Key elements of Standard 6
6a: Identifying and involving oneself with the early childhood field
6b: Knowing about and upholding ethical standards and other professional guidelines
6c: Engaging in continuous, collaborative learning to inform practice; using technology effectively with young children, with peers, and as a professional resource.
6d: Integrating knowledgeable, reflective, and critical perspectives on early education
6e: Engaging in informed advocacy for young children and the early childhood profession
Personal Analysis
When I look back on where I started in my journey to becoming a professional in the early childhood field and where I am now, so much has changed. I came into my program knowing surprisingly little about the many issues facing the early childhood profession, and the struggles that educators and professionals face when advocating for each other, themselves, young children, and families. I feel that each of my courses in my teacher education program has impacted me in a specific way to help me grow into the professional I am today. My professional issues in early childhood course was especially impactful, because it taught me about the many issues we as professionals face in this field, as well as how to engage in informed advocacy to combat these issues. In addition, my professional development seminar in conjunction with my student teaching placement prepared me very well for being a professional and involving myself in the early childhood field not only for myself, but also on behalf of my students and their families.
I believe that reflecting on my practice has always been a strength of mine, and this skill has been refined even further through my course of study the past four years. I have also always put an emphasis on upholding ethical standards and professional guidelines, which is one of the elements of being a professional. Feeling like a professional and being perceived as a professional is very important to me, so I strive to continue my professional development on an ongoing basis. Another component of being an early childhood professional is using technology effectively with children and as a professional resource. In my first student teaching placement, I was fortunate enough to be in a kindergarten classroom where technology (such as iPads, computers, and a SMART Board) was a prominent feature, especially during centers. I also began using social media as a networking resource as well as to keep up with current issues and news in early childhood. One area of professionalism that I do feel I need to work on, however, is being more active in advocating for young children and the early childhood profession. While I do try to stay informed on the current issues in our field, I think I can improve upon my ability to actively and effectively engage in informed advocacy for these issues.
Artifact: Advocacy Project
The artifact I chose to highlight my professionalism as it relates to standard 6 is my advocacy project. This was an assignment for my Professional Issues in Early Childhood Education course that I took in the fall of my sophomore year. Our assignment was to choose a topic in the early childhood field that we wanted to advocate for, and create a project in order to advocate for our chosen topic as well as write a paper discussing our chosen advocacy topic. I chose to advocate for higher wages for teachers, as this affects both teachers and children. I wrote one letter to the current Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and one to the current President of the University of Delaware Patrick Harker. The letter to Mr. Duncan discussed higher teacher wages, while the letter to Mr. Harker focused more on lowering the cost of college education so that early childhood education majors can earn a greater return on investment once they are employed in the early childhood field. In addition to the letters, I also prepared a presentation to deliver to my class, discussing my project and its results. This presentation can be seen here.
The artifact itself is the paper I wrote that discusses the issue of unfair salaries for early childhood educators. It includes my personal vision statement about the issue and a research brief, as well as a description of my actual project and the letters I wrote. I discussed the current state of educators' salaries and the detrimental impacts low wages has on the early childhood field, including high turnover rates and lower performance levels in teachers due to less motivation and fewer resources. I then brought up the point that if teachers were payed fair wages for the work that they do, both teacher performance and student performance would improve.
2. Analysis
I have always been passionate about working with children and with early childhood education, and since I have entered this field I have consistently considered myself a professional. With regard to element 6a, identifying and involving oneself with the early childhood field, I certainly feel that I was able to demonstrate this through my chosen artifact. I chose to advocate for a topic that I was passionate about within the early childhood field, and set out to involve myself in the issue as best as I could given my knowledge of the topic and the resources at my disposal.
Element 6b focuses on knowing about and upholding ethical standards. NAEYC's Code of Ethical Conduct includes a section of ethical responsibilities to colleagues in the early childhood field, and one principle states, "We shall recognize the contributions of colleagues to our program and not participate in practices that diminish their reputations or impair their effectiveness in working with children and families." By advocating for worthy wages for early childhood educators that reflect the hard work they commit to their profession, and arguing that low wages impair their effectiveness in working with children and families, I was being professionally and ethically responsible on behalf of other professionals in the field.
Throughout my teacher education program I have been engaging in continuous, collaborative learning to inform practice, in accordance with element 6c of this standard. This course in particular focused solely on professional issues in early childhood education, which allowed me to work with my peers as I learned about contemporary issues in our field. Part of this project that I've selected as my artifact was a group effort, which allowed me the opportunity to collaborate with other aspiring professionals to advocate for an issue we were passionate about. While I did not use technology in this specific instance for working with young children, I did use it to communicate with my group members and collaborate on our presentation, and I used technology to do research on my advocacy topic so that I could find the most recent and accurate data available and use it to support my cause.
Throughout my work on this advocacy project and my research, I integrated my own prior knowledge and critical perspectives on the issue. It was the motivating factor for choosing this advocacy topic, and gave me a basis to begin my research when I looked further into the issue. By the end of the project, I had gained even more knowledge on the issue, as well as reflective perspectives based on how the project went and ideas for how to improve it in the future.
The final element in this standard is engaging in informed advocacy for young children and the early childhood profession. This artifact is essentially targeted specifically at this element because it is all about advocating, specifically for the early childhood profession. Throughout the course of this project I learned how to effectively advocate for issues in the early childhood field that I am passionate about. Besides my own project I also was able to see my classmates' presentations about what they chose to advocate for, and it gave me even more insight into the dedication and professionalism required to engage in informed advocacy for young children, their families, and early childhood professionals.
3. Reflection
The project in terms of the letters that were sent unfortunately ended up being not very effective, because neither the United States Department of Education nor the University of Delaware agreed to or is able to do anything to help early childhood teachers’ wages. While in some ways the letter to Arne Duncan could be considered successful because we received a response and suggestions for further action, there is nothing that they can legally do to affect teacher wages since it is considered a state matter. The letter to President Harker was definitely unsuccessful because the issue we brought to his attention was barely even mentioned in the response letter. Essentially all he talked about was how most students here receive financial aid in some way and how we can handle our financial situation and pay off our loans in the future. Although the project was ultimately unsuccessful, we still made an effort to advocate for higher early childhood teacher wages, and spread the word about the many implications of this issue on both educators and young children.
As a professional development experience, however, I do think it was fairly successful; and this project has had a lasting impact on me. I was able to learn more about advocacy in the early childhood field and that even though an advocacy project or event may be unsuccessful in the short term, as long as passionate early childhood professionals continue to advocate it may be successful in the long term. Since I have taken this course and completed this advocacy project, I have cared so much more about being a professional and advocating for children and for the other professionals in my field. If I were to do this experience over again, I would maybe change my advocacy topic just so I could see if advocating for a different issue that I care about would have a different end result. I intend to continue to advocate for children and for various early childhood-related issues that I am passionate about as I continue my professional development for years to come.