1.7 Chapter Conclusion
Holly Lanoue, M.Ed.
Summary
The field of early childhood education and the profession of working with young children are a rewarding career with a rich history of teaching, nurturing, and caring for young children. As teachers, our skills, knowledge, personal beliefs, and morality shape how we interact with children and families.
Our field is one with historical content that ties to modern concepts that is supported both within our state and nationally through efforts to professionalize the field.
Becoming an ECE teacher is influenced by our individual identities and lived experiences as well as by our caring interactions with families and community contexts. Future chapters will support your growth to connect who you are to your growing identity as an early childhood educator who supports joyful, equitable, and inclusive learning experiences.
One thing is certain: change is all around us in the field, and the profession must respond to the trends. This means we will always strive to do what is best for the children and families we serve and continue to move with the wave of change.
Review Questions
- What type of relationship is the heart of everything we do as teachers?
- What is one of the primary goals of the Early Learning Teacher?
- Who published the Core Competencies?
- Which agency started the Power to the Profession movement, and why it is so important to the field of early learning?
- Name at least three groups in Washington state that advocate for early learning.
- What are the benefits from working with the families of the children you care for?
- What are the benefits for a center becoming an Early Achievers site?
- What are the differences of FFN from a family childcare center?
- Do you need a degree to work in a part day preschool?
- What was kindergarten originally meant to be?
- In what year did publicly funded kindergarten arrive in the United States?
- In what year did the the childcare tax deduction start?
- What New York woman helped establish a licensing system for childcare?
- Historically, what was daycare called?
- Which president shifted funding and passage of the Childcare and Development Block Grant?
- Explain what Early Head Start and Head Start does for early learning.
- What is QRIS in Washington state, and why is it important?