Beyond Certification: Uplifting Hispanic Caregivers in Fragmented Early Childhood Systems

• In Event: Beyond Degrees: Making Space and Policies for Generational Knowledge in the Early Childhood Care and Education Workforce

Abstract

Objective
Professionalization mandates under NYC's Universal Pre-K (UPK)are reshaping the experiences of unlicensed or study plan (SPT) educators. SPTs are uncertified lead teachers who must earn certification within three years or risk termination. Sixty percent of all teachers in NYC’s UPK are SPTs (Author, 2022). We explore how SPTs’ professional knowledge is conceptualized and sanctioned, despite their longstanding experience. Specifically, we center the voices of Hispanic SPTs, whose contributions are often rendered invisible. We examine how these educators experience certification pressures, institutionalized standards, and a hostile political climate, revealing how policy implementation can marginalize community-rooted pedagogies and intensify precarity for Latinx educators. NYC offers a critical case for understanding how localized reforms reflect nationwide initiatives affecting minoritized teachers (Reid et al., 2019).

Theoretical Framework
Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological systems theory, we examine how broader policies intersect with the personal, institutional, and community contexts in which SPTs operate.

Methods
We employed a mixed-methods approach comprising structured questionnaires (n = 75) and in-depth interviews (n = 25). Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to identify trends/patterns between participant responses in the quantitative data. Inductive coding was used on qualitative data to find common themes.

Summarized Theme of Preliminary Results
Devaluation of Community and Generational Knowledge
SPTs perceived their experience, as less valuable than formal education, both in the classroom and higher education settings. The erasure of intergenerational and community-based experience reflects broader sociopolitical forces that marginalize non-Western ways of knowing in ECCE.
Professionalization as a Site of Surveillance, Pressure, and Conditional Belonging
Certification pressures shaped day-to-day classroom dynamics, fostering a sense of surveillance and fragility in professional identity. It affected SPTs' personal lives and well-being.
The broader political climate affected Hispanic teachers’ psychological safety and sense of belonging.

Structural Barriers to Certification and Advancement
Workplace expectations and higher education demands often clash, lacking culturally responsive supports. For example, STPs report limited access to advising, financial aid, or flexible fieldwork requirements and coursework, as programs are not designed to accommodate working learners, multilingual students, or caregivers.
Latina educators are disproportionately burdened by low wages, debt, marginal classroom placements, and exclusion from leadership roles, reflecting how systemic inequities in race, class, gender, and immigration status are embedded in the workforce policies.

Scholarly Significance
This study addresses AERA 2026’s call to “Unforget Histories and Imagine Futures” by revealing how professionalization policies marginalize non-traditional teacher candidates. Recommendations include the establishment of culturally responsive, competence-based, and community-oriented certification pathways, the extension of study plan timelines, and the integration of bilingual and financial assistance within higher education. By prioritizing the perspectives of Latinx educators confronting adverse political environments and institutional obstacles, we advocate for equity, acknowledgment, and sustainability for ECCE systems across the country.


References
Author (2022)
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press.
Reid, J. L., Melvin, S. A., Kagan, S. L., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2019). Building a unified system for universal pre-K: The case of New York City. Children and Youth Services Review, 100, 191–205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.02.030

Author

• Maria Mavrides Calderon, Hunter College - CUNY