Building effective professional development for early years staff

28 March 2023

Nicki Cherry, EEF’s Early Years Content Specialist introduces a new guide to effective professional development (PD) in the early years.

Nicola Cherry

Independent Early Years Consultant

Supporting the early years sector in their vital work is crucial if we want to see all young children – regardless of their background – get the best possible start in life and go on to achieve their potential.

At the EEF, we are working to increase our focus on the early years, so that professionals working in this sector feel empowered to use evidence to their advantage.

As part of this work, we have produced a new guide to support effective professional development in the early years’, designed to support the DfE's Early Years Stronger Practice Hub programme and compliment the EEF’s Early Years Evidence Store.

The EEF’s evidence review of professional development included 104 studies, of which a third assessed the impact of PD on staff and children in the early years. These studies consistently demonstrate that PD can change practice and improve outcomes for children. The guide published today is a second resource based on the review which focuses on the early years.

Who is this guide for?

There are many individuals who work within or with early years settings who may find the guide useful, they could include professionals who are:

  • designing professional development;
  • signposting to professional development opportunities;.
  • funding professional development;
  • setting leaders making plans for their staff's professional development; and
  • early years professionals making choices about which professional development to prioritise.

This guide explores the core elements of professional development includes and considers some of the key features or mechanisms of each area which could make the PD more effective. The guide also includes case studies and examples within different early years contexts to share how this could look in practice.

The guide shines a spotlight on five specific mechanisms– that may support early years settings to improve their professional development provision and maintain a balanced approach.

We recommend that when early years settings consider attending, designing or providing PD they ensure it encompasses the four areas with at least one building block or ‘mechanism’ in each area. The more mechanisms included, the more likely the PD will lead to improved outcomes for children.

This new EEF guide offers a helpful structure for us to follow to ensure that our network sessions have the maximum impact with our practitioners. The mechanisms enable us to reflect on key strategies that have the most impact in successfully embedding a positive change in practice. The guide gives us a framework to share with other delivery partners, so we ensure they design training that is evidence based and more likely to have a positive impact on practitioners.
EEF logomark

Heidi Price

CEO of the Ideal Federation, Plymouth and Lead for Early Years Southwest Stronger Practice Hub