ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

Not one of my Childcare lead teachers has a degree. They all are concerned "caregivers" who love children. They are nurturing, caring, informed, and well-prepared to spend a "full" day with active children who are missing their parents for the hours they are with us. It is their past experiences working with children that makes them so good for these children. I have fired "more qualified, degreed" adults who had not a clue what to do with children all day. Soon mothers will be fired as unqualified, because they have no degree. Before they enter school at age 5 and beyond, the care and attention that children receive is extremely important. They don't need watered down elementary education, they need childhood experiences.

I am a first time director of a small non profit day care and have been a preschool teacher for the last 10. I definately am learning that good grades and a college degree do not necessarily make a good teacher. I struggle now with some of my staff who have the training and are not implementing what they have learned. Partially due to the fact that they don't actually want to teach this age group, but were unable to find first time teaching positions. What saddens me is I have a teacher in my toddler room working on her CDA who is excellent with the children, who has a great work ethic yet makes substanially less than the other two teachers. College degrees mean little if the knowledge is not used in the classroom. What we need most in early childhood is good training that is hands on and impacts the classroom in a real way. We need teachers willing to work, and to make a commitment because of the children. I am pro education, but I don't believe that we can judge quality by only one standard. I myself have only an associates degree and some additonal course work in early literacy--although I would love to go back for my bachelors I have neither the time nor the money to do and my position definately would not pay for the additional education. Plus, to often teachers who come away with a Bachelors degree don't have a knowledge based on infant/toddlers or young threes their education hasn't prepared them for the world of child care. CDA's and associate degree's often provide more real skills for child care than any four year degree does.

This situation puts me in a quandry about what I feel is necessary to ensure quality,affordable care for young children. I have been in the early childhood field 30+ years and this is a topic I have dealt with for some time, in the variety of positions I have held throughout the years. I currently work with a community college covering 22,000 square miles and deal with diverse staff who are being bombarded with new mandates re: their educational attainment. What I see happening is very capable, dedicated and qualified (trained)staff once obtaining either their two or four degrees leaving the field and working in public school settings where they are paid more for maybe even working less directly with children. I earned my CDA Credential way back in the 70's and I personally think that in many child care/early educational settings the CDA Credential is still the most appropriate training and preparation. When I recently completed a survey on what "quality" meant to Native American parents and providers the number one response had to deal with interactions between the staff and children: not group size, not adult to child ratio or even the education of staff. Another important area besides implementing developmentally and culturally appropriate practices, and the handling of classroom managment issues, is the viewing of child care providers and early educators as professionals in their field and not seeing themselves simply as baby sitters. Unfortuantely in this vast nation of ours, there seems to be the application of mandates and standards without the consideration of what such implementation creates in communities where formal education is not easily accessible, affordable or even applicable to the communities families. All children deserve the best quality early childhood experience granted, but how do we equally assure that? And who should determine the definition of "quality" for the field?

I believe education is something everyone should strive for. I think it is especially important for teachers to lead by example. We want our children to have a thirst for knowledge and experiences so we need to model this. I know realistically it is hard for everyone to obtain their degree especially in this field. I know I work full-time as a Preschool Director of a faithbased Early Childhood Center and I am a married mother of four. There has to be support for those people that have the determination and drive to work towards this goal. The education system needs to get more creative in how these degrees can be obtained. We need to push the envelope and make it possible for everyone if it is going to be the standard!

A piece of paper does not make a teacher. The love for children does! Some people with degrees are great some are just book smart they pasted all the test to get the degrees and tend to over analyze. I feel the childcare profession can not with stand the pay scale a perosn with degrees will require.