Practitioners’ Professional Development Needs From a Sustainability Perspective: The Impact of Some Demographic Features

Abstract

Abstract Professional development for sustainability in early childhood care and education (ECCE) has been perceived by experts as education that supports the workforce to acquire the right skills, attitudes, and knowledge that resonate through their practices to the benefit of the sector. Professional development for sustainability is aimed at providing quality and continuing development to the ECCE workforce to equip them with the relevant skills to perform their duties for the benefit of the children and society. This paper discusses practitioners’ (n=211) professional development needs from a sustainability perspective and the impacts of some demographic features. The data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and questionnaire. The study found that practitioners’ professional development was germane to the sustainability of the ECCE sector. The study further found that practitioners’ perceptions of their professional development needs were independent of their marital status and age. Practitioners suggested that the transformation of communities depended on the sustainable provisioning of ECCE by a highly trained workforce.