Supporting exemplary educators: What it takes

Highly skilled educators are critical for high quality early childhood education (ECE). Yet there are widespread concerns that workforce preparation is inadequate and that the longstanding problem of educator shortages has not abated, researchers write.

The present shortfall of appropriately qualified educators is expected to escalate with growing demand for ECE (Intergovernmental Support Team, 2020). A group of researchers in early childhood education writes that evidence generated by their Exemplary Early Childhood Educators at Work (ECE@W) study can contribute to solving these issues.

The study investigated the complexity of ECE work by researching what early childhood educators do, what informs their work, and how workplaces support exemplary care and education of young children.

The research team examined what exemplary educators do across different qualifications: Certificate III, diploma and degree; and across positions: director, teacher, room leader and assistant.

Conceptual underpinnings

The ECE@W study was conceptualised using the Theory of Practice Architectures (Kemmis & Grootenboer, 2008). This theory considers both the conditions in work environments that inform educators’ dispositions, actions and abilities, and the individual agency of educators, stressing their capacity to problem solve and make wise decisions.

Methods

The project recruited educators in centres rated as Exceeding the National Quality Standard on all standards and elements, to participate in each of the three phases of data collection.

In Phase 1, we developed a taxonomy of 10 categories of ECE work to construct a Random Time Sampling Time Use Diary, delivered via a smartphone app (Wong, et al. 2022).

Educators reported what work activities they did, where they were, who they were with, and rated how they felt about their work experience during the previous hour. They did this for two randomly selected hours over 10 working days.

In Phase 2, we held focus groups with educators in the same job positions about what shapes and informs their practices and decision making.

In Phase 3, we shadowed individual exemplary educators, made observations of them as they worked, and together, reflected on selected vignettes of their practice.

Findings

Phase 1

Key findings from our analyses of 3610 hours of time-use diary records were:

• rapid changes of work activity within each six-minute reporting period
• multi-tasking as a normal characteristic of educators’ work
• low levels of stress and at the same time high levels of job satisfaction.

Phase 2

Our analyses of the personal, professional and organisational resources that support exemplary educators showed that:

• educators and centres engage in professional development that is strategic, purposeful with direct links to practice
• exemplary educators focus on the aesthetic environment, with attention to beautiful spaces, storage, resources and adult furniture
• centres had effective systems to enable educators’ work, such as non-contact time, non-contact educational leader, role clarity and expansive teams including ancillary staff.

The networks and professional relationships that supported exemplary educators included:

• teamwork, with a strong sense of collegiality, trust and autonomy. Teams were created purposefully, with an enhanced focus on mentoring skills. Staff were valued equally for their contribution to practice and systems, inclusive of different levels of qualification.
• leadership, with leaders available and a commitment to building relationships and engaging in respectful conversations. The director was often on the floor, with a centre commitment to ‘giving people a go’.
• community connectedness, with a culture of community networks, for example, social events for staff and families. Connection with families was a key driver of educators’ commitment to the profession.

Phase 3

Our co-reflections with exemplary educators showed that their work is underpinned by:

• Knowledge: professional knowledge, qualifications, ongoing learning, professional judgement, and knowledge of the regulatory landscape and ethics.
• Skills: expertise, intentional and incidental teaching, experience, being responsive, common sense, program clarity, flexibility, critical reflection, communication, being organised, confidence, self- regulation and being creative.
• Values: a positive attitude, a sense of humour, an advocate for the value of ECE, active listening, passionate, willing, reliable and dedicated, having high expectations, being a team player, professional and respectful, a sense of community, inspired, empathic.

In phases 1 and 2, we found few differences between participants based on their qualifications. In phase 3 reflections, however, Certificate III-qualified educators emphasised values, diploma-qualified educators emphasised the importance of skills, and degree-qualified educators emphasised all three elements: values, skills and knowledge. This is an area we are analysing further.

Engaging with the profession

In June 2022, we convened a Stakeholder Forum with 77 policy makers, researchers, peak organisation staff, and early childhood educators. We presented our initial analyses of phases 1, 2 and 3, and had conversations to inform deeper understandings of the data. Figure 2 illustrates key discussions throughout the forum.

Next steps

The ECE@W study comes to an end at a critical juncture for ECE in Australia. The workforce pressures that first motivated the study – such as a critical shortage of educators – are now more pressing than ever.

New knowledge produced by this study can inform strategies to better prepare and sustain the ECE profession and prompt action on multiple levels – for educators, for organisations, for government – to put in place the conditions that enable the work of exemplary educators.

The research team will continue to disseminate findings to lift educators’ professional status, strengthen employment practices conducive to high quality ECE, and provide evidence-based content for preservice education and in-service professional support.

Partner organisations

This project has been supported by an alliance of employers, unions and professional development agencies, including the IEU.

Further information

Published journal papers and professional articles are available at https://exemplaryeducators.wordpress.com/

To receive a copy of the EE@W final report, email: kim.crisp@qut.edu.au

References

Cumming, T., Richardson, S., Gibson, M., Crisp, K., Harrison, L., Press, F., & Wong, S. (2022). Investigating multi-tasking and task rotation as aspects of the complexity of early childhood educators’ work. Early Years: An International Research Journal.

Intergovernmental Support Team (2021). Shaping Our Future A ten-year strategy to ensure a sustainable, high-quality children’s education and care workforce 2022–2031.

Kemmis, S., & Grootenboer, P. (2008). Situating praxis in practice: Practice architectures and the cultural, social and material conditions for practice. In S. Kemmis & T. J. Smith (Eds.), Enabling praxis: Challenges for education. Sense Publisher

Wong, S., Harrison, L. J., Gibson, M, L., Press, F., Bittman, M., Crisp, K., & Ryan, S. (2022). The development and useability testing of a random time sampling time-use diary for the early childhood field. International Journal of Research and Method in Education. 48.

Press, F., Harrison, L., Wong, S., Gibson, M. & Cumming, T. (2020). The hidden complexity of early childhood educators’ work Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 21(2) pp. 172-175.