Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education
ISSN: 1090-1027 (Print) 1745-5642 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ujec20
From the guest editors: Preparing early childhood
teachers for infant care and education
Susan L. Recchia Co–Guest Editor, JECTE & Minsun Shin Co–Guest Editor,
JECTE
To cite this article: Susan L. Recchia Co–Guest Editor, JECTE & Minsun Shin Co–Guest
Editor, JECTE (2016) From the guest editors: Preparing early childhood teachers for infant
care and education, Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 37:4, 261-263, DOI:
10.1080/10901027.2016.1242051
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/10901027.2016.1242051
Published online: 14 Dec 2016.
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JOURNAL OF EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHER EDUCATION
2016, VOL. 37, NO. 4, 261–263
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10901027.2016.1242051
From the guest editors: Preparing early childhood teachers for
infant care and education
The call to reenvision early childhood teacher education to better prepare preservice and
in-service teachers to meet the needs of infants, toddlers, and their families has resonated
in the U.S. and abroad. There is a clear consensus that teaching this age group requires
specialized preparation and continuing professional development (Dalli, White, Rockel, &
Duhn, 2011; Recchia, 2016; Shin, 2015). As more powerful scientific findings reveal the
critical nature of the early years as an essential foundation for lifelong learning and
emotional well-being (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, 2007), the
need for more deliberate and meaningful preparation of teachers to provide high-quality
child care, early education, and early intervention for infants and families has become
even more compelling (Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, 2015).
The five articles presented in this special issue explore the challenges facing the field
and offer promising practices for preparing and supporting teachers to work with infants,
toddlers, and families. The studies and commentaries reflect diverse programs, issues, and
settings, yet common themes emerge, including the lack of adequate preparation in early
childhood teacher education for quality practice with infants and toddlers (Horm, Hyson,
& Winton, 2013), the need for integrating more meaningful experiences with infants,
toddlers, and families into professional preparation, and the importance of family–professional partnerships.
In our first article, “What’s missing in most of our early childhood degrees? Focusing
more deeply on relationships and learning with infants, toddlers, and their families,”
Marilyn Chu explores how future early childhood teachers in 2-year (AA) and 4-year
(BA) degree programs are being prepared through coursework and field experiences to
meet Washington State and nationally accepted core knowledge and broad competency
areas for work with infants and toddlers. Using a participatory action review of surveys,
interviews with early childhood teacher educators, and an examination of publically
available course information, Chu uncovers the ‘uneven and limited inclusion’ of infanttoddler content in the state’s early childhood education programs. Her findings revealed a
need for greater emphasis on infant development, early intervention, and child and family
resilience. She suggests a clear incorporation of prenatal to age 3 content into all early
childhood education courses and an increase in related field experiences and ongoing
professional development opportunities focusing on this age group and their families.
E. Jayne White, Mira Peter, Margaret Sims, Jean Rockel, and Maureen Kumeroa explore
the ways that universities are responding to changes in policy regarding preparation of
infant and toddler teachers in their article, “First-year practicum experiences for preservice
early childhood education teachers working with birth-to-3-year-olds: An Australasian
experience.” In this article, they focus on the 1st year of a larger longitudinal project,
“Collaboration of Universities Pedagogies of Infants’ and Toddlers’ Development—‘down
under’ (CUPID),” at five Universities across Australia and New Zealand (NZ). Using the US
CUPID study as a framework, White and her colleagues examine the practicum experiences
© 2016 National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators
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S. L. RECCHIA AND M. SHIN
of 1st-year early childhood preservice students and evaluate how five University sites were
responding to national and local requirements for preparing preservice teachers to work
with birth-to-3-year-olds. Using multiple data sources including document review, instructor surveys, and instructor and student reports to gain a deeper understanding of the
learning experiences of preservice teachers in their 1st year of the program, the authors
illuminate the ways that different universities take different approaches in response to
national criteria. Findings reveal variation across preparation programs, with content
designed in different ways based on interpretations of ‘what’s best’. The authors suggest
that the current neoliberal policy context may be impacting university programs’ degree of
focus on birth to 3, taking attention away from the most important components of working
with infants in lieu of a preacademic focus for early childhood education.
In their article “Preparing home visitors to partner with families of infants and
toddlers” Lori Roggman, Carla Peterson, and colleagues articulate the unique competencies needed to provide quality services to infants and families and discuss implications for
preparing the workforce to meet the particular needs of this population. They describe the
field as lacking a comprehensive set of competencies for home-based work with infants,
toddlers, and families, which cuts across disciplinary boundaries, and articulate a set of
core competencies drawing on interdisciplinary knowledge. The authors make clear how
home-based work highlights the role of families in particular ways that require skills
distinct from classroom practice. They discuss implications for enriching the preparation
of home visitors through interdisciplinary coursework and hands-on experience with
diverse families.
Kimberly Hile, Rosa Milagros Santos, and Mary-alayne Hughes followed a group of
Early Childhood Special Education graduates to explore their perspectives on the extent to
which particular components of their personnel preparation program prepared them to
implement family-centered services and which of these practices they are actually using in
their work in their study “Preparing early interventionists to implement family-centered
practices.” Through a mixed-methods approach using surveys and focus groups, the
authors gained insight into in-service teachers’ understandings and challenges. They
found that the graduates held positive beliefs regarding partnering with families and
indicated several contributing program components as facilitating their implementation
of family-centered practices. The combination of coursework and actual “hands-on”
practicum experience had the most powerful effect on the graduates’ understanding of
family-centered practices and their desire to use these practices in their work. This article
highlights the (dis)connection between theory and practice as well as the graduates’ need
for ongoing support as they enter the workforce in the field of early intervention. The
graduates were challenged at times to apply theory to practice, particularly in the face of
the realities of working with diverse families. The authors offer meaningful suggestions for
early childhood teacher education.
In our final article, “Parents’ and teachers’ reflections on the process of daily transitions
in an infant and toddler laboratory school” Linda Traum and Mary Jane Moran explore an
important context for connection and communication between parents and infant/toddler
teachers—daily transitions in child care. They articulate the significance of this understudied aspect of caring for infants and toddlers and discuss implications for early childhood teacher education. Looking through the lens of attachment and sociocultural
theories, Traum and Moran invite both teachers and parents to reflect on their transition
JOURNAL OF EARLY CHILDHOOD TEACHER EDUCATION
263
experiences with their infants and toddlers using Video Stimulated Recall Interviews
(VSRI) as a catalyst for discussion. By capturing daily actions during the transition
process, the authors illuminate the ways that teachers support parents and children, as
well as how teachers and parents develop partnerships to facilitate the process. By using
the VSRI methodology with both parents and teachers, they also uncovered the ways that
both parties sometimes see things differently. This methodology served as a professional
development tool as well as a way to allow teachers and parents to think more deeply
about the meaning of these daily experiences for the children.
Taken together, the articles in this theme issue provide insight and inspiration to the field of
early childhood teacher education as it struggles to find more meaningful and effective ways to
prepare professionals to work with infants, toddlers, and families. The ideas, opportunities,
and experiences represented here reflect the efforts of early childhood teacher educators who
are taking action to enhance our understanding of the complexity of infant care and education
and to bring new energy to preparing professionals to engage in this important work.
Susan L. Recchia, Co–Guest Editor, JECTE
Columbia University
Teachers College
525 W 120th St
New York, NY 10027
recchia@exchange.tc.columbia.edu
Minsun Shin, Co–Guest Editor, JECTE
Montclair State University
Education and Human Services
1 Normal Ave
Montclair, NJ 07043
shinm@mail.montclair.edu
References
Dalli, C., White, E. J., Rockel, J., & Duhn, I. (2011). Quality early childhood education for under-two-year
-olds: What should it look like? A literature review. Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Education.
Horm, D. M., Hyson, M., & Winton, P. J. (2013). Research on early childhood teacher education:
Evidence from three domains and recommendations for moving forward. Journal of Early
Childhood Teacher Education, 34(1), 95–112. doi:10.1080/10901027.2013.758541
Institute of Medicine and National Research Council. (2015). Transforming the workforce for
children birth through age 8: A unifying foundation. Washington, DC: The National Academies
Press.
National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (2007). The timing and quality of early
experiences combine to shape brain architecture: Working paper No. 5. Retrieved from www.
developingchild.harvard.edu
Recchia, S. L. (2016). Preparing teachers for infant care and education. In L. J. Couse & S. L. Recchia
(Eds.), Handbook of early childhood teacher education (pp. 89–103). New York, NY: Routledge.
Shin, M. (2015). Enacting caring pedagogy in the infant classroom. Early Child Development and
Care, 185(3), 496–508. doi:10.1080/03004430.2014.940929