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Baby-specific professional learning is emerging in our project as foundational for improving the quality of provision in the baby room. In this blog post, we’ll explore the importance of baby-specific professional learning in supporting quality in the baby room of English nurseries and then share the work of the Bristol and Beyond Stronger Practice Hub to showcase possibilities for how to improve and extend the offer across the sector.

Baby-specific professional learning

In January of this year, our team published a global evidence review focused on how quality is defined, measured, and supported around the world for children aged 0-2 years old in group-based provision (linked here: Report 1 – www.thebabyroom.blog). It highlights the role of baby-specific professional learning in supporting quality provision in the baby room.

• Twenty-one articles in our review specifically examined the relationships between professional learning for baby room educators and the quality of provision. These articles concluded that professional learning is positively correlated with process quality (Degotardi, 2010; Baron, Linberg, and Lehrl, 2023; Bjornestad and Os, 2018).
• Further articles go on to emphasise the importance of professional learning that focuses on the baby room (Rockel, 2014; Gilken, Longley, and Crosby, 2023). In other words, professional learning focused on pre-schoolers and toddlers is insufficient to support practice in the baby room. Baby room educators need to have professional learning that speaks to their day-to-day work with our youngest children.

Based on this international evidence, our research team has recommended extending and improving the offer of baby-specific professional learning for our baby room educators in England. To look into the possibilities of this further, we interviewed the team at the Bristol and Beyond Stronger Practice Hub (BBSPH), who have placed an emphasis on creating professional learning specifically for baby room educators. Here’s what we found out:

Bristol and Beyond Stronger Practice Hub

The why: Ethos and legacy

BBSPH’s offer of baby-specific professional learning is underpinned by a set of core values:

• Babies’ voices and babies’ rights
• The importance of attachment and relationships
• Collaboration across the sector
• Authenticity in practice

Their work is driven by the desire for babies’ voices to be heard, babies’ rights to be respected, and educators working with babies to be empowered in their practice. For over fifteen years, Bristol has run a program of Birth-3 Local Specialist Leaders who support settings with baby room practice through a systems leadership approach. Systems leadership is about people from across all levels of an organisation working together to make progress towards a common goal. The Birth-3 Local Specialist Leaders program created a platform to empower people working as EY professionals across the sector to share and deepen their expertise. BBSPH, which was launched two years ago, has grown from this foundation and works across eight local authorities.

The what: Professional learning on offer

BBSPH has a very clear ‘why’ and their professional learning offer unfurls from that. When it comes to babies, they offer a wide range of opportunities for professional learning that prioritise collaboration and reflection on practice, including:

• Working with Babies Network: This network for baby room educators meets six times a year across Bristol in different nurseries. During these evening sessions, baby room educators visit a new setting and learn about their approach to the baby room. They get to spend time in the baby room and engage in discussions about different themes ranging from treasure baskets to feeding to working with families.
• Tuning into Babies: These in-depth sessions explore what attunement looks like in practice in the baby room. Baby room educators have the opportunity to develop their skills in tuning into babies’ voices during different moments throughout the day and how to build on what they notice when they tune in.
• Inspiring Provision for Babies: This session is specifically for nursery managers and room leaders who may not have experience working with babies. It offers key information that leaders and managers need to support the baby rooms in their setting to thrive.

The how: Accessing professional learning

Despite the hunger from the sector for more baby-specific professional learning, it can be challenging to actually make it happen. Settings find it difficult to get coverage to enable staff to access professional learning sessions during the working day. On the other hand, there’s an ethical question about asking educators to attend outside of the working day without remuneration.

To address these questions, BBSPH has placed a big focus on consultation. They are asking baby room educators what they need from professional learning, the best mode and time for them to attend sessions, and then creating an offer that reflects those needs. They’ve found there needs to be a mix of delivery modes (FTF, hybrid, and online), times (morning, afternoon, evening, weekends), and types (one-off events, webinars, multiple sessions, and online resources) to reach as many people as possible.

Over to you!

• What is the ‘why’ driving your baby-specific professional learning offer?
• How can you ensure professional learning for baby room educators prioritises collaborative spaces for reflecting on practice?
• How can consultation be woven into your baby-specific professional learning offer?

References

Baron, F., Linberg, A. and Lehrl, S. (2023) ‘Interaction quality in German early childcare settings: investigating the domains of CLASS Toddler and the associations with structural characteristics’, Early child development and care, 193(13–14), pp. 1485–1502. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2023.2256997.

Bjørnestad, E. and Os, E. (2018) ‘Quality in Norwegian childcare for toddlers using ITERS-R’, European early childhood education research journal, 26(1), pp. 111–127. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2018.1412051.

Degotardi, S. (2010) ‘High-quality interactions with infants: relationships with early-childhood practitioners’ interpretations and qualification levels in play and routine contexts’, International journal of early years education, 18(1), pp. 27–41. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/09669761003661253.

Gilken, J., Longley, J. and Crosby, J. (2023) ‘Finding Space for Infants and Toddlers in Early Childhood Teacher Preparation Programs’, Early childhood education journal, 51(2), pp. 333–344. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-021-01299-7.

Rockel, J. (2014) ‘Critical professional issues in labour force development for teachers with children up to two years of age: a New Zealand perspective’, Early child development and care, 184(2), pp. 161–176. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2013.773993.