ECC PDI

May 19 - 23, 2025

Montego Bay Convention Centre
Rose Hall, Rose Hall Road, Montego Bay, JAMAICA

Or join us online using your data-enabled
device to join the tracks that will be live streamed
via YouTube and Facebook.

The Professional Development Institute will bring together for five days local, regional and international exchange of research ideas and experiences that shape Early Childhood Development today.

Each day will offer plenary sessions, and workshops with practical demonstrations. Participants will be offered over 30 unique workshops that span the areas of ECD Global Perspectives. This Year’s Offering of PDI, themed, “High-Quality Early Childhood Care and Education: A Child’s Right Not a Service” includes the consideration of the following ideas which will find expression through the workshops, discussions, and plenary sessions which are being organised:

Children’s right to High-Quality Early Childhood Education
Providing access to High-Quality Early Childhood Education as a Nation.
Providing High-Quality Early Childhood Education in the Home
Providing High-Quality Early Childhood Education in Schools

The workshops and sessions offered will be relevant and engaging and will facilitate several hundreds per session. The Professional Development Institute is another highly anticipated 5-day event that will be officially opened on the first day.

This year marks ECC’s sixth PDI is scheduled for May 19-23, 2025, and will be hosted face-to-face. The PDI is proposed to be held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre. The Keynote Address will be delivered by Rokoya Fall Diawara Education Specialist, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). The programme will include interactive concurrent workshops and plenary sessions facilitated by experts in child rights and ECCE. The sessions will be organised under eight (8) tracks with their respective workshops and plenary sessions.

The PDI 2025 tracks are outlined below:

Track 1: Parenting-Article 18
Track 2: Early Learning and Care-Article 24
Track 3: Children’s Expression- Article 31
Track 4: Inclusion-Article 23
Track 5: STREAM-Article 28
Track 6: ARTS in ECD-Article 31
Track 7: Leadership- Article 29
Track 8: Advocacy- Article 4

The aim of PDI 2025 is to raise awareness on children’s right to high quality early childhood care and education. The PDI will inform parents, practitioners and partners about the rights of the child as under the Article 28 of the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of a Child (UNCRC), General Assembly Resolution 65/197 in so keeping with the achievement of Goal 1 of Vision 2030 “world-class education and training”. The specific objectives of the PDI 2025 are as follows:

Recognise the goal of Vision 2030 in making Jamaica ‘the place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business”, through the recognition of children’s right to quality early childhood education.
To increase the level of awareness of stakeholders, who engage with children birth to 8 years, on General Comment Seven: Implementing Child Rights in Early Childhood.
To train participants including children on how to implement child’s rights in early childhood as part of their daily activities and areas of work.
To determine appropriate strategies for implementing child’s rights in early childhood across sectors at the national and regional levels.
Inform all stakeholders involved in the care and development of children of the tools needed to support children’s growth and developmental needs.
Provide training and development opportunities to practitioners that align with the ECC and global agendas for providing high-quality early childhood education in the 21st Century.
Present national, regional and international data that inform best practices in providing high-quality early childhood education.