Sustaining ECEC quality through continuing professional development: systemic approaches to practitioners’ professionalisation in the Italian context

There is a broad consensus in international debates that the quality of early childhood education and care (ECEC) services is inextricably linked to the professionalisation of its workforce. In particular, the importance of providing ECEC practitioners with continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities has been increasingly recognised in recent years. Against this background little attention has been paid to the investigation of professional development practices that have proved to be effective and supportive for qualifying educational work within ECEC settings. Drawing on the data collected from documentary sources and interviews with local experts, this paper will illustrate and critically analyse relevant CPD initiatives that have been implemented within municipal early childhood services in the Italian context. Practitioners’ active engagement in professional development processes and peer exchanges within a collegial framework, both of which create fertile ground for educational experimentation and shared reflectivity, have been identified as main strengths of these programmes. By disseminating the pedagogic knowledge and expertise elaborated within such programmes, the present analysis offers a significant contribution to the existing debate on the CPD of early years practitioners from a systemic perspective.