The importance of CPD in articulating the process of early childhood education, to drive quality and impact

The key principles of high quality and relevant CPD 

During the process of developing the content for EDT’s Early Years Professional Development Programme (EYPDP), I identified three key principles of high quality and relevant CPD: 

1. Impact: The CPD needs to demonstrate how it will have a quantifiable impact on outcomes for children. Whatever those outcomes are, and however they are achieved, the primary purpose of all CPD is to improve and develop practice and provision, and increase the progress that children make.  
2. Enhancement of skills and knowledge: The knowledge gained from the CPD should be transferable, enabling effective practice that supports children’s development regardless of the cultural, social or environmental contexts in which the curriculum is being used. 
3. Confidence-building: The CPD should enable and empower ECE practitioners to articulate their craft; it should be transformative in building their confidence in describing what they did, and how and why they did it.

The importance of the third principle, whilst sometimes considered to be a by-product of CPD, should not be underestimated. Although many aspects of ECE practice may seem counterintuitive to other educators, it is vital to understand how learning develops and how it can be enhanced to support young children’s development. Critical to this is the deep subject knowledge of the educator and their ability to fully contextualise it and explain it to the uninitiated. It is important to recognise that ECE is a subject knowledge specialism in its own right, and a highly complex and sophisticated one at that. Whilst there is a clear destination to outcomes for children – and how they surface academically as they get older – the necessity to explain and demonstrate how they begin to evolve in ECE is vital. 

It is important that everyone in the education sector fully acknowledges the continuum that starts with a child’s carefully honed experiences in an ECE setting, and culminates, at least partially, in quantified academic success. In achieving this, ECE policy and practice, and support for the sometimes-unique appearance of ECE pedagogy, will be fully embedded in the broader acknowledgement of a child’s educational and developmental journey.

Articulating the learning and development journey 

It is essential that ECE educators can articulate the process of how a child is learning and developing, and the techniques, strategies and approaches used to support that learning and development. The responsive nature of ECE pedagogy – for example in high-quality interactions and an understanding of a child’s interests and fascinations – must be highly valued and can be used to extend knowledge about, and raise the profile of, the profession. The fusion of carefully taken decisions, based on the knowledge of a child and an educator’s deep understanding of how subject knowledge is embedded, drive the quality and impact of ECE practice. It is precisely this professional judgement, and the confidence to justify it, that determines the effectiveness of teaching in ECE. 

By developing those techniques, strategies and approaches through high-quality CPD, and building on their deep subject knowledge, ECE educators can demonstrate the undeniable impact that good quality provision has on long-term outcomes and success. Being able to plot the trajectory and development of how knowledge accumulates and is effectively contextualised – and ‘owned’ – by a child is a careful, and ultimately professional decision that educators need to take. Participating in high-quality CPD training builds professional competency, and provides practitioners with greater confidence in their own decisions about a child’s learning and development; knowing that their decisions will be valued and understood goes a long way towards ensuring the effectiveness of the CPD. 

Deepening their subject knowledge not only equips ECE practitioners with the skills and tools to deal with the unique scenarios of the profession, but it can also help build confidence and increase motivation to continue working in the sector. The sense of achievement, trust, autonomy and impact amplifies both the overarching purpose and feelings of empowerment that educators thrive on. Being able to share and reflect on how they apply their deep subject knowledge with other educators in a community of practice can increase professional confidence further, as individuals realise the value of their lived experiences in helping others.

Putting theory into practice 

Some of the feedback gathered from a recent internal evaluation of the EYPDP highlighted how developing practitioners’ subject knowledge through good quality CPD training helped increase their confidence across all three areas of programme content, particularly mathematics. It helped them to develop and embed their existing knowledge, whilst enabling them to describe how each interaction, activity, observation and response was drawn from it. In many cases, practitioners were also better equipped to explain how they had carefully refined and targeted the progression of individual children, based on their amplified knowledge and understanding of the subject. 

"We recently had Ofsted visit us - it was great to be able to talk about the EYPDP and show lots of the learning we have put in place as a result of doing the programme. Ofsted were very impressed with what we were showing them. Doing the EYPDP definitely helped us to talk about how we are supporting children’s learning."

Mohanadevi Piratheeban and setting manager Shalini Silva at Fun Kids Nursery, Harrow

Looking ahead 

At a time where the ECE profession is starting to find its voice, realise its importance, act boldly in the interests of children, and draw from its extensive expertise, it is vital that any CPD training in the future enables ECE practitioners to effectively describe their highly specialist craft and its impact in this way. 

Whilst it is still too soon to gauge the long-term impact of the EYPDP on children’s development, short-term results indicate that learning has been enhanced as a result of the CPD. In addition, participating ECE educators can now better explain the role they have played in supporting that change, with more confidence and using appropriate language and terminology. 

In sharing this vital information with parents, carers, colleagues and other stakeholders, ECE educators are not only increasing the opportunities for children’s learning and development, but they are also highlighting the importance of the role they have played in this, and consequently raising the profile of the profession.