Workforce Profiles in Systems of Early Childhood Education and Care in Europe: Third revised and expanded edition of the seepro studies

The original seepro project (lead researcher: Pamela Oberhuemer) was conducted between 2006 and 2009 and based at the State Institute of Early Childhood Research. The study reviewed and analysed the professional education and training, occupational profiles and work settings of early childhood personnel in the context of the ECEC systems in 27 European Union countries (EU27), following on from an earlier IFP study in the EU15. Commissioned reports by national experts and semi-structured interviews with a range of partners in each country provided the basis for developing systematic country profiles. Two substantial book publications produced at the end of the project in both English and German included 27 country profiles and a cross-national analysis of key features of the early childhood workforce (Oberhuemer & Schreyer, 2010; Oberhuemer, Schreyer & Neuman, 2010). A compact summary of the professional qualifications of core practitioners has been available (in German only) as a pdf download since 2009.

Across Europe, national systems of early childhood education and care (ECEC) are undergoing continuing 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. Since the end of the previous study, many countries have instigated reforms – not least regarding the structures of initial and continuing professional education/training as well as the qualification and competence requirements for the early childhood workforce.

For the reasons outlined above, the main aim of the new seepro-r project is to revise and update the previous country profiles. Moreover, Croatia as a new EU member state, as well as Russia and the Ukraine will be included in the expanded compendium. According to information from youth welfare offices and services providers, those seeking work in early childhood settings in Germany most often come from these countries. Altogether seepro-r will provide relevant data for 30 countries.