Imbalances between workforce policy and employment for early childhood graduate teachers: Complexities and considerations

Abstract

Early childhood teachers have a myriad of possible employment options, with birth to eight years degree qualifications preparing graduates to work in a range of early childhood settings, including prior-to-school. At the same time, early childhood workforce policies in Australia, and elsewhere, are increasingly requiring degree-qualified teachers to be employed in prior-to-school settings. A growing number of reports and studies make a compelling case that there is a shortage of early childhood, degree-qualified teachers who are willing to work in prior-to-school settings, including centre-based child care. This conceptual article focuses on the imbalances in workforce policy and employment for early childhood teacher graduates. We examine the complexities and considerations of these imbalances, through exploration of literature and existing research, including small-scale studies and existing graduate destination data (Australian Graduate Survey). The article concludes with a proposed research agenda and suggestions to redress the imbalance of early childhood graduate teachers who are prepared, though seemingly not willing, to operationalise policy requirements for teachers to work in centre-based child care.

The Quality of Early Childhood Curricula and Distributed Leadership in Lithuanian ECEC Institutions

“…Already a decade ago, researchers [8] noted the need to enhance the leadership capacity within early childhood education organizations and explore effective leadership strategies to enable the enactment of complex policy changes. Effective leadership is emerging as related to the quality of early childhood education curricula [40][41][42][43].…”

Leadership in Australia’s early childhood workforce policy: Silences and ambiguities as missed opportunities

“…Issues relating to the ECEC workforce are well documented in relation to: attraction (Gibson et al, 2020; Thorpe et al, 2011) retention (Fenech et al, 2021; Grant et al, 2019; Horwood et al, 2022; Jones et al, 2017; McDonald et al, 2018; McKinlay et al, 2018; Thorpe et al, 2020a) and attrition (McMullen et al, 2020; Sumsion, 2002) of early childhood educators and degree qualified teachers and others employed in ECEC (including leaders). A subset of these studies look explicitly at degree qualified teachers (Fenech et al, 2021; Gibson et al, 2020; Grant et al, 2019; Jones et al, 2017; McKinlay et al, 2018; Sumsion, 2002) and research is emerging looking at attraction and retention of men in ECEC (Brody et al, 2021; Kirk, 2020; Sullivan et al, 2022). Leaders however, have not been considered as a distinct group in relation to factors that impact on attraction and retention.…”

Teachers’ pedagogical leadership in early childhood education

“…Leadership in early childhood education (ECE) has become a widely discussed phenomenon in recent decades, especially in the context of the ongoing societal transformations that impact pedagogical and organisational structures in ECE (Fonsén 2013(Fonsén , 2014Heikka 2014;Lahtero and Kuusilehto-Awale 2015). Effective leadership in early childhood centres is essential to maintain the quality of ECE programmes to support children's growth and learning (Gibson et al 2020;OECD 2019). In particular, pedagogical leadership is crucial for ensuring high-quality ECE programmes (Cheung et al 2019;Fonsén et al 2022;Ruohola et al 2021).…”