Ei-iE

New findings of the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) Starting Strong, an international large-scale survey conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), underline a global reality and union demand: quality early childhood education (ECE) depends on stable jobs, supported by fair pay, time, training, and staffing levels that make good pedagogy possible.

A workforce carrying the education system without fair conditions to do the job

The webinar, entitled TALIS Starting Strong: New Evidence for the Early Childhood Education Workforce, held on April 16th, 2026, aimed to create space for Education International (EI) member organisations to discuss what the data of TALIS Starting Strong 2024 implies for strengthening ECE systems through better working conditions and training.

Opening the discussion, Antonia Wulff, EI’s Director of Research, Policy, and Advocacy, welcomed the chance to engage with evidence that reflects what unions have documented for years: “The report’s findings point to a workforce under strain. Persistent, structural staff shortages, high levels of stress, and limited opportunities for professional development are the reality of ECE teachers.”

She underlined that, while ECE educators report high job satisfaction, many are dissatisfied with pay, career prospects, and recognition, showing a system that relies on commitment while undervaluing the people who make early learning possible.

“Strong systems” must be strong workplaces

Presenting the report’s findings, Elizabeth Shuey, analyst in the OECD’s Early Childhood Education and Care team, insisted that any serious definition of quality must include staff wellbeing and career pathways: “Strong ECEC systems are also for the workforce, because these are workplaces for the staff that work there.”

She added that strong systems must offer “job satisfaction and career progression, as well as opportunities for learning and collaboration while keeping stress at reasonable levels.”

The TALIS Starting Strong survey reflects the voices of staff and leaders in pre-primary education and settings for children under age three across 17 countries and subnational entities, and it highlights persistent workforce shortages alongside stress linked to workload and limited resources.

It also shows that educators across countries place strong emphasis on children’s social and emotional development - many report helping children “express their feelings every day” - while other practices such as daily reading vary widely.

ECE leaders report strong and frequent communication with families, but “less regular interaction with child development specialists or with health-related services,” even as many staff work with children whose home language differs from the language used in the educational setting, an added challenge that demands support.

Training to shape practice, still out of reach for too many educators

On professional learning, the data points to participation but also to barriers and gaps. While more than 80% of staff participated in professional development in the year before the survey, primarily through courses, seminars or workshops, far fewer engaged in job-embedded and collaborative learning.

That matters because, as Elizabeth Shuey noted, job-embedded approaches “can be most successful in terms of changing practise,” and coaching, “one of the most impactful forms of ongoing professional development, was available for “less than 40% of staff in the year before the survey.”

She went on underlining that “working with children with special education needs” is the top area where staff say they need more professional development, while accommodating children with special needs is also a major source of stress in the context of insufficient training and far too many responsibilities.

Professional autonomy can alleviate stress, she added, but autonomy cannot compensate for chronic understaffing and overload.

Pay, recognition, and the gendered undervaluation of ECE

The TALIS Starting Strong evidence exposes a persistent gap between the value early childhood educators create and the way they are valued by society. Staff often feel valued by children and families, but “feel much less valued by society,” and satisfaction with salary is low across countries.

As Antonia Wulff recognised, “ECE teachers are committed, motivated, and passionate about their work. But they are too often undervalued financially and socially.” She linked this to a “longstanding global undervaluation and underfunding of early childhood education and, critically, of the predominantly female workforce that delivers it.”

That gendered reality also shapes attrition: Over 90% of the ECE workforce are women, and reducing staff shortages must account for staff balancing care roles at work and at home, especially in low-wage jobs where women are most often pushed out to provide unpaid care.

Union reflections: one struggle, many contexts

During the webinar, EI member organisations also reflected on the relevance of the data to the daily reality of their members to sharpen union strategies.

From New Zealand, Cassie Katene of NZEI Te Riu Roa noted that “the challenges we face are the same worldwide.”

She also stressed that “we all know that teachers working conditions are students learning conditions.” And she issued a warning about “business driven decisions and reforms that place profit ahead of children and undermine pay and conditions for teachers,” insisting that “serious investment and learning support” is essential.

She went on calling for organising power, especially in private, for-profit chains: “With a unified voice and collective power, the potential for change is huge.”

Jon Kaurel of the Union of Education Norway described what happens when staffing collapses: a “kindergarten staffing crisis” that forces closures or reduced opening hours, threatening to reduce early education to “childminding and not pedagogical practises.”

He linked workload to rising mental illnesses and explained that new tasks are “simply added on top of everything,” worsening stress and work-life balance. He also delivered the evidence-based message that “sufficient staff and decent salaries are needed to retain and attract qualified kindergarten teachers.”

From Benin, Gaétan Kponoukon, General Secretary of the Syndicat national des enseignants des écoles maternelles du Bénin (SYNAEM-Benin), reported that the OECD data resonates with union realities across Africa: ECE is underfunded and under-recognised, rules improving status are implemented slowly, and teachers often work on precarious contracts.

He also highlighted: “The early childhood education sector is at the very basis of any education system. Without decent status and good working conditions for ECE teachers, there cannot be quality education.”

Marjolaine Perreault, Director General of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec (CSQ) and member of the EI Executive Board, underscored how shortages and underfunding hit ECE hardest in Quebec, and warned that “short-term” fixes, i.e. fewer qualified staff and more short-term training, undermine qualification standards, stability, and quality.

She also highlighted union gains, noting pay increases and investments in continuous professional development. She added that “we have to reinvest in the public sector, improve working conditions and value the profession.”

From evidence to bargaining making data work for workers

Closing the meeting, Antonia Wulff encouraged affiliates to acknowledge the political value of evidence: “Often having data from a neutral expert like the OECD will benefit us as we engage with governments, institutions, policy processes.”

She also urged unions to pursue national TALIS launches - ideally co-hosted with governments; because the findings “echo what we have been arguing and demanding for years.”

You can read more on EI’s policy on ECE here.

The EI Summary, The findings of Starting Strong: Key data on the profession, is available here.