A sector in crisis: Early Childhood Education and Care Post-Pandemic

Early childcare providers having to battle to offer support for families against all odds is nothing new. Back in 2020 our research with Webb explored how Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) practitioners were regularly working unpaid hours and buying resources out of their own pockets in order to continue to offer a service that families desperately needed. Even worse, many of those passionate and dedicated professionals had to take on additional employment to stay in a job that they loved, whilst still paying their bills. And things have only become worse since. After battling through the chaos of the pandemic, with neither the pay nor the recognition received by the teacher counterparts, ECEC practitioners hit an all-time low. The research with Stobbs on which this presentation is based, heard the voices of ECEC practitioners at that time, and considered the untenable direction of travel for ECEC.