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How to support educators’ goals in child care

Early childhood education educators are exceptional. They do so many things – teach, facilitate social and emotional learning and are working professionals with career development goals. Having clear career goals in mind can help teachers continue being motivated and be more effective at their job. 

Early childhood education and care centres / schools should regularly evaluate and develop each staff’s individual performance plans. With professional development planned and secured, educators would be more likely to stay in their role. 

So how does setting educators up for success look like? Read on to find out. 

Enabling greatness by supporting educator’s goals in child care

Happy employees are more likely to be successful employees. With recognition, inspiration, direction and purpose, schools can help educators achieve their goals. 

Some steps to take are as follows: 

  • Creating individual professional development plans to encourage purpose and sense of engagement
  • Encouraging educators to have discussions with other team members
  • Providing access to material for reading and learning

It is important for educators to set their own professional goals, with the help of the school. Thinking critically about everyday work routines allows educators to identify opportunities in study goals. They should also be given the chance to build relationships and co-learn from more experienced educators and children-focused allied health professionals such as occupational therapists, speech therapists and inclusion support facilitators. 

Professionally developing educators

Individual professional plans are a work in progress and should be reviewed every few months (e.g. every six-month review). This is because they will change depending on how each educator’s professional and personal journeys evolve as they stay with each school. 

Some factors that will impact educators’ individual professional plans include: 

  • Peer and mentors’ assessment of educators’ skills, abilities and needs
  • Students’ and families’ needs
  • The school’s service philosophy

Collaboration in early childhood education

Routine team meetings are a great way for educators to co-learn and spark new ideas to improve their practices. Through collaboration, schools can create greater consistency across their quality of services and share updates in a timely manner. 

Ultimately schools should support educators by working in partnership, communicating and planning in collaboration to do the best for students. To help, a smart school management system could make educators’ lives easier and help them achieve their goals faster. It is, in fact, a master plan to regulate administrative operations in a consolidated, integrated, efficient and smooth way to increase the productivity of your school.

If you are still looking for a system that will work well for your school's operations, you can contact LittleLives to see how we can help!