Pursuing quality in early learning, vol. 1: Early childhood care and education (ECCE) teacher competency framework for Southeast Asia (SEA)

The ECCE teacher competency framework covers competencies of teachers of children aged three to five (3–5) in preprimary settings and aims to enhance the professionalization and capacity development of ECCE teachers in Southeast Asia by: Providing comprehensive descriptions of knowledge, skills, and dispositions that ECCE teachers in Southeast Asia need to support holistic development of a child; Providing systematic and consistent structure and content to support the professional development of Southeast Asia’s early childhood workforce; Supplementing existing Southeast Asian frameworks, or functioning as a catalyst from which other countries can develop their own frameworks that consider unique country conditions and ECCE landscapes; Strengthening collaboration among different ECCE stakeholders at the local, national, and regional levels. The framework is developed for ECCE teachers and those responsible for ECCE professional development, such as teacher education institutions, higher education faculties, and human resource departments of governments and other agencies that provide ECCE services to improve this particular sector’s overall quality in the region. The framework likewise addresses calls to contextualize quality assurance mechanisms to be more responsive to Southeast Asian contexts and needs.