reshaping early childhood teacher education: who is in charge of policy reform? manjula...

Reshaping Early Childhood Teacher Education: Who is in charge of policy reform?

Reshaping Early Childhood Teacher Education: Who is in charge of policy reform?

Manjula Waniganayake,

Alma Fleet and Marianne FennechInstitute of Early Childhood (IEC), Macquarie University

Australia.

EECERA Conference, Prague, 2007

Re-conceptualising Early Childhood Teacher Education: Who is in charge?

Re-conceptualising Early Childhood Teacher Education: Who is in charge?

Provocations:1. Are Early Childhood Educators leading the

policy reform agenda in your country? 2. To lead reform, what is necessary? Evidence?

Vision? Strategic Plan? etc3. What if, we, as Early Childhood Educators

cannot agree about our vision and implementation plans? Is consensus essential? Can a minority perspective lead policy reform?


National context of universities in AustraliaNational context of universities in Australia

Public universities are funded by the national government. Legislative control of university governance is set by State

Governments (n=7) Increased focus on global competition/ranking for higher

education & employability of graduates Current ethos of privileging of research work over teaching &

learning activities. LOCAL IMPACTS at individual universities

restructuring of organizational contexts


National context ofTeacher Education in Australia

National context ofTeacher Education in Australia

Teacher Education moved from teacher training collages into the universities during the late 1980s.

Today, EC Degrees offered by universities vary between 3-4 year Bachelors to 2 year Masters.

Shortage of university qualified EC educators - supply cannot be met through current programs.

Employment of qualified EC educators - uncertainty of government support viz market driven ideology.

Public debate around the capacity of universities to produce competent teachers for the future.


Teacher Education National Policy Stakeholders

Teacher Education National Policy Stakeholders

Government Ministers for Education (n=9) - Meet through the Council of Australian Government

University Vice Chancellors Council - meet quarterly Council of Deans of Education - meet quarterly Employer groups - State Education Departments (n=8), Catholic

Education Office, Other independent schools, variety of not-for profit and corporate organisations that employ EC teachers

Ad-hoc agencies with increasing significance : “Teaching Australia” and State based teacher registration agencies called “Institutes of Teachers”

Australian Teachers Union Community at large - as consumers and citizens


Early Childhood Teacher Educators - Where are they?

Early Childhood Teacher Educators - Where are they?

Externally marginalized: not at the national policy reform tables

Fragmented within: eg. TAFE vs University Poor public image: EC Teacher Educators

perceived as self-serving, out of touch ‘ivory-tower academics’!

Ambiguity surrounding base-line expectations of knowledge, skills & dispositions of EC Educators with university qualifications

Absence of leadership & networking opportunities for continuing dialogue


EC Teacher Education Policy DevelopmentEC Teacher Education Policy Development

Currently, no national standards for EC Teacher Education programs.

Course requirements for birth to 5 years, regulated by State governments under their ‘community services’ agenda.

National Teacher Education standards cover early years of school education.

Quality assurance of degrees, largely managed by individual universities.

Local/National policy reform? Who to target?


A perceptive reflection from a far…..A perceptive reflection from a far…..

“ Although the belief that qualified teachers should have a bachelor’s degree and specialized training in child development and early education is gaining momentum….the push for attaining a bachelor’s degree is mostly tied to evidence gleaned from research in preschool settings, thus by passing the even less understood, and equally critical, teaching that occurs in infant and toddler settings.”

(Goffin and Ryan, 2007:p.165)


A case study on policy reform:Learnings from IEC’s MTeach initiative

A case study on policy reform:Learnings from IEC’s MTeach initiative

Introduction of a new Master of Teaching (Birth to 5 years) in 2007, as a professional teacher qualification program.

Aimed at graduates from other disciplines making a career switch into EC as teachers of young children.

“Changing Landscapes” Project: tracking the evolution of the MTeach program & its graduates

‘Complexities & Compromises’ encountered reflect dilemmas of EC Teacher Education course design and delivery.


Complexities and compromises….Complexities and compromises….

Responding to multiple stakeholders -From the national government - Minister for EducationFrom the national government - Minister for Education

“ We are being buffeted around with the winds… We have all just had a very large exploration of our research quality, the Research Quality Framework. …. We have all had to try to remember what we have done, and where we have got our money and …. We are going to have to do that again.”


Complexities & Compromises:Responding to multiple stakeholder demands

Complexities & Compromises:Responding to multiple stakeholder demands

University context

“ Our university is about to be involved in a quality audit where we have to again benchmark what we do well, what we could do better, what data we have, find it, prove it, compare it, write up reports….Unfortunately, a great deal of what we do in higher education has very little to do with educating anybody, and that’s too bad.”


Complexities and Compromises :Responding to multiple stakeholders

Complexities and Compromises :Responding to multiple stakeholders

GOVERNMENT & EMPLOYERS “…we tend to be a political and economic football…” “…. There is a shortage of early childhood teachers & we

are screaming for early childhood teachers across the board…. However, a lot… is so dependent on the political climate out there …. Whether or not government continues to say we need early childhood teachers….”

“ One pressure is to reduce the number of qualified teachers through a lot more for-profit organisations,… because their profit making is (related to) their responsibility to (their) shareholders.”


Pathways to professionalisationPathways to professionalisation

From High School Technical & Further Education (TAFE) Diploma in Child Care

University Degree in Early Childhood (EC)

From a Bachelor Degree in any field Graduate Diploma in ECMasters Degree in Teaching (EC)

Can you produce a quality teacher in two years?


Complexities and Compromises:Articulation of EC Graduate attributes

Complexities and Compromises:Articulation of EC Graduate attributes

“equivalent of a fully qualified teacher” and “be effective teachers” “will have a cross-discipline orientation to their work … more capable of

working as advanced change agents or policy drivers.” “..will have an understanding of developmental stages and appropriate

conceptual understandings in young children’s learning…” “very keen to set up a business area in childhood” “leadership role” and “senior role in a centre” and “as advocates” “an appreciation of diversity in early childhood, both in terms of the children

that they will be teaching & the families that they come from…”Voice of caution: “ may be it’s a little bit dangerous to expect them to go out

with more information & more skills than the four year undergraduates. I’d like to think that they could, but it might be expecting too much.”


Complexities & Compromises:Balancing Quality,Time & Diversity

Complexities & Compromises:Balancing Quality,Time & Diversity

“ I had a few concerns about whether in fact somebody who had been encultured into another profession would actually be able to take on the kind of pedagogy/methods & the professional shaping that comes with being an early childhood teacher in the space of two years.”

“I don’t know how confident any of us are that you can prepare, support and grow a teacher in a shorter period of time rather than a longer period of time….”

“Some students, they really struggle because it’s like learning a new language because it’s so different to where they’ve come from.”


Typology of lead professionals in ECE (OECD, 2006: p.162)

Typology of lead professionals in ECE (OECD, 2006: p.162)

Early Childhood Specialists

- Pedagogues or teachers trained specifically to work with children before starting school.

Teachers

- works within preschools and/or primary school settings.

Social Pedagogues

-“trained to take a wider view of learning” ;-Works with children & support their families.


EC Graduate attributes - new and old (OECD, 2006: p. 167)

EC Graduate attributes - new and old (OECD, 2006: p. 167)

“In the English speaking world, a strong emphasis is laid on the educational role of services with a focus on the teaching role.”

And “Working with diversity in particular milieus is a feature of

ECE professional work, to which traditional teacher training has responded insufficiently. In the future, practitioners will be required to play an enhanced role in developing social cohesion, for which new skills and understandings about community and society will be critical.”


An alternative perspective on Early Childhood Educators of 2017

An alternative perspective on Early Childhood Educators of 2017

TEACHERS of YOUNG CHILDREN BUSINESS MANAGERS

and/or

COMMUNITY LEADERS

Early Childhood Educators as….


Designing for the future….Designing for the future….

What impact will it have on children & families?

Early Childhood (Teacher) Education ‘manifesto’ for 2017

Who will design it? Us vz ‘them’Local/National/Global collaborations

What’s in it? Principles, Policies,

Objectives etc

How will it beimplemented?

LocalNationalGlobal


Imagining the future at 2017….Imagining the future at 2017….

By 2017, will YOU be involved in the professional development of Early Childhood Educators? YES / NO

If “yes”, how will you respond to: What will an early childhood setting in 2017

provide for my son & daughter as parents of children 0-5 years old?

Who will be working with my grand-children in an early childhood setting in 2017?


To continue this conversationTo continue this conversation

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Isthoothi!

reshaping early childhood teacher education: who is in charge of policy reform? manjula...

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