State of the Art and Policy Guidelines on the Training and Professional
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Regional Strategy on Teachers OREALC / UNESCO Santiago 169 REGIONAL STRATEGY ON TEACHERS State of the Art and Policy Guidelines on the Training and Professional Development of Early Childhood Teachers in Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Strategy on Teachers OREALC / UNESCO Santiago 173 REGIONAL STRATEGY ON TEACHERS State of the Art and Policy Guidelines on the Training and Professional Development of Early Childhood Teachers in Latin America and the Caribbean State of the Art and Policy Guidelines on the Training and Professional Development of Early 2 Childhood Teachers inLatin America and the Caribbean Published in 2016 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France And the Regional Office for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean © UNESCO 2016 This publication is available in Open Access under the Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC-BY-SA 3.0 IGO) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/). By using the content of this publication, the users accept to be bound by the terms of use of the UNESCO Open Access Repository (http://www.unesco.org/open-access/terms-use-ccbysa-en). Original title: Estado del arte y criterios orientadores para la elaboración de políticas de formación y desarrollo profesional de docentes de primera infancia en América Latina y el Caribe Published in 2016 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the Regional Office for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The ideas and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors; they are not necessarily those of UNESCO and do not commit the Organization. Layout: Sergio Baros Regional Strategy on Teachers OREALC / UNESCO Santiago 3 Contents 1. Executive Summary .............................................................................................. 5 2. Introduction ........................................................................................................ 7 3. Methodology and Conceptual Framework .................................................................... 8 4. Overview of Tensions Concerning Early Childhood Education in Latin America and the Caribbean . 11 4.1. Disagreements on Basic Concepts and the Need to Explain Assumptions ...................... 12 4.2. Homogeneous Education Versus Education for Diversity ........................................... 13 4.3. Appropriate Teachers: Professional Teachers Versus Educational Workers ......................14 4.4. Quality Versus Coverage: a False Dichotomy to Overcome .........................................16 4.5. A Common Knowledge Base Versus Curriculum Diversity in Initial Training ..................... 17 4.6. Top Down Standards Versus Participatory Public Agreements .................................... 17 4.7. Performance Evaluation as a Training or Monitoring Mechanism .................................18 5. Early Childhood Teachers in Context ....................................................................... 20 5.1. Institutional Architecture for Early Childhood Education ........................................... 24 5.2. Compulsory Early Childhood Education .............................................................. 30 5.3. The Existence of an Official Curriculum ...............................................................35 5.4. Child Care Programmes and Funding for Early Childhood Education ............................38 5.5. Population Enrolled in Early Childhood Education ...................................................41 5.6. Critical Issues Concerning Early Childhood Teachers .............................................. 44 6. Sociodemographic Characteristics of Early Childhood Teachers ...................................... 48 6.1. Feminization of the Workforce and Professionalism ................................................ 48 6.2. Geographic Areas in Which Early Childhood Teachers Work ....................................... 51 6.3. Age of Early Childhood Teachers .......................................................................53 6.4. Level of Certification of Early Childhood Teachers ...................................................55 6.5. Professional Organizations and Trade Unions in the Sector ....................................... 56 6.6. Critical issues concerning early childhood teachers’ sociodemographic characteristics ..... 58 7. Initial Training of Early Childhood Teachers ............................................................... 60 7.1. Types of Initial Teacher Training ....................................................................... 60 7.2. Regulations Governing Initial Training ................................................................. 68 7.3. Initial Training Curriculum ................................................................................75 7.4. Critical Issues Concerning Initial Training of Early Childhood Teachers ......................... 79 State of the Art and Policy Guidelines on the Training and Professional Development of Early 4 Childhood Teachers inLatin America and the Caribbean 8. Continuing Professional Development of Early Childhood Teachers .................................. 82 Contents 8.1. Legislation ..................................................................................................83 8.2. Characteristics of Continuing Professional Development Programmes ...........................85 8.3. Critical Issues Concerning Continuing Professional Development ................................ 89 9. Early Childhood Teachers’ Working Conditions and Professional Career ............................ 92 9.1. Working Conditions ...................................................................................... 92 9.2. Professional Career ...................................................................................... 97 9.3. Performance Evaluation ................................................................................ 100 9.4. Critical Issues Concerning Working Conditions and Professional Career ....................... 102 10. Guidelines for the Development of Policies for Early Childhood Teachers ......................... 104 10.1. Guidelines for Institution-Building and Professional Profiles ..................................... 105 10.2. Guidelines for Initial Training............................................................................112 10.3. Guidelines for Continuing Professional Development ...............................................116 10.4. Guidelines for Working Conditions and Professional Career .......................................119 11. Conclusions ..................................................................................................... 122 11.1. Early Childhood Education as a Highly Complex Process ........................................ 122 11.2. Professionalism Represents a Major Cultural Change for Children and their Education ..... 122 11.3. The Professionalism of Early Childhood Teaching as a Profession Represents a Challenge at the Global Level .......................................................................................123 11.4. The State as a Key Stakeholder in Early Childhood Education ....................................123 11.5. Empowering the Profession from the Pedagogical and Policy Perspectives ................... 124 11.6. Further Research with a View to Improving Policies Concerning Early Childhood Teachers ...125 12. References ...................................................................................................... 126 Appendix: References included in national reports .......................................................... 140 Argentina ..................................................................................................... 140 Brazil .......................................................................................................... 144 Chile ........................................................................................................... 149 Colombia ..................................................................................................... 158 Mexico ........................................................................................................ 160 Peru ........................................................................................................... 162 Trinidad and Tobago ........................................................................................ 167 Regional Strategy on Teachers OREALC / UNESCO Santiago 5 1 Executive Summary This document presents the state of the art with regard to policies for the training and professional development of early childhood teachers in Latin America and the Caribbean and a set of guidelines for public policy-making in that regard. The study was conducted within the framework of the Regional Strategy on Teachers in Latin America and the Caribbean, which, in turn, is part of the global UNESCO Teachers for Education for All (EFA) initiative. Sixteen countries – Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Chile, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama,