Characteristics of early childhood educators who participate in state-wide outdoor education professional development

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Abstract

This study examined the characteristics of early care and education (ECE) programs that applied to participate in the state-wide outdoor education profession development (PD) in Delaware, United States, and which program characteristics predicted ECE programs’ participation in outdoor education PD. Administrative data on N=828 programs’ characteristics and internal records on the application for the outdoor education PD collected over five PD cohorts for n=170 programs were analyzed using logistic regression. The results showed that ECE programs that were located in less disadvantaged areas, previously participated in other state-offered PD, received program funding, and accepted child care subsidy were more likely to participate in the outdoor education PD.

Authors

• Ekaterina Novikova, University of Delaware

• Kristin Kelly, University of Delaware

• Jessica DeWese, University of Delaware

• Laura Lessard, University of Delaware