Recipient Perceptions of Early Childhood Professional Development

• In Event: Roundtable Session 20
  In Roundtable Session: Promising Practices for Professional Development in Early Childhood Education

Abstract

This multi-phase mixed methods study attempts to shed light on the current state of professional development for the early childhood workforce (birth to age five) to determine if access to high quality experiences is apparent, and if so, how this obtained knowledge translates to practice. Open ended surveys (n = 1,022) and in-depth interviews (n = 27) were utilized to explore recipient perceptions of the quality of early childhood professional development across three counties in one southeastern state. Results indicate that recipients often did not identify themselves as educators of young children, which led to a lack of motivation towards attending and utilizing professional development.

Authors

• Sandra Mammano Linder, Clemson University

• Kellye Rembert, Clemson University

• Amber Simpson, Clemson University

• Deanna Ramey, NAEYC