Competence Requirements in Early Childhood Education and Care. CoRe Final Report, European Commission, Brussels (2011)

The CoRe study is a research commissioned by the DG for Education and Culture, and carried out in 15 European Member States by the University of Gent and the University of East London. Within the research, the competence profiles of ECEC staff in 15 EU Member States have been analysed, and specific case studies have been prepared. Starting from the awareness of the increasing diversity that carachterizes our societies today, the results of the research underline that ECEC quality is strongly linked to a professionally competent workforce. But a competent workforce has to take shape in a ‘competent system’, which includes collaboration between individuals, teams and institutions, as well as competent governance at policy level. A competent system needs to invest in initial training and continuous professional development for all staff. This conceptualisation transforms the traditional understanding of competence as an individual property to the institutional and governance domain. Hence, our understanding of competence moves beyond the acquisition of knowledge and training of skills to embrace reflectiveness as its core.

Within this framework, CoRe revealed the presence of assistants in the ECEC field, and at the same time the ‘issue’ of their professionalization.

Focus of the publication:

- ECEC staff competences;

- competent system;

- ECEC quality