governments make significant investments in early childhood programs.

Funding and political commitment may create the conditions for reform, but Mr Levine argued that successful implementation also depends on having people with the expertise to translate those ambitions into sustainable systems.

Without that capability, even well-intentioned policies can encounter difficulties when they move from design to implementation.

Professionalising early childhood policy leadership does not mean replacing practical experience with academic qualifications.

The emerging US programs highlighted by Mr Levine include people who have worked directly with children, families and communities, bringing practical understanding of how policies operate once they reach services.

That combination of experience and specialist policy capability could be particularly valuable in bridging the divide between policy development and implementation.

Educators, service leaders and other professionals working directly with children and families can see how decisions about funding, regulation, workforce and access operate in practice.

Creating pathways for people with this experience to develop policy and systems expertise could help ensure that future reforms are informed by the realities of delivering ECEC.

Although Mr Levine's argument is focused on the United States, it raises relevant questions for Australia as governments pursue substantial reform of the ECEC system.

Australian early childhood policy increasingly requires coordination across Commonwealth, state and territory governments and across areas including affordability, access, workforce, quality, inclusion, infrastructure and regulation.

These responsibilities also intersect with health, disability, education and family support systems.

As the scope of early childhood reform grows, so too does the need for people capable of understanding how these different components interact.

For Australia, the argument therefore raises a broader workforce question: alongside developing educators and leaders within services, are there sufficiently clear pathways for experienced early childhood professionals to move into policy and systems leadership?

It also raises the question of whether governments and universities should give greater attention to developing early childhood policy as a specialist field in its own right.

Mr Levine called for universities, governments and philanthropic organisations to invest in specialised graduate programs and create clearer pathways into early childhood policy roles at national, state and local levels.

The objective, he argued, should be to develop professionals who can combine knowledge of child development with the policy and implementation expertise needed to build effective systems.

For the broader early childhood sector, the proposition shifts part of the reform conversation from what governments should change to who will be equipped to design and implement that change.

As governments pursue increasingly ambitious early childhood agendas, Mr Levine's argument is that investment in programs and policies should be accompanied by investment in the people responsible for making them work.

Mr Levine's opinion piece, The leaders who are shaping early childhood education need better, more professional preparation, was published by The Hechinger Report and republished by The Washington Post.