Family-Friendly Practices to Support and Promote Diversity
Early Childhood Education (ECE) plays an important role in the formative age of children. At the same time, the role of the family cannot be ignored. As such, it is very crucial for ECE educators to promote family-friendly environment where kids can learn while at the same time ensuring that familial values and practices are upheld (Dahlberg, Moss, & Pence, 2007). The first family-friendly practice that should be implemented in an ECE classroom is the formation of parent advisory groups to ensure sharing of new ideas and common concerns by parents concerning education of their children. Such groups provide an opportunity for the ECE educators to address any issues that arise while at the same time maintaining the confidence of the parents on the education process of their young ones.
The second approach involves establishing a two-way communication between teachers and families. Such communication will ensure that teachers learn from the parents while the parents also learn from the teachers to support the development and growth of children (Roopnarine & Johnson, 2013). Such communication is possible since both the teacher and the parent work in the best interest of the child.
Lastly,embracing differences among families is very important for a successful ECE program. While the basic goals of parenting are common among all cultures, there are differences in the emphasis of achieving the goals. To ensure that all the needs are addressed, it is important promote interactions and cooperation between parents and teachers to address specific issues of each family. Such an approach will guarantee that the child achieves the best out of the program.
Professional Values and Ethics of the Early Childhood Administrator
It is very difficult to separate professional values and ethics from personal values and morality. The above reality relates to the role of an early childhood administrators since their role involves imparting values on the children as they develop in the critical stage. In some instances, the desire of a parent may be in conflict with the ethical values and morality beliefs of the administrator (Harms, Clifford, & Cryer, 2014).
Such cases present ethical dilemma on the best course of action to be taken. As an administrator, I have experienced situations where parents were willing to pay me more for preferential treatment and attention to be given to their kids. However, in such instances, many ethical and moral values cannot allow me to accept such offers since I believe in equal treatment of children. However, not all times my personal values and morality factor in my professional decisions (Dahlberg et al., 2007). For instance, in implementing the school’s agreed upon programs, I have to ensure that I overlook my professional decisions to follow the authority of the institution.
Changes in Leadership in Early Childhood Care and Education
Some of the biggest changes in the ECE program will be stimulated by globalization and migration of people across the world. This move will create culturally diverse ECE classrooms. Therefore, it will be more challenging to offer leadership in the future ECE institutions. In addition, it will be difficult to meet all the needs of the diverse children (Roopnarine & Johnson, 2013). Technology will also have a drastic impact on the way teaching is undertaken in the classroom. Playing for children is likely to become extinct since computer games and other e-games are taking over. The greatest hope for the program is that its relevance will remain for a long time.
Reference List
Dahlberg, G., Moss, P., & Pence, A. (2007). Beyond quality in early childhood education and care: Languages of evaluation. London, UK: Routledge. Web.
Harms, T., Clifford, R., & Cryer, D. (2014). Early childhood environment rating scale. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. Web.
Roopnarine, J., & Johnson, J. (2013). Approaches to early childhood education. New York, NY: MacMillan Publishers. Web.