The purpose of this study was to investigate how preschool instructors use social media for professional development. Explanatory sequential design, one of the mixed research methods, was used in the research. The quantitative study group of the research consists of 213 preschool teachers working in Kahramanmaras province in the 2020-2021 academic…

Children's emergent mathematics skills are important predictors of their later achievements. We analyze and present the effects of a large-scale school readiness intervention in preschools in Denmark. We thereby provide evidence on the effects of a broadly based professional development program (with supporting materials) implemented in a…

This paper critically reviews England's National Professional Qualification of Early Years Leadership (NPQEYL) and Sweden's National Principal Training Program (NPTP). The design and implementation of these programs are critiqued considering the process of professional learning, with view of offering recommendations for future policies on…

Ensuring providers have the knowledge and skills they need to be able to provide families with navigation support while they orient to the idea of an ASD diagnosis is crucial. Doing so may help families to feel supported and increase access to meaningful services. Project ECHO is an evidence- based approach to delivering and facilitating…

Within professional development (PD), reflection is recognised as a key ingredient to developing high quality practice, however less is known about the context and mechanisms needed to enable this in early childhood education and care (ECEC) settings. This article explores video enhanced reflective practice (VERP), an innovative model of…

The focus of this study was to examine the impact of professional development on the leadership practices of Head Start program directors in the Southwest United States. The research sought to understand how professional development influences the leadership practices of these directors and aimed to provide practical insights into leadership in…

Childhood trauma is a significant concern in Australia and internationally. Professionals working in the early childhood education sector (i.e., providing early childhood education and care to infants, toddlers, and children from birth to age eight) are positioned to provide valuable support for children affected by trauma. However, there is less…

This study investigated teachers' pedagogical practices for developing creative disposition among pre-primary school children in Tanzania by drawing experiences from Dodoma City and Chemba District in Dodoma Region. It employed a qualitative approach and phenomenography design in which semi-structured interviews and focused classroom observation…

State and territory child care and early education (CCEE) leaders typically support a range of professional development (PD) opportunities for CCEE providers. This highlight presents the "Professional Development Matrix for Quality Improvement" created by Douglass, Tout, and Doyle. The matrix provides a framework for organizing and…

In 2023, Wilder Research contracted with the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) and Department of Human Services (DHS), in partnership with the Children's Cabinet, to conduct an Early Care and Education (ECE) Workforce Survey. A similar study was conducted in 2011. The purpose of the study is to describe characteristics of the ECE workforce…

Reflective practice is one of the key recommended practices in early childhood (EC) education and has been positively associated with the quality of EC teaching; however, research on reflective practice in preschool teaching is limited. In this study, we examined four preschool teachers' reflections on their science teaching exhibited through a…

Research Findings: Comprehensive art education (CAE) can be an effective way to develop children's creativity development. However, little is known about how CAE is implemented in kindergarten classrooms in China. The purpose of this study was to explore the effectiveness of CAE activity implementation. To assess the effectiveness of CAE in terms…

The early care and education (ECE) workforce is experiencing concerning levels of stress and depression (Elharake et al., 2022; Jennings et al., 2020). The well-being of these workers affects staff turnover and their interactions with children (Kwon et al., 2020; Smith & Lawrence, 2019). Research has shown that racial concordance (or matching)…

Background: The professional development (PD) of early childhood teachers is of strategic importance in higher education and the profession given the need to improve responsiveness and progress towards millennium goals. Aim: The purpose was to analyse classroom practices and teachers' experiences of PD programmes, through the theoretical lens of…

Continuing professional development (CPD) is an essential aspect of early years (EY) workforce planning. In understanding how CPD is currently provided, we depend largely on surveys carried out by separate sector organisations with little synthesis of the data. In this paper, we scrutinise findings relating to CPD from nine surveys of EY managers…