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While professional development opportunities are available in the evenings and
weekends, Mary’s family commitments made participation unlikely. Rose, Felicia, and
Layla, on the other hand, participated in various professional events over the course of
this research study and received compensation from their employers. When attending
professional development events on the weekend, conference fees were covered. When
attending events during the work week, in addition to having the conference fees covered,
Rose, Layla, and Felicia continued to receive full pay. This benefit was not available to
Mary, and while she may have been willing to personally subsidize her professional
development, family obligations made the weekend opportunities inaccessible.
Early childhood educators need to view professional development as necessary
and on-going. All four of the teachers in this study did express the belief that professional
development was important to their practice. However, their commitment to professional
development seemed to correlate with the support they received from their centres. With
the exception of Mary, each of the participants actively searched for more challenging
opportunities. Their attendance at development sessions contributed to an improved
image of themselves as professionals. Mary did not participate in many professional
development sessions. Perhaps, this contributed to her dissatisfaction her experience with
emergent curriculum. She did not appear to have a positive image of her ability to
effectively provide the children with emergent curriculum experiences.
Access to professional development, or the lack of these opportunities, factored
into the case study teachers’ ability to implement an emergent curriculum with
satisfaction. The policy of the workplace towards professional development was
especially influential. When the teachers were supported in their efforts to change their