A Promising Solution to Bring More Multilingual Workers into Early Childhood Field

Early childhood education and care (ECEC) systems across the United States face a deep shortage of workers. For immigrant-origin families with Dual Language Learner (DLL) children, these shortages compound their difficulties engaging with a sector that already struggles to effectively serve those who speak languages other than English.

The development and expansion of apprenticeship programs that are specifically designed for ECEC careers could help establish reliable pathways for immigrant workers to help fill the labor shortages faced by early childhood systems—a point particularly worth considering this week, which is National Apprenticeship Week.

Immigrants represent 20 percent of the ECEC workforce but are over-represented in lower-skilled and lower-paying jobs in the profession, with many employed informally.

A new commentary from the Migration Policy Institute’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy outlines how apprenticeship programs could bring more multilingual workers into the early childhood field. It offers recommendations that early childhood systems and workforce and educational providers should consider to ensure that ECEC apprenticeships live up to their promise.

You can read the commentary here: www.migrationpolicy.org/news/apprenticeships-early-childhood-education-care.

It is the latest work from the National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy focused on DLLs and their families. A recent report examines federal and state efforts to implement language access policies in major ECEC programs: www.migrationpolicy.org/research/language-access-early-childhood.

And for a look at DLL families by state, with important characteristics including languages spoken and parental education, check out our series of fact sheets: www.migrationpolicy.org/research/dual-language-learner-characteristics.