Evaluation of the MOVERS professional development program

The intervention was a six-month professional development program for early childhood educators. The professional development included theory, practice and pedagogical reflective thinking components and was delivered in two phases. Phase 1 was a one-day (7 hours) face-to-face professional development session (April 2018) and Phase 2 comprised 4 half-day professional development sessions (3.5 hours each, May – October 2018) and mentoring sessions. The one-day professional development (Phase 1) focused on the importance of quality in early childhood settings and available tools to assess quality in early childhood education settings. Specifically, the professional development focused on the quality of the movement environment which is inclusive of resources and equipment, fine and gross motor skill, conversations and interactions (between children, educators and families), movement vocabulary and risk-taking behaviours. A key component of the one-day professional development was discussion pertaining to the Movement Environment Rating Scale (the MOVERS scale). The MOVERS scale is a tool that is used to assess the quality of the movement environment in early childhood education settings. It includes 11 items and 4 subscales. Quality is assessed through day long observations, where the quality of the movement environment is rated on a 7-point scale, with 1 indicating minimal quality and 7 indicating excellent quality. During the observations, indicators in each Item are marked as present or absent. An overall score of quality for each Item is then derived and summed to produce subscale scores and a total score. Educators were provided with opportunities to engage in the content of the MOVERS scale, practice using the MOVERS scale, through a sorting card game and ask questions about the MOVERS scale. Item 2 of the MOVERS scale was also discussed during the one-day professional development session. Item focuses on resources and equipment and how they are used in early childhood settings. Educators were encouraged to participate in hands on activities (such as: “design a learning experience which uses all of the following resources - balloons, number cards, pool noodles, ice cream containers etc.”) and then engage with the indicators of Item 2. Current research was presented and several examples of what high quality (in relation to Item 2) looks like in early childhood settings were discussed. Examples were provided using photo and videos. Educators were then encouraged to reflect on their pedagogy and practice pertaining to the Item 2 and consider how it could be modified based on their new knowledge about quality in this area. Reflective questions such as “How could the resources be changed or modified in your setting” were asked. Phase 2 involved half day sessions and mentoring sessions. During these sessions educators were asked to reflect on their pedagogy and practice since the last session and discuss any challenges and barriers that they may have experienced. Group discussions were facilitated to enable professional conversations between educators and an opportunity to trouble shoot particular scenarios from their settings. Following this, another Item from the MOVERS scale was introduced and discussed. Similar teaching strategies as used for Item 2 were used to discuss the other items. Items 5, 8, 9, and 10 were the focus items for the four half day sessions. The mentoring sessions were completed via phone or email and were dispersed between the half-day PD sessions. These acted as support mechanisms for educators as they made changes within their centres. All professional development sessions were facilitated by two researchers who had experience in early childhood research. Retention of educators participating in the professional development sessions were collected through attendance records. Educators were provided with the powerpoint slides used in each professional development session. These slides were study specific and hence are not readily available. Additionally at the end of each professional development session, educators were encouraged to complete a short questionnaire which asked questions about the session (i.e., what they found helpful, key components of the session, what could have been detailed further etc)