The past 15 years have witnessed worldwide recognition of the importance of investing in the early years of children’s lives, with rapid expansion of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) services around the world However, progress in pre-primary coverage has not been experienced equally across regions and within countries, and delivering quality ECCE at scale remains a challenge in many contexts.
Positive pressure on countries to expand access and improve quality of ECCE services is likely to increase in the coming years, with a new target in the recent global education framework, Education 2030, focused on expanding equitable and quality provision, including one year of free and compulsory pre-primary education. The ability to recruit, retain, and support qualified personnel for ECCE settings is critical for ensuring that this target is met. Previous literature reviews have identified many challenges facing the early childhood workforce, including inadequate professional development and mentoring, low salaries, and lack of support and recognition
Evidence-based approaches are needed to address these challenges. Yet, limited information is available on ECCE teachers, including their training and professional development, classroom practices, and working conditions in low- and middle-income countries. Existing data tend to focus on easier-to-measure indicators of structural quality, such as class size, child–teacher ratios, teacher education and training, and much less on indicators of process quality, such as the pedagogical approaches used in early childhood settings and the nature of the interactions between children and teachers.
In this literature review commissioned by UNESCO, Results for Development (R4D) authors Michelle Neuman and Kimberly Josephson synthesize what is currently known and identify knowledge gaps about pre-primary teachers and the settings in which they work in developing countries.
