Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education

The Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (JECTE) is seeking manuscripts for a special issue focusing on professionalizing Early Childhood (ECE) Teacher Education following the work of advancing the early childhood field through a critical stance to the “Unifying Framework” of Early Childhood Teacher Education (https://powertotheprofession.org/unifyingframework/ under the auspices of the Commission on Professional Excellence in Early Childhood Education https://www.commissionece.org/).
Manuscripts that examine the research on initiatives through local and state government, community, university, community colleges, and hopefully partnerships between these agencies for professionalizing the ECE field are welcomed. Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method research methods are encouraged.

Potential topics related to Professionalizing the ECE field include but are not limited to:
• Partnership efforts, i.e., between teacher education, communities, government agencies
• Local and state initiatives
• Diversifying the Early Childhood teacher workforce
• Competencies for Professionalism
• Professional development models
• Teacher development
• Compensation issues
• Partnerships with foundations
• Teacher education competencies aligned with the Unifying Framework of Early Childhood Teacher Education
• Advocacy efforts for the Unifying Framework of Early Childhood Teacher Education
• Grow-your-Own Early Childhood Teacher Education initiatives
• Other related topics

All articles will go through a double-blind peer review. Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere. Please refer to Instructions for Authors when preparing your manuscript.

Deadlines
July 15, 2024: Submit Intent to Develop a Proposal (Letter of Interest). Send a one paragraph email message with the subject line “Intent to Develop a Proposal” and include a short bibliography showing your areas of expertise. This should be emailed to Lynn Hartle ([email protected]) & Ursula Thomas ([email protected])

August 15, 2024. Submit Full Proposal. Prospective authors should prepare a proposal of 600 to 800 words and email it to Lynn Hartle ([email protected]) & Ursula Thomas ([email protected]).
Format of Proposal (600 to 800 words)
(1) Study overview and a short review of the literature
(2) Methods
(3) Findings
(4) Conclusions and Implications
(5) The significance of the focal research for advancing research in childhood education, with a focus on “professionalizing the field of ECE”

September 15, 2024: Proposal Feedback. Authors will be notified whether their proposals are accepted.

October 15, 2024: Submission of Completed Manuscript. All submitted manuscripts will undergo the standard JECTE double-blind review process. Please note that receiving an invitation to submit a full manuscript does not guarantee the eventual acceptance of the manuscript for the Theme Issue. Please follow the Instructions for authors and submit completed manuscripts at the JECTE submission portal. Submissions should include:
• Unstructured abstract of 200 words
• Five (5) keywords
• Main document of ~8,000 words, including references and tables.
For further information, please contact the JECTE Editor in charge of content for this issue: Lynn Hartle ([email protected]) & Ursula Thomas ([email protected])

February 15, 2025: Decision from Editor Sent to Authors: After review of comments from blind reviewers, editors will make decisions of reject, major revisions, minor revision, or accept.

March 15, 2025 Revised Manuscripts Due: Revised manuscripts should be uploaded in the JECTE submission portal. If further revisions are deemed necessary, authors will be notified by April 15, 2025, second revisions would be due by May 15, 2025.

Expected publication [online] date: September 30, 2025 -Volume 46, Issue 3.

Instructions for AuthorsSubmit an Article