For this post, as the title states, it'll be about preschool teachers. I think it's an industry that people don't really pay much attention to locally and it just doesn't have a lot of recognition even amongst the general public. I'm not asking that everyone should think highly of preschool teachers but maybe if there was more awareness of what we go through. Then it could prevent a lot of issues.
What is the first thought that comes to your mind when someone tells you they're working as a preschool teacher? I would think the thoughts would vary from some positive ones like, "Wow, you have a lot of patience," to some negative ones like, "Oh, it must be easy! You just play with children all day."
Photo Credits: Google
Well, I wouldn't say that those aren't true. We do have to have a lot of patience and yes, we do play with children too but that's really on the surface. There are so many more things we do. It's probably difficult for an outsider to understand what goes on in a preschool. Even for parents who send their kids to preschool, they might not fully understand the extent of the job of a preschool teacher.
There are some parents who express their gratitude to their children's teachers, however I feel that it's because of the lack of understanding of what we do, most parents often don't show appreciation as they take that it's only right that we do all these things because they are paying school fees. But really, just a word of thanks can go a long way. I think it's really lacking as ECDA came up with a campaign to remind people to thank teachers.
Photo Credits: ECDA
Why do I think that increasing awareness for preschool teachers is important? Ultimately it affects the children who we care about and lives are so important. You might think how does not feeling appreciated affect the children?
This is an industry with a high turnover rate.
It actually does affect children when their teachers change all the time. Many people think that children are too young to understand or realise that their teacher changed but in fact they are able to realise and it affects them especially in forming secure attachments. It is a common practice to source out teachers from the younger age groups for that exact reason stated above. It's the younger ones that need consistency in their classrooms.
What causes this high turnover rate?
I feel that lack of recognition leading to low pay and also the heavy workload often leads to burnout. I'm probably not very good at explaining the points but they are actually quite interrelated.
I think most people out there may not know that preschool teachers have quite a lot of work to do aside from looking after the children there will be quite a lot of paperwork to complete. This often leads to burnout and burnout is when a teacher just becomes too tired and loses interest or becomes numb to the job. Most of the time it's also due to the fact that the pay is low and there are other jobs out there that has a higher pay and aren't so tiring.
Many feels that lack of recognition results in unable to have higher pay. With more people understanding that a preschool teacher's job is actually just as important as a primary or secondary school teacher, maybe the pay would increase as well. Since preschool education isn't mandatory, most parents would then overlook it's importance.
A few quick reasons why preschool is important.
Most overlook preschool years thinking that there's nothing much for them to learn during those few years. In fact, there are many essential skills that are picked up during these young years. A few of the more overlooked ones would be self-help skills and social skills.
It's often thought that children are too young to do things for themselves but in fact they're never too young to learn how to do things on their own. The more the adults help them with things, they'll be too reliant and never want to do things. Children like being independent and given opportunities to do things themselves. Of course, there are certain things that they would still require some assistance in but before offering help, show them how to do a task and then let them try to do it themselves.
For some children, parents are worried that they aren't talking when they're of talking age. That's because everything they need is given to them so there's no need for them to use their words. So usually the practice would be to give the child what he wants after letting him try to say the name of the item. As the child grows older, the child gradually would be able to repeat more words.
Social skills are also acquired during these early years as well. I'm quite surprised that paediatricians will recommend young patients to attend school so that they can make friends. It's important that they go to school to experience a social setting. They'll learn how to be caring towards others, how to share and how to interact with other people. Nowadays, parents are more informed so I think more people are aware about the importance of social skills.
In conclusion, there's really a lot more to preschool than just what most people think it is. We don't just look after the kids and the kids don't just play. They do play and have fun but there's many other processes going on behind that.
Haha anyway, this is just a random reflection and thoughts post. I haven't written one in ages. Maybe there'll be more of such posts in future. We'll see.
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