4 THE COMPETENT EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE SYSTEM IN THE CITY OF GHENT: A LONG- TERM INVESTMENT IN CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Jan Peeters, Chris De Kimpe and Steven Brandt Introduction Childcare in the city of Ghent has a long history and has been extensively doc- umented by reports, articles and videos since the end of the 1970s (Peeters, 1993; Peeters, 2008, UNESCO, 2010, De Meyer, 2012). In 1979, before any Continuing Professional Development (CPD) initiatives were taken, a baseline quality measurement was carried out. Later studies on the impact of the CPD initiatives on the quality of the services were set up in 1982 and 1984 (Peeters, 1993) and documented through videos (Peeters, 2008). In 2011 a case study was conducted as part of the CoRe research (Peeters & Brandt, 2011; Brandt, 2012). That case study examined the competences of childcare practitioners working with under threes in disadvantaged neighbourhoods and how these practitioners were perceived by their peers and by pedagogical counsellors as excellent workers. This research focussed especially on the acquisition of competences required to work with ethnic minorities, disadvantaged and low-income families. A focus group with four coordinators of childcare centres was set up to study professional devel- opment policies at the institutional level. Further on, biographical interviews with nine childcare workers from three different Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services were organised. After one month, the researcher conducted an in depth interview with the same nine practitioners. Four core themes deriving from the biographical interviews were discussed: 1. the (changing) views about working with parents; 2. the impact of working with children and families in disadvantaged neighbourhoods; ers, 2008, UNESCO ers, 2008, UNESCO g Professional Develo Professional Deve and 2010, De M 2010, De M ment (CPD) ment (CPD Francis yer, 2012). In 1979, be yer, 2012). In 1979, be nitiatives were taken, a nitiatives were taken, a Not asurement w asurement w n the qualit n the qualit for s carried s carried of the se of the distribution ut. Later studies on the impact of t ut. Later studies on the impact of t vices were set up in 1982 and 1984 vices were set up in 1982 and 1984 brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by Ghent University Academic Bibliography