Why Early Childhood Educators are not Babysitters!
Recently I saw on a Macarthur area Facebook page “Is it OK if I ask my daycare teachers to babysit for me?” It takes all my strength to keep quiet on social media when I see these comments. Would these same people ask their Kindergarten teacher to babysit? The answer is no. Because their view is primary school teachers are professional teachers and early childhood educators are babysitters. Nothing annoys me more. Early childhood educators are not babysitters.
Unlike babysitters whose primary responsibilities are ensuring the safety and basic care of children, early childhood educators are skilled professionals and some trained university-trained teachers who provide an intentional and systematic program to meet children’s individual developmental needs. They document children’s learning against government frameworks and theory, and create and implement lesson plans tailored to the developmental stages of each child, fostering cognitive, emotional, social and physical development. These educators use evidence-based practices to teach fundamental skills such as social interaction, mathematical foundations, phonics, science and engineering – to name just a few.
Moreover, early childhood educators must navigate a plethora of federal government regulatory procedures on the daily. From checking sleeping babies every 10 minutes, to checking the temperature of food, checking the playground, risk assessments, records of toileting, sleeping and eating, plus much more. There is never any down time for an early childhood educator. They have significantly more regulatory requirements than that Kindergarten teacher, yet they are still called babysitters.
Additionally, early childhood educators are also continually upskilling because the regulations and best practice keeps changing, as well as reflecting on practice – much of it in their own time.
Research has shown as a society we do not value what early childhood educators do (unlike the community for Reggio Emilia, Italy). What we ignore is that 90% of brain development occurs during the first five years, yet there is still a persistent belief children do not start their “real” learning until they go to school! On the contrary, high quality early childhood education and care gives children the best start in life! Research has shown over and over that quality early education and care early leads to better health, education and employment outcomes later in life and lays the foundation for lifelong development and learning – and that’s not babysitting – thanks to the training and diligence of early childhood educators.