Opportunities & challenges in early childhood education

Early childhood education (ECE) is a branch of education theory that relates to the teaching of children from birth up to the age of 8 years. ECE is described as an important period in child development, Early learning is an exploration that children pursue at their own pace.

The purpose of (ECE) is to provide children with strategies that help them develop the emotional, social, physical and cognitive skills needed, to become lifelong learners. UNESCO supports high-quality ECE as one of its sustainable developmental goals. Considered to be 'the cradle of social cohesion', an early childhood education programme will strive to support a child's understanding of themselves as individuals in a relationship to others.

Now, let us see the opportunities that will follow when faced with challenges.

Challenges

Teacher-child ratio

Since the teacher-child ratio is not appropriate in some schools, it gets challenging for the teacher to manage so many children together. Every child in the class has different needs and catering to each of them can be a difficult task. It takes a lot of patience and effort in retaining the kid's attention as they tend to get distracted easily.

Lesson planning is tedious

Pre-primary does not a have set curriculum.

The teachers not only have to work on the curriculum but also on its implementation by making arrangements for various activities, and observing and documenting the children's progress. Figuring out lesson plans that would work for all children becomes difficult as one needs to consider the developmental needs of several children.

Communicating with parents

Keeping parents at par with their child's everyday learning and growth is one of the most important steps in process

Of teaching toddlers. But equipped with so many other tasks at hand it is not easy to update the parents of every child. This part of their job requires a lot of time, energy and patience.

Low salary

An early childhood educator earns a lower salary than professionals working in other jobs. The uneven balance between pay and the amount of workload is just another pressure point for the teachers.

Lack of recognition and value

The work that preschool teachers do is honest, humble and crucial, as some of the most important cognitive developments in a child happen before the age of 5 years. the teachers are not just helping out the parents but also laying down the initial bricks that will form the foundation of the skills and intellect that a child develops upon growing up.

But even though the work they do is important, early childhood educators are often underestimated, unrecognized and unappreciated for the amount of effort they put in.

Opportunities

Skilled early childhood education professionals

In the rapidly changing world there is no doubting the significance of a child's early years and thereby the need for skilled early childhood professionals.

Those early childhood educators who have invested in honing their skills are currently being flooded with opportunities.

Career options

Career options for skilled professionals include curriculum designing, counselling, school administration, and research work.

Short-time online courses, international certificates and diplomas offer quick but highly effective learning tools for teachers to upgrade themselves.

Upskill

Teachers also have to prepare themselves to use technology as a partner. Since the pandemic digitisation has provided a new playing field for educators if they are able to master it. Online teaching is here to stay and remain an integral part of teaching in the near future.

Be future-ready

The very essence of teaching is changing and the teachers of the future must be prepared to be data collectors, analysts, planners, collaborators, curriculum experts, problem solvers and researchers.

Early Childhood education is the need of the times. Those who are making the decision to enter the field should be aware that they will face both, challenges and opportunities. If the last year or so has taught us anything is that the challenges the teachers face today may not be the same ones they will face the following year.

(The author is the Pre-Primary Teacher, Bloomingdales Pre Primary)