Workforce Development
The average salary of a center-based preschool teacher is $22,640, 40% less than the average kindergarten teacher’s salary.1
Supporting Statistic
- The number of early childhood educators in Massachusetts who hold a four-year degree has declined by nearly 20 percent since the 1980s.
Workforce Development System
Parents know their children benefit when their teachers know about and apply the most cutting edge approaches to learning. As parents are working more hours than ever before children are spending more time in early education and care and out-of-school time programs. Unfortunately the adults who teach and care for our children in these settings do not receive the same opportunities as public school teachers to advance their skills, credentials and compensation. The downside to this is high staff turnover which results in children not being able to develop stable, nurturing relationships with their early childhood and out-of-school time teachers. Research now shows that consistent teacher-child relationships are critical to learning.
Fortunately there are signs that the state is paying attention. In July 2004, the Massachusetts State Legislature passed legislation that created a new Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) and charged it to design a statewide workforce development plan for early education and out-of-school practitioners.
Taking a leadership role, United Way of Massachusetts Bay (UWMB) and the Schott Foundation Fellowship in Early Care and Education convened over 100 experts in the early childhood and out-of-time fields from across the state in a series of meetings that generated a set of recommendations that were presented in a report – Making it Work for Early Education and Out of School Time Professionals – issued in fall 2005.
The report was widely disseminated to policy makers, state administrators, legislators, and providers and recommended: a statewide system to collect good data about the workforce to inform decision making; the importance of having teachers who can teach across different cultures; the need for a set of credentials that set the path for career development, increased access to higher education for early childhood and out-of-school time practitioners; and the need to address the compensation gap between public school teachers and the early childhood and out-of-school time workforce.
These recommendations were reflected in the state’s workforce development plan, issued in January 2006.
The next phase is to focus on alignment of what teachers need to know with what current higher education programs offer and how to ensure early childhood and out-of-school time teachers can access and pay for these opportunities. UWMB in collaboration with the Schott Foundation Fellowship in Early Care and Education will continue to serve in a leadership and convening role to identify and recommend effective strategies to ensure the higher education community is actively engaged in the development of this new system.
The benefits? A diverse, stable, well educated and compensated workforce that supports the healthy development and learning of the Commonwealth’s children.
2Herzenberg, Stephen et al. Losing Ground in Massachusetts Early Childhood Education: Declining Workforce Qualifications in an Expanding Industry, 1980-2004. Economic Policy Institute, Foundation for Childhood Development and The Keystone Research Center.