Abstract:
Children’s language development in the first three years is critical to their later learning and academic achievement. Yet my recent study revealed that many educators feel ill-prepared to support language-learning with infants and toddlers. While professional development (PD) plays a pivotal role in upskilling educators, PD research reports varying degrees of success.
To address these gaps, I applied the theoretical framework of implementation science to design, implement, and evaluate an evidence-based PD program to enrich the language interactions of infant/toddler educators. Partnered with theoretical principles of practitioner enquiry, a participant-driven, research-informed program of three workshops was delivered over a 3-month period with data collection at baseline, 3- and 10-month follow-ups.
Sixteen infant/toddler educators with diverse ECEC qualifications and experiences were recruited from three centres around Sydney. Three-hour audio-recordings of educators’ interactions with infants and toddlers were collected during normal daily activities, and statistically analysed to examine change in educators’ language interactions with children over time. Interviews and questionnaires tracking educator’s experiences of change were qualitatively analysed to supplement quantitative data.
Findings revealed how educators’ engagement with the PD supported them to embed new language-rich practices into their pedagogy, with overall improvements sustained, and continuing to improve in month 10. While limited by the small sample size, the study findings have important implications for the design and delivery of PD, demonstrating that with systematic evidence-based PD, educators can be guided to enhance their language interactions and capitalise on opportunities throughout the day to contribute to young children’s language learning.
To address these gaps, I applied the theoretical framework of implementation science to design, implement, and evaluate an evidence-based PD program to enrich the language interactions of infant/toddler educators. Partnered with theoretical principles of practitioner enquiry, a participant-driven, research-informed program of three workshops was delivered over a 3-month period with data collection at baseline, 3- and 10-month follow-ups.
Sixteen infant/toddler educators with diverse ECEC qualifications and experiences were recruited from three centres around Sydney. Three-hour audio-recordings of educators’ interactions with infants and toddlers were collected during normal daily activities, and statistically analysed to examine change in educators’ language interactions with children over time. Interviews and questionnaires tracking educator’s experiences of change were qualitatively analysed to supplement quantitative data.
Findings revealed how educators’ engagement with the PD supported them to embed new language-rich practices into their pedagogy, with overall improvements sustained, and continuing to improve in month 10. While limited by the small sample size, the study findings have important implications for the design and delivery of PD, demonstrating that with systematic evidence-based PD, educators can be guided to enhance their language interactions and capitalise on opportunities throughout the day to contribute to young children’s language learning.