Guiding Principles for the New Early Childhood Professional

With growing evidence about the critical period of birth to age 5 for child development and learning, the imperative to professionalize the early childhood education workforce has never been greater. In this follow-up to The New Early Childhood Professional: A Step-By-Step Guide to Overcoming Goliath, the authors share lessons learned from their work with thousands of practitioners. They focus on four Guiding Principles for leading change: the need to Respect diverse opinions, to seek Equity, and to acknowledge the field’s Strengths while doing the hard work to enhance Competence. This book:

• Defines each Guiding Principle and examines how it impacts individual practitioners, early childhood programs, public policies, and professional systems.
• Identifies potential asymmetrical conflicts related to the Principles to demonstrate the imbalances that exist.
• Presents a diversity of voices from the field of early care and education.
• Provides a summary with a bottom-line analysis focused on achieving balance.
• Offers strategies for “facing Goliath” designed to accelerate a new reality for the field.
• Includes questions for reflection to help readers relate each Principle to their own circumstances.

With a strategic emphasis on building professional communities, strengthening professional capital, and working together to craft solutions, Guiding Principles for the New Early Childhood Professional presents a clearer vision of a unified future in early childhood care and education.