Child Development in Practice: Responsive Teaching and Learning from Birth to Five

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In light of the current policy context, early childhood educators are being asked to have a complex understanding of child development and early education issues and provide rich, meaningful educational experiences for all children and families in their care. Accountability for outcomes is high, and resources for professional support are limited. As such, the early education field needs well-conducted empirical studies on which to base professional development practices. Broad issues associated with the conduct of research on professional development, including considerations of professional development processes, participant characteristics, relationships, and sustainability are discussed.

The knowledge, skills, and practices of early childhood educators are important factors in determining how much a young child learns and how prepared that child is for entry into school. Early childhood educators are being asked to have deeper understandings of child development and early education issues; provide richer educational experiences for all children, including those who are vulnerable and disadvantaged; engage children of varying abilities and backgrounds; connect with a diverse array of families; and do so with greater demands for accountability and in some cases, fewer resources, than ever before.

The importance of understanding the qualities of early childhood educators that contribute to optimal child learning and development has been heightened in recent years with the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of PL — and its complement in early childhood policy, Good Start, Grow Smart. Research on early childhood professional development must go beyond basic questions that address caregiver characteristics e. Rather, establishing a scientific endeavor of early childhood professional development requires building a body of theories and evidence about not only its forms i.

The early childhood field is at a place where professional development practice and craft knowledge require a larger and firmer platform of theoretical and empirical expertise, in order to guide planning and implementation of the ambitious kinds of school and child care reforms that are demanded in the current era of services expansion and accountability. However, we need to know more about the dynamic and transactional teaching and learning processes underlying these effects as they function in real-world early childhood settings.

We are even farther behind in building a solid body of empirical information on the indirect but essential influence of professional development on child and family outcomes. We will start by articulating the assumptions, goals and objectives of professional development activities; and defining the forms common to early childhood professional development. This will be followed by a process research agenda that will allow us to unpack some critical features operating in the complex task of developing and promoting effective practice.

In a more immediate sense, professional development in early childhood takes place to accomplish two primary objectives. First, is it anticipated that professional development will advance the knowledge, skills, dispositions, and practices of early childhood providers in their efforts to educate children and support families. The first objective concerns the advancement of practitioner knowledge, skills, and dispositions Katz, , Practitioner knowledge consists of facts, concepts, ideas, vocabulary, and related aspects of educational culture and best practice.

Skills consist of units of action that occur in a relatively discrete period of time and that are observable or easily inferred. They are learned through direct instruction, modeling and imitation, trial and error, discovery, or other methods, and they are modified or improved through feedback, guidance, practice, repetition, drill, and continuous use. Finally, dispositions are prevailing tendencies to exhibit a pattern of behavior frequently, consciously, and voluntarily. The pattern of behavior is directed to a broad goal, rather than a limited short-term purpose.

Dispositions are distinguished from skills in being broader in scope and including a motivation to be applied and put to use in contrast, one can have a skill but no desire to use it. The second objective of early childhood professional development involves sustaining high quality professional practices by enhancing systems and individuals to engage in activities that are self-sustaining and growth-producing. This involves ensuring that the responsibility for delivering effective services and facilitating ongoing growth and development among practitioners is transferred from a formal trainer coach, consultant, group facilitator to individuals and groups of professionals within early childhood settings.

In the following section we provide a definition for widely accepted forms of professional development for early childhood education practitioners, followed by a representative sample of research associated with them. Most structural definitions of early childhood professional development identify it by its various forms of organization. In general, professional development efforts have traditionally taken five forms: We refer readers to other extensive sources that describe education and credentialing practices and research e. Training events and activities may include workshops, conferences, inservice presentations, live or web-based lectures or discussions, live or video demonstration, behavior rehearsal, manuals, tutorials and a host of other modes, synchronous and asynchronous, that impart knowledge and information and attempt to affect professional practice.

Although similar forms of instruction are used in both formal preservice education and on-the-job inservice training programs, the latter tend to be shorter in duration e. Most inservice training programs use a format that provides generalized knowledge and information to groups of early childhood practitioners with limited follow-up or feedback on observed practice Pianta, Trainers are often considered to be expert sources of information, and the trainees to be novice learners acquiring targeted knowledge or skills. The training format typically provides brief, non-sustained contacts between trainer and trainee, and the flow of information is most often one-directional.

Hypothetical cases or trainee-reported situations may be used to rehearse application of new principles or skills within the training context but are usually of limited familiarity to all trainees and the rehearsals short in duration and intensity i. Core components of coaching in early childhood settings include reinforcing evidence-based skill development and application of desired skills in the form of teaching practices with children and families. Consultation is closely related to coaching.

Consultation in early childhood settings has been defined as an indirect, triadic model that focuses on helping the consultee trainee in their professional responsibilities with one or more clients through systematic problem solving, social influence and provision of professional support for an immediate concern or goal desired by both trainee and client s e. Depending on the situation, the consultant can be perceived as an authority and convey an expert-like stance on various content or practice dimensions of early childhood service delivery. Much like coaching relationships, the frequency of contacts between a consultant and learner is typically high in the early stages, and lessened over time as the teacher becomes more proficient at acquiring and demonstrating strategy use in applied settings.

Despite the fact that distinctions can be made in early childhood professional circles, we consider coaching and consultation as highly related forms of professional development and consider them together in the remainder of this paper. Training and coaching represent relatively short-term and small-scale learning encounters. Lave and Wenger first used the term to describe the situated learning that takes place in apprenticeship, a learning model that involves a complex set of social relationships by which experts pass on knowledge to novices. The groups can include organization-specific members or a mixture of agency-employed teachers and external facilitators.

CoP meetings require an expert facilitator who is someone with relevant experience and practical wisdom and can help the group ask questions, connect and build ideas, expand key points, provide history and useful resources, and stay on task Kennedy, As such, the relationships can be characterized as bi-directional, with information transferring from facilitator to participant and back. In CoP meetings, which take place face-to-face or electronically in a virtual community, participants focus on issues, problems, and successes that emerge from authentic situations in their work.

This allows for the experience to be highly relevant and applicable for participants. Many groups use a formal protocol for guiding participants in offering reactions, raising questions, and brainstorming next steps. The participants can create and reflect on specific plans and feedback for their own work settings.

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The goal of these communities is to reduce the research-to-practice gap as well as create self-sustaining networks of stakeholders focused on translating, applying, and in some cases, producing new evidence in early education by integrating research findings from scientists with experiential knowledge from practitioners. Much is now known about the five forms of professional development 1. Originally it was thought that higher levels of formal education, especially that which produces specialization in early child development or education, related to higher quality early childhood programs and improved interactions between teachers and children Pianta, ; Tout et al.

However, a recent, comprehensive review of seven large scale studies by Early et al. Furthermore, empirical studies have not provided adequate information about minimum levels of education required for early childhood educators Tout et al. These findings suggest empirical, process studies are needed that look beyond education and credentialing in order to reach a more complete understanding of effective professional development practices. Furthermore, different components of training appear important, depending on the goal of professional development.

For example, when knowledge is an objective of training, information combined with demonstrations, practice, and feedback has been found to increase knowledge considerably effect size of 1. When skill development is the goal of the professional development efforts, the addition of practice to the discussion of theoretical rationale or demonstration often results in effect sizes of 1. Furthermore, when coaching is added, skill acquisition continues to increase and transfer of learning to work with children is more likely.

The evidence base examining application and outcomes of CoPs in early childhood education is small but growing. Particularly necessary is research that examines the efficacy of CoPs in sustaining quality early childhood programs, and mechanisms by which they support ongoing growth of early childhood practitioners, individually and collectively. This process is not believed to be linear nor limited to a set of particular inputs and outputs. For example, stage models of professional development address the process of skill acquisition by specifying the steps through which a learner moves from novice to expert understandings of professional practice.

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The adoption of new professional practices is often acknowledged as a process that moves through at least three stages: Hall and Hord suggest that practitioners first focus on impacts of the new concepts and practices to their own well being, transition into mastery of the concepts or skills, and end with a focus on the impact of the practices they are implementing on children and families. Dreyfus and Dreyfus articulated yet another stage model whereby learners proceed through a series of stages defined as novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert. Throughout this stage-wise progression, learners advance from concrete, rule-governed approaches to tasks, to flexible use of plans, to intuitive and seamless use of strategies.

Stage-like models in the study of early childhood professional development are useful for conceptualizing basic processes by which professionals acquire new concepts and adopt new skills. However, they fail to define exactly what constitutes skillful practice and assume that content of these skills is irrelevant. In other words, the focus of most stage models is on a generic process that is presumably identical across professionals, irrespective of context variables i.

Contextualized knowledge and experience are thus intertwined and interdependent. This conceptualization of professional development understands process as an ongoing and fluid interaction of instruction with experiences, opportunities, and exchanges that occur in a reflexive and transactional manner as specific professional practices within a particular setting are defined, achieved, and reformulated toward continual self-improvement and program standards.

The current state of professional development in early childhood programs indicates that much more is known about what professional development is i.

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Indeed, little empirical research has been dedicated to the process by which early childhood practitioners acquire new knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Even less attention has been afforded to mechanisms for sustaining individual and group growth and development. Much of the research on stage models or contextual explanations is theoretical and not based on empirical findings.

Further research on process is necessary to unpack elements through which various professional development forms influence skill, knowledge and dispositions of early childhood professionals. That is, beyond asking questions of efficacy e. Indeed, implementation aspects associated with various professional development strategies e.

In this section, we integrate the gaps in the research literature identified heretofore, and carve out a research agenda for early childhood professional development. We focus less on identifying and investigating what structures need to be in place, and more on research needs that will allow the field to determine how learning and skill acquisition can be accomplished in the early childhood professional context.


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Specifically, an empirical research agenda is offered that identifies the importance of determining processes that influence fundamental change in knowledge, skills, and dispositions; variables that influence their effects e. Potential research questions within each area are presented in Table 1. Indeed, the issues and questions raised here present avenues for systematic inquiry.

Questions surround the various forms of professional development and how they independently and collectively promote the goals of personal and professional growth increased knowledge, skills, dispositions, practices, and self-regulation. Research that attempts to determine how professionals achieve new levels of understanding, and translate that understanding into skillful practice is necessary.

A research agenda focused on process should be concerned with uncovering the transactions between learning new content horizontal learning and acquiring deeper understandings of use within on-the-job practice settings vertical learning. It is important to understand how practitioners develop skills over time, how they simultaneously achieve deep understandings, and the professional development efforts that support these processes. The role of self-reflection in becoming a consistent learner is also worthy of research attention. A host of descriptive studies have suggested qualities in coaches and consultants that appear important within professional development relationships, but few have identified specific functional behaviors that lead to growth and learning among early childhood practitioners.

Resources on coaching in early childhood have suggested that competency, objectivity, adaptability, caring, and honesty are characteristics of an effective coach Hanft et al. Research is needed that determines precisely what effective coaches and consultants do to elicit desired qualities and competencies of practitioners, and that identifies why these are important in terms of creating productive learning sessions that lead to lasting changes in skills and practices among learners.

Specific strategies used by coaches, and their association with the range of desired outcomes of professional development e. In addition, given the proliferation of alternative mechanisms for the delivery of professional development e. Indeed, the outcomes of specific professional development forms on the fidelity with which evidence-based practices are delivered and the indirect effects on child outcomes is in need of research attention.

Understanding the critical components and principles underlying the forms of professional development may allow for flexibility in implementation e. Methods by which trainers, coaches, consultants and facilitators make decisions for scaffolding teachers learning comprise a set of complex variables that have not been the subject of research.

Personal and professional characteristics of practitioners and coaches and trainers that can influence professional relationships are potential sources of variance that may effect the manner in which professional development efforts are delivered and received, and hence, the desired outcomes.

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Effective coaching, consulting, and group facilitation depends on the availability of staff who have expertise in the rationale, content, and techniques of targeted skills and practices promoted in training programs. These variables, and the manner in which they affect training, coaching, CoPs and relationships are in need of investigation. Additional intrapersonal characteristics of the early childhood educators e.

Relationships between person and practice are important in the delivery and uptake of professional development efforts Gallacher, , and represent fruitful areas for further research. For example, early childhood practitioners who perceive their role as delivering information to children and families will likely engage in activities that focus on presenting content in formal teaching interactions.

In contrast, practitioners who view their role as facilitating learning may engage parents and children in significantly different ways through, for example, natural settings and learning opportunities as potential conduits for promoting decontextualized and generalized learning. The degree to which these personal and relational variables impact professional development efforts is in need of research. However, what motivates change in professional behaviors is not clear. However, this has not been researched in early childhood education programs where practitioners represent individuals with various backgrounds and dispositions.

Reference to work on adult learning may facilitate more effective professional development efforts in early childhood education. Much more needs to be learned about strategies and techniques that facilitate meaningful self-reflection in early childhood practitioners and their effects on implementation and generalization of practice. In addition to intrapersonal characteristics of participants engaged in professional development activities, interpersonal relationships among them appear important.

The specific features that appear most salient in affecting the relationship in positive or negative ways, however, are not clear. Establishing a positive, constructive professional development relationship with teachers engaged in professional development activities seems essential if the goals of the activities are to be met, and may influence the effects of training, coaching, or consulting in dynamic ways. These initial responses may have cascading effects. Indeed, the degree to which the relationship between a coach and practitioner mediates the attainment of professional development goals is not well understood, and is in need of empirical attention.

The physical, social, and cultural contexts of early childhood education likely influence the structures and processes surrounding professional development at many levels. Recognition and assessment of context and its effects on performance is therefore important Gallacher, ; Welch-Ross et al. At a basic level, context influences whether professional development opportunities are available, how and when they are delivered, what is expected, how they are financed, who is involved, and the roles that individuals play. Although these variables are readily apparent in practice settings, very little attention has been afforded them in the research literature.

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The potential role of these variables in moderating the effect of professional development activities on desired professional outcomes is ripe for empirical study. Characteristics of the work setting e. Careful investigation aimed at uncovering context variables would go far in specifying what methods of professional development are useful for certain practitioners across distinctive and unique work settings and conditions.

For example, experienced teachers with relatively small class enrollments and familiar children may respond promptly and competently to cost-efficient group training techniques. The sustainability of professional development efforts is a topic of great interest among the research, practice, and policy communities alike. Information on the intensity and duration of professional support needed to promote sustained change would help establish meaningful parameters for both structure and process.

It is likely that the culture of professional development in the agencies or settings where early childhood practitioners work will influence in part their ability to sustain positive change in practice Gallacher, ; Welch-Ross et al. In situations where external resources are used to deliver professional development e. Communities of Practice CoP models may provide one framework for establishing internal sources or networks of support and building the capacity of agencies to promote a culture of ongoing and sustained professional development Wenger, A host of empirical issues must be addressed, however, if CoP models are to be perceived as vehicles by which formal training and coaching efforts can be sustained.

For instance, the relationship between specific strategies e. Furthermore, the manner in which they interact to influence the attainment of goals and objectives for a CoP is in need of empirical investigation. Efforts to identify the manner in which person and relationship variables interact within the CoP structure and influence its effects is another area worthy of research. At a basic level, the organizational mechanisms by which CoPs can be most effective and sustainable in early childhood settings over time is unknown.

As with other forms of professional development, the manner in which these factors interact with member characteristics and resources is unclear. An additional systemic issue related to sustainability of effective professional development is the cost of delivery and return on investment. Associated costs may also be present, particularly if initial stages of professional development uncover the need for extensive levels of support or individualized training, coaching, or other support for extended periods of time. Studying the cost-benefit ratio of various forms of professional development within the context of experimental investigations of efficacy is an area of critical importance for practice and policy communities alike Welch-Ross et al.


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    5. The field of early childhood education is enjoying a time of rapid growth and new discoveries. Whereas growing evidence indicates that training alone is insufficient, and that ongoing support efforts are necessary to transfer knowledge and skill to practice, little is known about how various forms of professional development operate and interact to enhance advanced learning and generalization to behavior, and ultimately, improve program quality.

    A research agenda in early childhood professional development is needed to unpack basic information on processes that promote the development of skills and competencies necessary to provide high quality, evidence-based early childhood experiences, and identify interactions that occur between form and process, and influence the outcomes of professional development efforts.

    Many opportunities for research on professional development are available within the context of on-going empirical studies investigating the efficacy of specific interventions being delivered in early childhood settings. We urge researchers, whenever possible, to embed a selection of the proposed research questions into field studies where data on professional development can be collected within the course of on-going investigations. Specifically, in many instances it is likely that professional development is occurring as part of field trials, yet little discussion on professional development practices or lessons learned is provided in publications.

    To advance our understanding of professional development in early childhood we need more complete information than that currently provided in most reports of findings. As a starting point, descriptions of professional development models utilized in interventions need to be specified in research reports. Subsequently, direct and intentional efforts to create linkages between empirical research and practice are necessary.

    For example, questions addressing the relationship between focus of professional development, type of feedback provided, or duration and intensity of coaching and growth in the early childhood practitioner could be addressed through secondary analyses using regression or correlational techniques. Studies of planned variations of professional development delivery e. Mixed method designs integrating rigorous experimental trials with qualitative interviews or focus groups about the coach-learner relationship, match to philosophical beliefs about practice, or a host of other professional development processes could also be important additions to empirical research.

    As best practices in professional development are integrated into early childhood intervention studies, and methods for enhancing outcomes through professional supports are implemented and documented, it would be highly beneficial for thoughtful discussions to emerge and focused research studies designed to examine these variables. Such discussions and subsequent studies will provide critical information for fellow researchers whose primary aims are identifying evidence-based interventions for children and families, but who need to implement professional development models to enhance fidelity of their intervention implementation.

    Likewise, such studies will be highly valuable to the early childhood practice and policy communities where translation of the research base into evidence-based exemplars for best practice is needed. Indeed, such translation is the ultimate goal. We would like to acknowledge the Interagency School Readiness Consortium ISRC Task Force on Early Childhood Professional Development that participated in the early stages of this work, particularly for their conceptual contributions to research directions in early childhood professional development.

    Likewise, we acknowledge the many early childhood educators, coaches, and consultants who worked with us over the years for their commitment to excellence and feedback regarding our efforts at professional development. They are the true experts who provided invaluable experiences and insight into the processes that promote positive outcomes for children and families. The development of this paper was supported by a grant awarded to Drs.

    Supplemental Content

    The opinions expressed herein are those of the investigators and do not reflect the funding agencies. Thus, we will draw from this work rather than duplicate it, and focus instead on necessary directions for research on processes in professional development to advance the empirical base in early childhood. National Center for Biotechnology Information , U.


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      8. Author manuscript; available in PMC Oct 5. Marvin , and Lisa L. See other articles in PMC that cite the published article. Abstract In light of the current policy context, early childhood educators are being asked to have a complex understanding of child development and early education issues and provide rich, meaningful educational experiences for all children and families in their care. Forms of Professional Development Most structural definitions of early childhood professional development identify it by its various forms of organization. Communities of practice Training and coaching represent relatively short-term and small-scale learning encounters.

      Research related to forms Much is now known about the five forms of professional development 1. Research Needs in Professional Development in Early Childhood Programs The current state of professional development in early childhood programs indicates that much more is known about what professional development is i. How Do the various forms of professional development i. What elements or components of each of the forms of professional development contribute to positive and lasting change? How do these components function to effect change in knowledge, skills, dispositions, and practice?

      What is the process by which early childhood practitioners move from a focus on mastery of intervention implementation to self-regulated professional growth? What is the developmental course for skill development, and how does that interact with coaching strategies? Does it mediate the effects of professional development?

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