Higher education qualifications for early childhood educators: Policy implementation challenges

Background: This article is based on a study focused on implementing the ‘Policy on Minimum Requirements for Programmes Leading to Qualifications in Higher Education for Early Childhood Development Educators’. This policy aims to improve the quality of early learning programmes by supporting the provision of sufficient numbers of professionally qualified early childhood development (ECD) educators, and advancing the professionalisation of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) workforce. Aim: This study aimed to identify the conditions necessary to enable and/or promote the successful implementation of the policy, and to make recommendations in this regard. Setting: A total of 184 ECD practitioners from three Gauteng municipalities completed a quantitative survey. We purposively selected 10 of these participants for interviews, and qualitative open-ended questionnaires were completed by 14 other stakeholders, selected through criterion-based sampling. Methods: An explanatory mixed-methods design was employed, and the data were interpreted using complexity theory as a lens. Quantitative data were evaluated using statistical software, and qualitative data were analysed using a thematic analysis approach. Results: The findings indicated factors that favour the policy’s implementation, as well as challenges at various systemic levels. Conclusion: The policy’s successful implementation fundamentally requires building a competent ECCE system, which necessitates intervention at all levels of the system. We recommend advocacy and pressure from different stakeholder groups to adequately resource key areas of ECCE, and specific actioned interventions to avoid the policy becoming a ‘missed opportunity’ for professionalising the sector. Contribution: Conditions for successful policy implementation, aimed at supporting a professionally qualified ECCE workforce., are identified.