Higher education faculty beliefs in preparing the early learning and care workforce to work with dual language learners

Dual language learners (DLLs) represent a large portion of children ages birth through five in the United States. California (CA) is one of the states with the largest DLL populations with about 59% of people in CA identifying as DLLs. While DLLs constitute a large portion of children in California, early learning and care (ELC) educators in California do not receive adequate preparation to work with this population. Institutions of higher education (IHE) are key in supporting the ELC workforce to obtain the skills necessary to work with DLL children. A mixed-method study was conducted to identify the beliefs faculty in California hold regarding preparing the ELC workforce to work with DLLs. One hundred and forty-one early childhood education/child development (ECE/CD) faculty throughout California participated in the study. Results indicated that most of the participants have positive attitudes toward embedding DLL content in ECE/CD courses, but some have reservations about offering DLL-specific courses and teaching courses in languages other than English. Implications for IHEs, policymakers, and research are provided.