Learning in, and from, practice-based professional development initiatives in ECEC: a research agenda in Denmark

ABSTRACT

Quality in early-childhood education and care is a decisive element in children’s development and learning, with professional standards of practitioners a critical element in ensuring quality provision. An on-going research project into professional development (PD) initiatives for ECEC practitioners in Denmark focuses on a practice-based initiative engaging with the Abecedarian Approach to adult–child interactions. This considers the facilitation of collaborative learning, as well as how the influence of such initiatives may be studied. A mixed-method’s pilot study shows an innovative implementation framework inspired by principles of organisational learning, coupled with content from Abecedarian, encouraged practitioners’ reflection on and in specific work practices. Insights from the pilot inform the on-going research agenda, in the design of a model for sustainable practice-based PD geared towards improving the quality of ECEC provision, enabling further contemplation on how to support and study practice-based collaborative learning processes.

KEYWORDS:

• Practice-based professional development
• Organisational learning
• Abecedarian Approach
• Collaborative learning

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the TrygFondens’ Centre for Child Research for funding the 2015 Pilot study and to TrygFonden for funding the scaled-up project 2019–2023. We would also like to thank Professor Joseph Sparling, and Kimberly Meunier, the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute and the Abecedarian Education Foundation for permitting and supporting translation of the Abecedarian approach to a Danish Context. A special appreciation to the team from TrygFondens-Centre for Child Research and the Kora (2015) research centre for gathering quantitative data and Marlene Vita Kristensen, TrygFondens Centre for Child Research, for contributing to gathering qualitative data during the pilot study. Thank you to day-care director Dorte Brøns and all professionals in day-care centres and family day-carers from Randers Municipality who participated during the pilot study. Thank you to Kamilla Gumede, manager at TrygFondens Centre for Child Research for supporting the innovative PD ideas behind the pilot project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 In Danish VIDA is an abbreviation for “(Vidensbaseret indsats over for udsatte børn i dagtilbud or VIDA). In English, this would translate as Knowledge-based Intervention for Disadvantaged Children in Day-Care.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by TrygFonden [grant number 123501].