My point of view when it comes to be an Early Childhood Educator (ECE) is that we as adults are the role model, the person that they look up to so we as an ECE have a great responsibility teaching them what they needs for when they grow. They are experiencing the world for the very first time and us (the educators) and the parents, we are going to work together as a team to help the child develop their skills and knowledge in a safe environment. They are going to learn to socialize and behave in society, how to control their feelings and how to be part of the world. This is some of the basic education they need to start with and this is going to be taught through play, and as you get to know the children and their families and get the families’ support it’s easier to guide the children and help them grow.
Of course this is not an easy job, it requires lots of patience, understanding, compassion, humour, and of course love. When you develop a relationship of trust and love, the child is much more willing to listen to you and for you to help them grow, and this is the same with the families. When you develop a good relationship of trust and respect we become a great support for the parents and the perfect teammate to guide their children. When all this happens in a loving and safe environment, the child feels safe and opens up and is willing to learn. They start becoming independent and that helps them grow more secure and believe in its own self that they can become self-sufficient and have success, and at the same time to learn ways, if they fail, to work on their failures to accomplish success. They will also learn that all their actions have consequences either good or bad and they will learn to deal with the consequences and their feelings and a way to show their feeling in an appropriate ways.
As you can see, is not easy but if you have the heart and love children, nothing else matters.
As for the structure of our classes, there is lots of theory. I would call it “relevant information” because at the very beginning of the course, for example, we talk and are tested about the ratio and the children allowed by licensing in each of the different childcare centres. This information, you need to know when you are in the field and some of this information is important to know when you’re working in the field. And everything that you see and do, you’re going to put it into practice. In this course you have lots of handouts, you have some tests, you have some assignments and you definitely have some practical hands-on.
The course is very fast pace with lots of assignments throughout the year, but if you start well from the very begging, everything will be under control.
One thing that it freaked me out at the begging was the orientation week because we had to complete some modules to help to get to know our own selves better in terms of how we study or how we manage stress in exams etc. and when I did it, it didn’t turn out very well, so I started thinking that I was not going to be good at school because of all the things that I was going to struggle, but once we actually started the program and by doing the modules I got more aware of the things I had trouble with, the study strategies modules wasn’t as big of a deal as I thought.
Mavy Alisian Alvarez
Born to nurture
On life’s many paths, fortunate are those born with a strong, unshaken sense of direction. Mavy Alvarez is…
