Professional Identity
A group of state partners and stakeholders have been developing a way to highlight the skills and knowledge that educators bring to their jobs in early childhood education. This work has resulted in a revision to the Career Lattice and Registry. Through this work, a new Educator Designation has been drafted to replace the Career Lattice and a vision for a Registry Dashboard has also been developed. The Educator Designation can be found here and the Registry Dashboard can be found here.
Sample Professional Identity Components
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Education and PD Report
Registry Dashboard
Educator Designation
Career Lattice
Arizona has a diverse and growing community of professionals who work with or on behalf of young children and their families. Just as this community has grown, so has Arizona’s commitment to supporting the ongoing professional development of all early childhood professionals across all sectors of early care and education, early intervention, mental health, physical health, and social services/child welfare working with expectant parents, infants, toddlers, young children to age eight, and their families.
To ensure high-quality early childhood programs for young children, it is necessary to have a highly competent workforce for the early childhood field. The Arizona Career Lattice is a tool within the Registry that provides the pathway of education, professional development, and work experience for early childhood professionals to use for individualized assessment, setting professional development goals, and documentation of progress in career development.
The Career Lattice reflects the following:
- Knowledge and skills can be developed through work experience
- Knowledge and skills can be developed through professional development
- College education is essential to developing a highly competent workforce
The Career Lattice aligns with the Arizona Early Childhood Workforce Knowledge and Competencies (WKCs). The difference is that the Workforce Knowledge and Competencies reflect the progression of knowledge and skills while the Career Lattice reflects the path a professional takes to obtain them.