In Massachusetts, the Common Start legislation proposed in H.605 and S. 362 is a real step forward in providing high-quality early education to children under eight years old. This legislation would, over a five year period, set up and fund child care to most children in Massachusetts, transform how funds are dispursed to providers, and add oversight for children with disabilities. I am a fan of this legislation. I want this legislation to pass. But, I paused when I read section 13D of the legislation. Let me explain.
Section 13D establishes that a compensation structure similar to elementary educators be established equivelant to public schools. This sounds great. In fact, they should be compensated the same. But, early educators are not as educated as elementary educators. Gomez et al. (2015) notes that the current estimate of early educators with associate degrees is 7-12%, with 11-17% having their bachelor's degree and only 2-4% obtaining an advanced degree in early education or a related field. Up to 15% of preschool teachers have only completed high school or have never received a degree (Bridges et al., 2011). The current legislation notes that additional funding will become available for grants to get more college education, but does this mean that only a few early educators will receive the raises similar to public elementary school teachers if they have master's degrees? In Massachusetts, public school teachers need to have a master's degree to receive their professional teaching license. This creates a bit of a problem for both groups of educators and no answers as to how the department should dictate how this should be rectified. Staff wages represent 70% of the total operating cost of a child care center (Roseman, 1999) and while the increase in pay is one of the best indicators of staff staying in the field, will MA have the funds to fund early education at the rates neccessary to keep pay at the levels needed? The lack of qualified early educators has not resulted in improved wages with the opposite happening due to profitability and viability of the child care centers (Press and Woodrow, 2005). Hall-kenyon et al.(2014) note that because early education funding is discretionary, early education positions have less stability leading to a higher turnover rate.
Currently, early educators receive most of their education through professional development trainings. There is a gap between what NAEYC preparation recommends and actual professional development preparation of the vast majority of early educators in the workforce (Albrecht & Engel, 2007). There is a further lack of articulation from the training of entry-level to higher levels of training for early educators forcing early educators to learn entry levels skills over and over with little chance of learning more (Albrecht & Engel, 2007). There is a relationship between developmentally appropriate practices and early educator teacher education with the suggestion that early educators who participated in courses in early childhood education were not only more knowledgeable in early education but also more involved with the children and more sensitive to the needs of the children than those who lacked courses in early education (Norris, 2010; Roseman, 1999).
While there would be an increase of funding, the legislation does not establish what would be appropriate to educate the educators. Will they all require degrees? Will they only require training? There are no firm answers. It is recommended that all preschool classrooms have a qualified teacher holding a bachelor's degree and specialized training in early education as it was necessary for professional preparation and higher quality classrooms (French, 2010; Goin, 2016; Jeon, Buettner, & Hur, 2016; Lobman & Ryan, 2007; Vu et al., 2008). How much of these degree programs will be paid for by the workforce or by the state? Will every educator who does not have a degree or college level experience be able to participate? If the educators do not have access to higher education, does that dock their pay to the same levels that are currently available to early educators? We simply do not have enough information to know at this point.
I am for this legislation. But, they should ammend it to really focus on early educators and establish specifics, not vague information, so that they can decide if they can support the legislation or not. This directly affects early educators and the future of being an early educator, and it should not be left up to EEC to have to plan out all of this after the legislation passes. It should be established ahead of time to evaluate and make sure it impacts early educators the right way.
References:
Albrecht, K. M., & Engel, B. (2007). Moving away from a quick-fix mentality to systematic professional development. YC: Young Children, 62(4), 18-25.
Bridges, M., Fuller, B., Huang, D. S., & Hamre, B. K. (2011). Strengthening the early childhood workforce: How wage incentives may boost training and job stability. Early Education & Development, 22(6), 1009-1029. doi:10.1080/10409289.2010.514537
French, R. (2010). The best of times, the worst of times: Rising standards and declining staff qualifications in early childhood education. YC: Young Children, 65(2), 62-66.
Goin, S. G. (2016). To be or not to be degreed: Are we focusing on the right question? YC: Young Children, 71(3), 53-55.
Gomez, R. E., Kagan, S. L., & Fox, E. A. (2015). Professional development of the early childhood education teaching workforce in the United States: an overview. Professional Development in Education, 41(2), 169-186.
Jeon, L., Buettner, C. K., & Hur, E. (2016). Preschool teachers’ professional background, process quality, and job attitudes: A person-centered approach. Early Education and Development, 27(4), 551-571. doi:10.1080/10409289.2016.1099354
Lobman, C., & Ryan, S. (2007). Differing discourses on early childhood teacher development. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 28(4), 367-380. doi:10.1080/10901020701686633
Norris, D. J. (2010). Raising the educational requirements for teachers in infant toddler classrooms: Implications for institutions of higher education. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 31(2), 146-158. doi:10.1080/10901021003781221
Press, F., & Woodrow, C. (2005). Commodification, corporatisation and children's spaces. Australian Journal of Education, 49(3), 278-291. doi:10.1177/000494410504900305
Roseman, M. J. (1999). Quality child care: at whose expense? Early Childhood Education Journal, 27(1), 5-11.
Vu, J. A., Hyun-Joo, J., & Howes, C. (2008). Formal education, credential, or both: early childhood program classroom practices. Early Education & Development, 19(3), 479- 504. doi:10.1080/10409280802065379
