Professor Valerie Sollars, whose academic focus is rooted in early childhood education and early years policy, has highlighted the importance of quality experiences in early childhood education and care, saying in an interview with The Malta Independent on Sunday that such experiences contribute to the short and long-term impact on students' educational journey.
The learning and education journey that shapes individuals does not begin at secondary or even at primary school - it begins through early childhood experiences, during the first five years of life. Learning and education begin irrespective of the environment within which children are growing up and this immediately signals the significant role which the quality of the experiences have on children's development, knowledge and understanding of the world around them.
In many societies, increasingly, more children are spending time away from their biological/natural family and in the care of adults employed in childcare and kindergarten settings and in the company of other children. Since babies, toddlers and infants spend a considerable amount of time during their formative years with staff and educators employed in early years settings, the level of qualifications together with the quality of the pre-service and continuous education and training which such educators have and receive is crucial.
According to the National Standards for Early Childhood Education and Care Services (0-3 Years) (DQSE, 2021) the qualification required by childcare educators is a Level 4 qualification of 60 ECTS. "Such a qualification is equivalent to what our students obtain at the age of 18 when they have successfully completed two years at sixth form. In practice this implies that we can have students of school-leaving age, at 16, joining any of the several institutions offering the Level 4 course and completing the one year programme to start working with babies and toddlers".
This allows individuals barely out of adolescence to assume responsibility for the foundational development of infants and toddlers aged zero to three years - a time which is widely recognised as one of the most sensitive stages in human development. In contrast, in some European countries (example in Italy), anyone who wants to work with 0 to 5-year-old children must be in possession of a Masters qualification. The reality is that in the local sector, we have educators with a basic Level 4 qualification who are being trusted with caring for our young children.
Professor Sollars, a full-time resident academic at the Faculty of Education and currently Pro-Rector for Strategic Planning & Sustainability, also raised several other issues which need to be considered collectively when discussing early years' education. Accessibility, availability and affordability of childcare services are essential considerations but an over-riding concern remains the quality of the services being offered. Whilst it is laudable that we have locally widened access to childcare by offering free services, currently free childcare is available for children whose parents are studying or in employment. Rightly so, there have been announcements, starting with the political manifesto of the Labour Party in 2022, to extend the free childcare scheme to all families. "Simply extending services to address the inequity of access is not enough. Do we take into consideration the quality of the services being offered in childcare or do we just assume that whatever is going on in all the childcare settings is of high quality?" A historical overview of the development of the early years sector indicates that the motivation for providing services for young children has always been driven by economic needs rather than the support for and strengthening of children's overall development. "It has always been... so that women can go to work...Where are the children in all of this?"
She underscored the critical need to question what constitutes quality in early childhood settings. "Quality is a construct which has been contested for 20 years. It's very subjective. What contributes to quality? From whose perspective is quality being defined? How do you measure it? What do you measure?"
Despite increased interest and research in the field, Professor Sollars noted how to date, we have not had any local research to investigate and record the impact of these early years experiences at childcare and/or kindergarten, on children's later attainment. "There hasn't been any longitudinal study to find out what impact kindergarten experiences have had on children's later achievements."
This research gap makes it difficult to draw conclusions but international studies provide a strong indication of the link between educator qualifications and student outcomes. "One of the key issues which we really need to look at seriously is the early years' workforce... One of the most notable, longitudinal studies is the EPPE (Effective Provision of Pre-School Education) study. It followed about 3,000 children, and one key finding was that irrespective of the backgrounds where children came from, they were performing better in early and later primary, where their early years experiences included staff who had a high level of qualifications''.
Other findings from this first European longitudinal study, which started two decades ago suggest that high quality pre-schooling is related to better intellectual and social/behavioural development for children and settings that have staff with higher qualifications have higher quality scores and their children make more progress (https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/id/eprint/18189/2/SSU-SF-2004-01.pdf).
Why, what and how do higher level education and qualifications in early years contribute to better quality and improved experiences for children and their families? "You need adults who are well-informed and knowledgeable about child development, who understand how children learn. They also need to be well-informed and well-versed, not just with the psychology of how children develop and learn, but also with the pedagogy - how to identify, create, choose activities which excite and motivate children; where children are eager to engage and participate because the activity appeals to their curiosity and addresses their need to find out. In this way, children become engaged, immersed in learning which is meaningful. Educators also need to observe, reflect on and analyse their practices and the children's reactions to activities in order to adjust, modify and challenge them thus ensuring that learning and development are ongoing. Early years learning experiences are not simply built on the basis of having educators who share a professional love for being with children but professional early years educators need to understand the responsibilities they have towards those under their care.
Children learn from engaging with resources, places and people who in turn are capable of responding to children's needs in age-appropriate ways. Early childhood education and care which is of high quality thrives on strong relationships between the adults and children, and strong relationships between the educators and the families. Weak relationships and shaky foundations in the early years lead to challenges later on in primary years and intervention measures which are costly.
Professor Sollars highlighted the need for strong policies which are accompanied by clear implementation measures which include the monitoring and support of practices in early years. "How do you introduce and implement strategies that seek to bring about change, which help to raise the level of education of our staff and consequently, improve their working conditions? Who drives the changes? What resources are needed to support and monitor change? Having the infrastructure is crucial."
Ultimately, Professor Sollars' recommendations and advice are for a system where good intentions, political promises and policy decisions need to take account of professional standards and a robust system of support and monitoring.