Beyond the Content: Early Childhood Educators Want Flexible, Engaging Professional Learning

When I began my career as an elementary school computer teacher in Oakland, CA and Santiago, Chile, I was fortunate to have incredible colleagues who effectively taught me how to teach. At the time, the World Wide Web was in its infancy. My professional development was limited to those colleagues and the occasional in-person course.

Fast forward about 30 years later: times and technology sure have changed. Before joining Teaching Strategies as CEO this year, I helped lead LinkedIn Learning to become one of the world’s leading professional learning content platforms, where tens of millions of learners now learn on demand, at their own pace.

Today, I see that same need in early childhood education: to provide educators with accessible, flexible, and meaningful professional development.

That’s why we went straight to the source. In our annual survey of more than 2,700 early childhood educators, we asked about their professional learning needs and preferences. Here’s what they told us.

• Educators want to keep learning. Nearly 60% of educators are interested in pursuing continued education opportunities.
• Newer educators—those with fewer than five years of experience—are especially eager. Over 77% say they are interested in pursuing continued education opportunities, with almost half (44%) saying they want to continue their education within the next year or two.
• Flexibility is key. Early childhood educators favor self-paced virtual courses (61%) and shorter modules that lead to credentials (47%) over traditional in-person formats.
• Student success drives motivation. Educators said they want to be better equipped to help students (77.5%), and they also seek career/salary growth (51.2%) and personal fulfillment (47.6%).
• Format matters. Educators said it would be most helpful to have access to free training (61.4%), flexible pacing (55.8%), and financial assistance (46.1%).

View more survey findings here. 

These findings are powerful. The survey showed early childhood educators do not just seek high-quality instructional materials; they’re asking for support in how to use those materials more effectively and in ways that more easily fit into their lives and help them grow as professionals.

Our mission is to “empower all early childhood educators to maximize each and every child’s growth.” To deliver on that promise, we’ve invested in world-class professional learning through our Professional Development Teacher Membership, which offers the following features that teachers are asking for.

• Flexibility. The platform has more than 400 hours of on-demand and live courses that can be taken at each educator’s own pace–whether they are trying to earn Continuing Education Units; meet state training requirements; or pursue the Child Development Associate (CDA^®) credential, a key requirement for Head Start programs.
• Community. Educators can engage, connect, and share their experiences with a community of peers and participate in weekly, moderated forums with experts. There are currently nearly 100,000 active users.
• Support. Educators can tap timely guidance and feedback from early childhood experts, often within 24 hours.
• Guidance for newcomers. Early-career educators can participate in an 8-week virtual bootcamp where new teachers build confidence and classroom readiness through small-group mentorship.

Our digital SmartTeach platform also delivers in-the-moment guidance directly within our curricula—small, accessible bursts of professional learning that can be reinforced through the Teacher Membership’s online community. Finally, we host free live and on-demand webinars and share insights in our blog for all early childhood educators and leaders.

When I think back to my early years as a teacher, I can’t help but wonder how much faster I could have grown in my career if I had access to these digital tools that open up a world of flexibility, community, and support.

That’s the future we’re building at Teaching Strategies: one where every educator has the tools, training, and community they need to thrive. And when educators thrive, so do the children they serve.