Teaching the Teachers

Lynne S. Noble

If we are serious about making sure that all of our children have every opportunity to reach their full potential, we need to start with our child-care settings.

Dr. Lynne S. Noble is Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at Columbia College in Columbia, South Carolina. She is a former director of Head Start, a former Montessori preschool teacher, and a former elementary school teacher. She has been a senior researcher at the University of South Carolina’s Center for Child and Family Studies and an Adjunct Professor at USC’s College of Education.

Every parent looks at his or her newborn child and dreams big dreams, hopes big hopes, and expects the best.

Parents with resources and support take their baby home and begin the process of early care and education. If a parent is able, and chooses to stay home, that parent has the time to play with and to talk to the baby, to create experiences in the home and community, and to do so in a relatively stress-free environment. If a parent with resources and support decides to work, that parent will most likely be an informed consumer of child care and make a choice of a center or program that is able to provide their baby with developmentally appropriate care.

Centers that are accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), for example, adhere to strict guidelines that ensure an environment that enhances a child’s development. National estimates indicate that only about 20 percent of all child-care settings are beneficial for infants and young children. Those parents with means will still have the resources and support to provide time and experiences for their child after working hours.

Parents without adequate resources or support, those who work long hours, possibly at two or more jobs, and who receive low wages and few or no benefits, however, do not have the luxury of directing their child’s day themselves, and, most likely, have to use child-care services that do not enhance their child’s well-being and may possibly create developmental delays. Their choices are limited by their circumstances, and then their children’s circumstances are limited by their choices.

If we are serious about making sure that all of our children have every opportunity to reach their full potential, we need to start with our child-care settings. All centers and programs must be high quality and accessible to all parents.
 

Photo by Gary Zeigler.

Invest for Best Return

The achievements of the Perry Preschool Project, the Nurse-Family Partnership program, and other early childhood success stories are exemplary, and the returns are impressive. Why? The teachers, classroom assistants, nurses, parent educators, and the directors in these projects are well trained and supervised, adequately paid, and able to work in suitably designed and equipped environments. This allows them to use the developmentally appropriate practices that optimize and stabilize every young child’s gains.

All caregivers and teachers must be highly trained. This doesn’t necessarily mean a college education, but it does mean more than a high school education followed by monthly, on-the-job, two-hour workshops. It means hiring and training program personnel who are sensitive to the diverse needs of diverse children and their families, but who can implement developmentally appropriate practice as spelled out by NAEYC. They must be supervised by directors who are college-educated in early childhood education, and who have experience working with children and their families. 

Caregivers and teachers must have the time, energy, and support to create individual relationships with the children, to understand their individual strengths and needs, and to create activities and experiences that are meaningful and appropriate. This means low teacher-child ratios, and adequate, safe, well-equipped facilities. This means decent wages. These conditions lead to personnel who stay in the field, develop their professional expertise over time, and are able to create ongoing, stable relationships with the children and their families. 

Universities, colleges, and community colleges have early childhood professionals who are preparing tomorrow’s public school teachers. Who is preparing tomorrow’s early-years caregivers? The same effort and skill is needed for this endeavor. We need to recruit, train, and certify those incredibly important people who will provide the best programs for our youngest children. 

It’s going to cost. Business people know that to make money, you have to spend money. If you want the $4-17 return on your buck in early education, you’re going to have to spend some bucks.

  Pay for the best educated staff and buy the best training you can. Equip the best classrooms and facilities you can. Support programs that use the most current, developmentally appropriate practices. And, be patient. Rome wasn’t, and the young child isn’t, built in a day. o