"Head Start faculty must get more education"
Head Start agency administrators requiring all of their teachers to get a bachelors degree in order to keep their jobs. Many Head Start teachers only hold an associate degree, although they have been employed with the agency for many years. The teachers are being asked to obtain their degree in response to a federal mandate that at least 50% of the teachers at a center based program hold a bachelor's degree in early childhood education. Requiring teachers to obtain bachelor's degrees is an effort to increase the quality of the program through more education and training in order to provide a better learning experience for the child.
The teachers are being asked to earn the degree by September 2013 or it could result in them becoming teacher assistants.
Hi! Wanda
ReplyDeleteI just wanted comment a little bit on this situation since I work for head start. This past year several older teachers were let go because they did not have their Associate's degree. Head Start paid for the teachers to go back to school and some decided not to go. The teachers knew what would happen to them. Many of these teachers had CDA's because of this they had to be re-interviewed and they were hired back has assistants, bus monitors, or aides. This is a really tough situation I have seen many good lead teachers being dropped down to assistant teachers which caused conflict because many had been a teacher over 20 years. I feel like when 2013 rolls around the situation could get worse because many of the teachers that have Associate degrees are not going on to get their Bachelor's. Many teachers feel as though they do not need to go on because they are old or they will retire before that time hits. Because I have a Master's degree already in ECE, I have been transferred from one center to another.
Amanda Stapleton-Tuhy
I believe in order for us as professionals to be able to deliver we have to improve on our selves. Like we have learned, it is important we keep investing in ourselves that way we will be indisposable. I think the teachers should look at it as an opportunity to increase not otherwise.
ReplyDeleteHi Wanda,
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you wrote about this. I teach an adult class on Thursday nights called ACDS. It is the Apprenticeship for Child Development Specialist and it is a jumping point for early childhood educators to earn an associate degree. Completion of the program grants the students twelve college hours toward an Associate degree with our local community college. ACDS is free and has become mandatory for head start teachers and aides who are now being pushed to fulfill the requirements of this federal mandate. I have found myself working with early educators who haven't written a paper in 20 years; back when they were in high school. It is frustrating for them, but I think it is important for them to get the education because I have also found that many, but not all, of their views on early childhood education are dated.
Hi Wanda - I work for a nonprofit developmental preschool, and we faced the same situation a few years ago. Even though a few older teachers did not want to get their bachelor's, once they began to take classes they began to enjoy themselves. It also helped with the teachers who had older more "traditional" styles of teaching to keep up with the new research. Some were intimidated, but the teachers rallied around each other and helped support one another. With all the demands on teahers today, I feel that the more education they can recieve the better.
ReplyDelete