From
SEEPRO to SEEPRO-R
Based
at the State Institute of Early Childhood Research (IFP) in
Munich, the original SEEPRO
project (lead researcher: Pamela Oberhuemer) was conducted
between 2006 and 2009 and funded by the German Federal Ministry
for Family and Youth Affairs (Bundesministerium für Familie,
Senioren, Frauen und Jugend).
The study reviewed and analysed the professional education
and training, occupational profiles and work settings of early
childhood personnel in the context of the early childhood
education and care (ECEC) systems in 27 European Union countries
(EU27). Commissioned reports by national experts and semi-structured
interviews with a range of stakeholders in each country provided
the basis for two book publications in English and German.
These presented 27 country profiles and a cross-national analysis
of key features of the early childhood workforce (Oberhuemer
& Schreyer 2010 bzw. Oberhuemer,
Schreyer & Neuman 2010).
In mid-2015, the German Federal Ministry for Family and Youth
Affairs commissioned a project to update and extend the existing
country profiles. We called this new project SEEPRO-R
(Systems of Early Education and Professionalisation
- revised).
This website presents
research findings from the updated and extended project, conducted
between August 2015 and October 2017. Croatia, as a relatively
new EU member state, as well as Russia and Ukraine, are included
in the expanded compendium. For each country there are two
main documents. On this website you will find:
30 Workforce Profiles
(country reports) on the current status quo regarding the
qualification requirements for early childhood education and
care professionals (pedagogues, teachers, educators), the
composition of the workforce, the systems of initial professional
education and continuing professional development, current
reform initiatives and research projects and selected aspects
of the working conditions of staff in each of the 30 participating
countries. The initial reports were provided by mostly long-standing
cooperation partners according to a research
specification which they received for comment before compilation
of the data. The final versions are based on a long period
of close collaboration between the editors and the authors.
The reports vary in length between approximately 25 pages
and 80 pages.
30 Key Contextual Data
reports (country-specific background synopses) presenting
the main features of the ECEC systems of the countries involved
and also relevant demographic data. These were compiled by
the project team and reviewed by our cooperation partners.
All documents are presented in English
and in German, thus providing
a resource for a wide audience of early childhood teacher
educators in higher and vocational education, national and
local government administrations, employers/service providers
in the ECEC field, researchers, early years practitioners
and other interested persons.
Rationale and project aims
Across Europe, national systems of early childhood education
and care (ECEC) are undergoing both expansion and consolidation,
and the staff working in early years settings continue to
be viewed as the key contributing factor to the quality of
daily interactions with the children, their learning environments
and their learning processes. Since the end of the previous
study, many countries have instigated fundamental reforms
- not least regarding the qualification and competence requirements
for the early childhood workforce and the structures of initial
professional studies and continuing professional learning.
In Germany, knowledge about staff qualifications and conceptualisations
of initial and continuing professional education in other
countries is becoming ever more important - not only as a
source for scrutinising and reflecting on one's own country-specific
cultural practices and values, but also in the face of widespread
staff shortages and increased mobility between countries.
Regional state authorities, service providers and also recruitment
agencies and individual ECEC centres are faced with the question
as to whether, and if so, in what way staff from other European
countries, also from Russia and Ukraine, can be employed in
early childhood settings in Germany. The new SEEPRO
data provide a basis for making informed decisions. Moreover,
in professional and research circles both in Germany and in
international contexts, strong interest has been shown in
an update of the original SEEPRO
country profiles as resources for professional and research
purposes.
Project design and research procedures
Building on a network of longstanding contacts in European
universities, higher education institutions, research institutes
and policy institutions, invitations to participate were sent
out in September 2015. In some cases, new cooperation partners
were recruited through international collegial networks. In
the case of Croatia, a 5-day research visit was organised
in January 2016 for interviews with ministry officials, professional
education/training specialists, researchers, representatives
of professional organisations and other key stakeholders.
Contacts to Russia and Ukraine were enabled through an agency
specialising in the recruitment and deployment of staff from
these countries in Germany.
Between November 2015 and July 2017, the country experts worked
on their Workforce Profile reports together with the project
team. This detailed work was necessary to ensure that key
concepts were accessible and comprehensible both to English-speaking
and German-speaking readers. This was not a case of straightforward
language editing (the greater majority of reports were written
in a language other than the authors' home languages), but
involved constant probing and revisiting to make sure that
the key terms had been correctly understood.
Key contextual data were compiled by the two project team
colleagues. Main data sources were international reports and
websites and European and national statistical sites, using
a triangulation approach for checking and cross-checking data.
Systems of early childhood education and care are subject
to continuing change. In this sense, the reports in this publication
can only represent a picture of these systems at the time
of data compilation.
Acknowledgments
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to our colleagues
for their support:
Dr. Liz Brooker (University College London Institute
of Education) for her thorough copy editing of the English-language
reports;
Angela Roth (Bavarian Centre for Families and Social
Affairs) for her careful scrutiny of the German-language texts;
Martin Krause (State Institute of Early Childhood Research)
for his patience and competence in building up the seepro-r
website;
Dr. Mihaela Ionescu (ISSA - International Step by Step
Association), Dr. Jan Peeters (VBJK, Ghent), Nives
Milinovi· (Open Academy Step by Step, Croatia)
and Begemot GmbH for their suggestions when recruiting
individual cooperation partners.
Pamela Oberhuemer, Inge Schreyer
Munich, November 2017