Lux Christine, Noble Cassandra, Bird Nanci Red
Department of Health & Human Development, Montana State University, 210D Herrick Hall, Bozeman, MT 59717 USA.
Early Childhood Project, Montana State University, P.O. Box 173540, Bozeman, MT 59717 USA.
Early Child Educ J. 2023;51(3):583-592. doi: 10.1007/s10643-022-01308-3. Epub 2022 Feb 11.
Shifting realities across the world have emphasized the need to change early childhood systems thinking. Specifically, a quality early childhood workforce was in high demand before the COVID-19 pandemic and will continue to be in demand until sustainable recruitment and retention efforts are achieved. Encouraging more professionals to enter and stay in the field of early childhood education involves building an understanding of the current workforce through analyzing the influence of age, role, education, wages, and access to incentives on career motivation. In this case study, a rich description of Montana's early childhood workforce is presented along with recommendations to strengthen the state's early childhood workforce systems. Results of survey and focus group data collection and analysis confirmed the pervasive compensation disparity that exists in the early childhood workforce and revealed the need for financial incentives to pursue and attain higher education degrees to help ensure the delivery of quality early childhood education. Specific recommendations for policy change include sharing the data across other state systems and with other nations for the purpose of supporting the growth and development of the early childhood workforce in the United States and beyond.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10643-022-01308-3.
全球不断变化的现实凸显了改变幼儿教育系统思维的必要性。具体而言，在新冠疫情之前，高质量的幼儿教育工作者就供不应求，并且在实现可持续的招聘和留用措施之前，这种需求仍将持续。鼓励更多专业人员进入并留在幼儿教育领域，需要通过分析年龄、角色、教育程度、工资以及激励措施的获取对职业动机的影响，来增进对当前劳动力的了解。在本案例研究中，呈现了对蒙大拿州幼儿教育劳动力的详尽描述，并提出了加强该州幼儿教育劳动力系统的建议。调查和焦点小组数据收集与分析的结果证实了幼儿教育劳动力中普遍存在的薪酬差距，并揭示了需要经济激励措施来促使人们攻读并获得更高学位，以确保提供高质量的幼儿教育。政策变革的具体建议包括与其他州系统以及其他国家分享这些数据，以支持美国及其他地区幼儿教育劳动力的成长与发展。
在线版本包含可在10.1007/s10643-022-01308-3获取的补充材料。
