Making the Core Body of Knowledge come alive in practice
Introducing the Primary Competencies for Early Childhood Educators
Every day, early childhood practitioners respond to questions, nurture ideas and build warm, joyful relationships with young children. These moments are the result of thoughtful decisions that draw on many kinds of knowledge, skills, and ways of being that shape how educators support young children.
The Core Body of Knowledge: New York State’s Core Competencies for Early Childhood Educators is a resource that provides a comprehensive outline of effective early childhood practice. Professional development providers, higher education leaders, coaches, and trainers use it to guide coursework, training, and professional learning.
The Core Body of Knowledge is a complex and layered document that helps create a common foundation for a diverse workforce. To support teachers and caregivers in their day-to-day work, the New York Early Childhood Professional Development Institute has developed a complementary resource: the Primary Competencies for Early Childhood Educators: A Practitioner’s Companion to the Core Body of Knowledge.
Bringing the competencies into everyday practice
Designed to reflect everyday practice, the Primary Competencies organize the essential abilities for early childhood educators in a clear, accessible structure. Each competency includes elements of knowledge (what educators should understand about young children and effective caregiving), skills (what they should be able to do), and dispositions (how they approach their work).
Within each area, Focus Areas describe more specific concepts and themes, along with examples of practice. This structure is designed to make the CBK approachable without losing its depth.
“The content is organized in an intentional way — not to ‘simplify’ the Core Body of Knowledge, but to amplify it so everyone is able to access the ideas,” says Lori Falchi, an early childhood coach at PDI.
Practice examples offer a common language for exploring real situations, helping educators connect theory to application.
“The other day, I was speaking with an educator who had questions about what a social studies curriculum for early childhood might look like,” says Emily Torres, a Quality Improvement Specialist who works with program leaders through QUALITYstarsNY. “The practice examples give us concrete and tangible ways to have deeper conversations. I appreciate having a tool at my side to say, ‘Let’s unpack this together.’”
Recognizing what educators already know and do
By organizing familiar practices into a shared framework, the competencies make implicit knowledge more visible.
“I’ve been in the early childhood field for 30 years, and I’ve always heard, ‘You can’t teach disposition,’” says Torres. “But I can help people discover it within themselves through reflective conversations, and that’s empowering.”
Deborah Fitzgerald, a senior professional development coordinator at the New York Association for the Education of Young Children (NYAEYC), says practitioners exploring the Primary Competencies “will be amazed at how much of this you already do.”
“The Primary Competencies allow you to say, ‘I have this foundation of knowledge. Where am I missing a piece that I need to strengthen my foundation? Or what do I want to build?’” she says. “Once you have your foundation, you’re in charge of where you want to go.”
A tool for reflection and growth
The Primary Competencies can also be used as a tool for reflection, particularly when paired with the Professional Development Planning Tool.
“These are aspirational,” Falchi explained. “It’s a blueprint for where we want to grow as a field — not a measuring stick.”
Self-reflection is a critical part of professional growth in early childhood education. Rather than asking educators to demonstrate mastery across all areas, the PD Planning Tool offers prompts, questions, and self-assessments to help educators:
reflect on their current practice
identify strengths and areas for growth
determine which competencies or Focus Areas they want to explore more deeply
Meeting educators where they are
The Primary Competencies are designed to support educators at all stages of their careers. For those new to the field, they offer a clear entry point — helping educators understand expectations and see examples of effective practice in concrete ways. For more experienced educators and leaders, they provide depth and nuance, pointing toward areas for continued growth and reflection.
“Engaging with the Primary Competencies should feel approachable for educators,” says Fitzgerald. “It makes you feel like you’ll progress over time.”
Finding an entry point
Both the CBK and the Primary Competencies are comprehensive by design — but that doesn’t mean they should be absorbed all at once.
“There’s a whole pie here,” Falchi explains, “but you’re not going to eat the whole pie. Start by taking a slice.”
The structure of the Primary Competencies, with its nine core areas, helps make that possible. It offers educators a way to focus without losing sight of the broader picture.
“The Core Body of Knowledge isn’t something you read cover to cover,” agrees Fitzgerald. “Even trainers are not going to be experts on every section. The idea is to hone in on one or two areas you want to focus on.”
An invitation to engage
Ultimately, the Primary Competencies are meant to be lived with. Educators should return to them over time as they grow in their practice, connecting the broader vision of the Core Body of Knowledge with the daily decisions, interactions, and reflections that define early childhood education.
“I think of it as a roadmap, a journey, rather than boxes we can just check off,” says Torres. “Come to it with an experience, a specific idea, a situation, and stay in that area.”
As Falchi describes it, “This is expansive. It’s complex thinking. But these are tools made to be used at your discretion, and strategies that are here when you’re ready for them.”
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