Fundamentals of early childhood education - Essay Example

1.0 Introduction Early childhood is a critical period in the life of every child. During this period, the foundation is laid for all later development and learning, including critical skills and dispositions for academic learning, for relating to others, and for becoming positive contributors to peer groups, families, and communities. Children develop these skills through active participation with their peers, their families, and their communities, in contexts that include but are not limited to home, preschool, child care, Head Start, play groups, libraries, parks, and places of worship. All young children, including those who have disabilities, are dependent upon the experiences and opportunities available within these everyday contexts as they build a solid foundation for development and learning. The assignment delegated to us was to experience and evaluate a child care facility with the view of gaining valuable knowledge on the operations of our future workplace. This I accomplished with such great eagerness as I was able to appreciate the environment. In the following sections, I will be detailing the information that I have garnered during the course of the study. I will be referring to the child care facility as "the center' and will be mentioning people by letters such as A, B, C and the like. This anonymity may seem to be confusing but it is necessary so as to avoid any conflicts that may arise. 2.0 Provision of Child Care 2.1 Caregiver Lively, very caring, loving and also very cheerful- these are the traits that characterize the staff in the center. When I interviewed a caregiver on what was her rationale in caring fro the child, she said that it's necessary to imagine that you're a star. That is be focus of attention and the "twinkle, twinkle" star that brightens the night sky, comforting and inspiring with its presence and light The caregivers were very much sensitive as you can actually observe them tuning in to a child's behavior, taking time to notice and trying to understand what a baby or very young child wants to "say" with movements or sounds, with facial expressions or gestures. Children find all sorts of ways to express their wants, their interests, and their pleasures without ever speaking a word. They notice these cries, hums, kicks, reaches, frowns, chuckles, squeals and gurgles and begins to understand them as clearly as speech. They are also very prompt in responding to a child. A prompt response is one that follows the child's behavior as quickly as possible. Their actions are also very appropriate as they shape her interaction by matching the young child's behavior as closely as possible in terms of features like the loudness or softness of their voice, the level of emotion in their expression, and the kinds of gestures they make. 2.2 Health and Safety With regards to health and safety, the center is very much prepared and has accreditations and permits from different health agencies. These documents were shown to me. The measures they have installed include emergency policies, provisions, and education for staff, children, and parents. In managing injuries, for example, they follow these steps: survey the scene, assess the injured child, provide immediate care for the child including first aid, notify parents, obtain emergency medical care if needed and document and report the incident and actions taken. I was also told that the caregivers communicate sensitively with the injured child and other children during and after injuries and brief their parents to address their fears and concerns. They also have provision for safety surveillance, medication administration, medical emergencies, dental emergencies, first aid, emergency contacts such as police, fire, ambulance, poison control, child protective services, notifying parents, transporting children, evacuation of the site and emergency shelter (e.g., for fire, storm, earthquake, bomb threat, power failure) and dangerous parent situations (e.g., non-custodial parent, intoxication, threat of violence, unauthorized person) 2.3 Environment The center's environments are very conducive to the purpose they serve. Activity centers are full of creative drawings and play items. Every sheet or mattress has colorful designs. Lighting is also adequate for the situation - not too bright, not too dim either. Sleeping corners are also provided. The center complies with fire protection, environmental and safety requirements. They have two means of exit through protected corridors with the required fire separations. Audible and visual fire alarm signals are also provided with fire emergency also announced thru a 24-hour manned security post. There is also smoke detection system located in the sleeping and napping areas of the center. Each classroom and activity room has one direct exit to the outside as the center consists of only one floor. Locks also do not require the use of a key, a tool, or special knowledge or effort for operation from the exit side. To control the noise, the material used for window and door glazing were acoustically laminated glass. Baffles, banners, and fabrics should be considered in the design to help absorb sound generated within a center. Computer cables are encased in conduits and channels. All hot equipment such as heaters are screened and inaccessible to children. 2.4 Activities There are many activities conducted in the center and most of them fall under the creative arts category and verbal skills. The creative arts include activities such as coloring, dancing, listening to music, singing and role playing. All of these are design to engage children's minds and senses. They invite children to listen, observe, move, solve problems, and imagine, using multiple modes of thought and self-expression. There are also numerical skills enhancing activities. For example, there is the count down on the calendar the number of days or weeks until a child's birthday arrives. The calendar also serves as an instrument in helping children learn the names of the days of the week and how many days of the week there are. Stickers or a special mark are used to mark for sunshine, raindrops, and snowflakes and keep track of the weather. There is also the measurement of height where there is a record of the child's height used for comparison. Children's heights are marked in the wall and development is measured within 2 weeks or more. Young children enjoy seeing how big they are getting and predict how big they will be next year. The marks on the wall are simply a graph of their growth. There are many more activities and they are all worth mentioning. However, we only restrict them to these examples for conciseness and brevity. 2.5 Guidance and Discipline Disciplining a child poses a serious challenge to the care giver because of the effects it may have on the children. In the center, the staff handles child offenses in a manner that would not cause harm to the child emotionally, mentally and certainly not physically. They also relate that they need to predict behavior so as to prevent the offense from occurring. The way the center handles guidance and discipline is illustrated in the following example. There was one child who about to hurl a block at another, the assigned adult firmly but gently help the child place it down with appropriate words such as, "Blocks can hurt. This one belongs right here." There was also this case of a boy who we will name as Henry. The boy used to dismantle everything because his psychotic father threatened to tear the children apart limb by limb if they got off the couch or out of bed. Intervention included getting the father into treatment and on medication and finding a toolkit for Henry to use to dismantle appropriate items to his heart's content. There is also the provision of consistent mental health consultation, instructive and experiential training, and weekly supervision of the staff especially when they are handling difficult situations. A child psychiatrist met with the staff for several hours weekly on a regular basis to understand behavior, to plan, and to evaluate effectiveness. Provided in the center are also combination of behavioral controls and reasonable consequences; well-trained, consistent staff; facilities that offer quiet spaces and comfort; activities that permit out-of-control children to work through difficult feelings; and a psychiatric recommendation for medication reserved only for preschool children who require more than tight structure. 3.0 Caregiver Qualifications Early childhood teachers should exhibit many different levels of educational preparation depending on their role, what type of setting in which they teach, and in which state that they teach within. I had the opportunity to communicate with three caregivers whom we designate as A, B and C. A is the supervisor of B and C but is also conducting educational and fun filled activities. B and C are the ones tasked to supervise the children assigned to them. A has a graduate degree in early childhood education or child development, B earned an associate degree in early childhood education, early child care and development, and child development while C developed competency through a competency-based assessment system such as the National Child Development Associate (CDA) program. The teachers/caregiver support quality child care by the way they conduct their affairs. They were caring and very supportive to their students. For example, they encourage children by making positive, specific comments such as "I see you've made a pattern-green, yellow, green, yellow" rather than offering broad general praise, such as "Good job." They also lad children through the thinking and problem-solving process by asking open-ended questions such as, "What will you need", "How might you "and "What could you do first" These are just some of the ways they show their support to quality child care. 4.0 Critique All in all, the program was excellent and if I am asked to point out only two reasons why I think so, it would be because of the center's dedication to quality service and the equipment for learning and care that they have. I have already mentioned them lengthily in the previous paragraphs. Suffice it to say, I would be willing to let my future children stay there for their early education. To be sure, the center is not perfect and there are instances where care is not promptly delivered. This happens especially when many children have tantrums at the same time. Even though the student-teacher ratio is small, service can only come one child at a time basis. There was also an incident where all kiddy toilets were out of order and the plumber cannot be contacted. The children had to make do with the adult toilets. 5.0 Recommendation I guess my recommendation would be to increase the number of caregivers and have redundancies for maintenance personnel. This would help in avoiding the instances I have mentioned in the critique. I would also like them to incorporate the music of children's cultures and home languages in the curriculum. Sing songs suggested by children's families. Sing along with a recorded version of a song until everyone learns the words. Introduce real or homemade versions of instruments that are typical of children's cultures. These would help children from other nationalities to cope better with their education. References: DeAngelis, Debra Jean. Study Guide Fundamentals of Early Childhood Education. Read More