Well, I’m back. I have rejoined the doctoral study degree program. You missed my lovely posts haven’t you???
This week –
I will discuss three goals that I would like to accomplish in my current class and how they impact children.
Goal One:
Examine the impact of funding on different early childhood systems.
Why?
Funding is a huge issue in early childhood education. Child care centers in the private sector have many factors to consider when they decide on the tuition price to charge families. How can they meet staffing needs and pay their staff appropriately? Will they be able to acquire business at that price level? Could a competitor charge less and take some of their business, and how will they prevent that situation from happening? Educators in the private sector are not usually paid equivalent salaries to their public school sector counterparts. Will increasing the amount an educator is paid, increase their dedication to the education of their students, or is passion more of a determining factor? When a teacher is living paycheck to almost another paycheck, they are in survival mode. Anything can tip the scale into a life altering direction. When someone is in a survival mode, they are not always operating at the higher centers of their brain. Teachers need to be paid on their worth and they are worth so much. A great teacher can set the stage for a well rounded successful student.
Goal Two:
Find out what policies are currently in practice associated with mental health issues with children.
Why?
Early intervention is the key to later success. What are politicians doing to facilitate early childhood systems to seek assistance for children with mental health issues? We need to help society remove the stigma associated with mental illness. It is just like a child with an illness, wouldn’t we do whatever is necessary to help them be successful in life.
Goal Three:
Find out how medical and psychological evidence from prenatal studies are affecting change in the policies of teacher education programs. Some teacher education programs have students complete the coursework for an elementary educational level. Evidence from these studies would be able to help prove that teacher educator students need to understand the importance of coursework in early childhood education as apposed to just taking a test to become certified in the early childhood curriculum. Experience and educational practices in early childhood education allow for a teacher to create developmentally appropriate practices for the children in their classes.
Well, I will talk to you all later. Thanks for reading my blog.
Nikki
earlychildhoodmentalhealthblog 