Assessing teacher quality in the early years: co-designing the teachers in early education tool in Australia

Early childhood teachers (ECT) can significantly enhance the quality of early childhood education and care settings and children’s development. In response to a critical teacher shortage in Australia, governments and stakeholders are developing strategies to attract and retain the supply of ECTs, with the impact of these strategies on teacher quality unknown and unknowable, as no tool exists to assess ECT quality. This paper addresses this empirical gap by presenting the methodology and findings from the exploration stage of the development of the Teachers in Early Education tool. Analysis of data from expert stakeholders and documents, resulted in identification of 256 unique codes, organised into 26 categories across four domains: Purpose, Principles, Content and Design. Reflecting the diversity and complexity of the skills, knowledge, and practices, as well as the personal, professional, relational and contextual factors requiring consideration when assessing ECT quality, a conceptual model of ECT quality is proposed.