The link I chose was www.naecte.org. The website shares a common interest in Early Childhood Teachers Education, promotes professional growth, discusses educational issues, advocates for improvements, gives members access to conferences and position papers, and has a forum to discuss with other ECE educators.
I first looked throught the Winter 2012 newsletter, which was their most updated newsletter. I actually didn't find too many interesting things in the newsletter. It talked a lot about upcoming conferences, which would be great to attend, but there are too far away and not really feasible for me to go to.
I did come across a position paper that I really enjoyed though. It was NAECTE's position statement on Early Childhood Certification for Teachers of children 8 years old and younger in Public School settings. I chose to read through this because I have a strong belief that any individual teaching children 8 years and younger should have very specialized knowledge in ECE and have attended specialized degree programs to make sure they are best prepared to teach our children. If you were to teach any primary, middle or secondary education classes, you would have to have a minimum of a bachelors degree, so why is that not the case with ECE?
NAECTE has the same view that I do on this matter. It states, "If children are to thrive in school and meet current expectations for acheivement, they need teachers who have specialized knowledge of child development and best practices in Early Childhood Education (NAECTE, nd.) It also goes on to say that these teachers are better trained to deal with children from low-income homes and those who speak English as a second language. Language diversity and language barriers are the issues that I chose to focus on this week and I think the better trained a teacher is, the better they are able to handle any situation, but especially those dealing with this population.
The position statement also goes on to say that states should start requiring ECE certification and endorsements in order to be hired to teach and priority should be given to these teachers. The position statement also says that teacher prep courses should be consistent with NAEYC.
Being a teacher requires a love of children, but it also requires understanding of how best to teach these children and what methods should be used. A good teacher prep course is a much needed tool to go through in order to ensure that all teachers are quality teachers.
Amber,
ReplyDeleteThe NAECTE website is a good website with a lot of valuable information. I agree with your views about teacher preparation. It is very important for early childhood professionals to be well trained in their subject matter.
Amber,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. Any individual working with children should be educated and trained. Unfortunately, this is not the case in most child care settings. When I worked in child care, I was the only teacher (along with the assistant director and director) with a degree in early childhood education. A few of the other employees had credits but no certification or degree. They have just been working in the field for a long time.
In order for the children to thrive, their educators should be well trained and highly qualified.
I found this to be a good website. It provided good information and it is always good for teacher's to have as many resources as they can.
ReplyDelete