Recruiting and Developing Teacher Educators: Moving the Pipeline Discussion Forward

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Recruiting and Developing Teacher Educators
Moving the Pipeline Discussion Forward

• The NAEYC Office of Applied Research

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Session Plan

• The Supply of ECE Teacher Educators What Do We
  Know? Dr. Mon Cochran, Tufts University
• How Do You Recruit, Mentor, and Retain New
  Faculty? Keri Harvey Elaine Wilkinson
• How Can 2 and 4-year Programs Work Together to
  Support and Build the Pipeline? Ursula
  Thomas-Fair
• College Leadership Needed to Build Enrollment and
  Recruit Diverse Faculty Alicia Biggs
• Next Steps Alison Lutton, NAEYC

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The Supply of Teacher Educators

• What Do We Need to Know?
• How many ECE teacher educators are currently in
  the work force?
• What are the characteristics of these educators?
• age
• Educational background
• Race, ethnicity, and linguistic backgrounds
• Experience in ECE settings
• Are there shortages of ECE teacher qualified
  educators?

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Sources of Data

• National studies Early, Winton, 2001
  Maxwell, Lim, Early, 2006 Review by Valora
  Washington, 2008 Role, Relevance, Reinvention
  Higher Education in the Field of Early Education
• State studies Of New York - Lekies Cochran,
  2006 of Connecticut Cochran, 2009.
• Anecdotal evidence your experiences in your
  various locales.

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Size of the Current ECE Teacher Educator Work
Force

• Approximately 12,000 ECE higher education faculty
  nation-wide
• About 4,000 of the faculty are full-time
• These ECE faculty work in an estimated 1,350
  higher ed. institutions. This is may be an
  under-count.

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Is the Current Supply of ECE Teacher Educators
Adequate in Number?

• Demand for ECE teachers with Associates degree
  and above is increasing, especially at BA level.
  Head Start, state prek programs
• If 50 more teachers with a bachelors degree are
  needed nationwide over the next decade, this will
  require about 8,000 more university faculty, of
  whom about 2,300 will need to be full-time.
• Current full-time faculty carry very heavy loads
• ratio of students to full-time faculty in ECE
  programs is 61 to 1 ratio is 39 to 1 in higher
  education overall.
• 57 of ECE faculty are part-time 69 in 2-year
  colleges.

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What are the Characteristics of these Teacher
Educators?

• Age
• Most of the teacher educators interviewed for the
  New York and Connecticut studies were over age
  50.
• Educational Backgrounds
• Only 53 of early childhood faculty have a degree
  in ECE or related field. Less likely in 4-yr.
  than 2-yr. colleges.
• About 36 of faculty holds doctorate degrees,
  about 56 at four-year colleges and 8 at
  two-year colleges. State variation.

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What are the Characteristics of these Teacher
Educators?

• Race Ethnicity
• Nationally about 80 of faculty are White,
  non-Hispanic.
• Student bodies much more diverse in California
  most are students of color.
• Experience
• Only 64 have experience working with three- or
  four-year-olds. State data show lower rates in
  4-year colleges.

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Are there Shortages of Qualified ECE Teacher
Educators?

• What is Qualified?
• Many faculty are untrained and/or inexperienced
  in ECE.
• Most faculty know little about best practices in
  working with children whose home language is not
  English.
• Many faculty speak only English fluently.

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Are there Shortages of Qualified ECE Teacher
Educators?

• Supply is not Meeting Demand
• Existing faculty are over-burdened, especially in
  2 year colleges.
• Both existing faculty and available candidates
  for positions are not well suited to address the
  growing diversity of both the college and the
  preschool populations.
• Anecdotal evidence in the states indicates that
  available faculty positions are hard to fill,
  especially if the college is seeking expertise in
  bilingualism and English language learning.

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Training, Recruiting, and Retaining ECE Teacher
Educators Further Questions

• What is the ECE teacher educator pipeline?
• What have been the career paths of current
  teacher educators?
• Are there better ways to recruit and train
  teacher educators?
• How can we recruit faculty into ECE teacher
  education with backgrounds and interests more
  similar to those of of ECE teachers-to-be and the
  preschool children they will serve?

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Training, Recruiting, and Retaining ECE Teacher
Educators Further Questions

• What Can be Done to Increase the Supply of
  Applicants for ECE Teacher Education Faculty
  Positions?
• Pre- and Post-doctoral training programs?
• Marketing of positions to graduate programs in
  education and the social sciences?
• Advocacy with state Departments of Higher
  Education?
• Other ideas?