Understanding developmental stages in early childhood education

¶ … Teacher of Early Childhood

The objective of this work is to examine the importance of understanding the stages of human development in the early childhood classroom. This work will analyze some of the problems that might result from a teacher's lack of such understanding.

It is related in the work entitled: "What Early Childhood Teachers Need to Know About Language" published in the Center for Applied Linguistics Digest that the "context of childhood teacher preparation varies greatly depending on state licensing standards for teachers." Because of these differences the provisions of education in early childhood classrooms is varied as well with some teachers being more or less effective that their colleagues.

POSITIVE & LONG-LASTING EFFECTS of HIGH-QUALITY PROGRAMS

Substantial evidence exists to support the belief that "high-quality early childhood education programs for children from birth to age five can have long-lasting, positive consequences for children's success in school and later in life, especially for children from low-income families." (Center for Applied Linguistics, 2000) the problem is that these programs are not available for all children who are in need of them and neither are all programs of the type quality necessary for achieving outcomes of a positive nature for children. The truth is that only a mere 15% of childcare centers are rated as "good or excellent." (Center for Applied Statistics, 2000) AU.S. Department of Education study states findings that: "a study of the skills and knowledge of a nationally representative cohort of children at entrance to kindergarten showed that social class and other group differences are already evident this early." (Center for Applied Statistics, 2000) This indicates that intervention during kindergarten is actually "too late" (Center for Applied Statistics, 2000) in order to narrow the gap in achievement. It is necessary to place a strong emphasis on language development during early childhood.

III. RESULT WHEN TEACHERS DOES NOT UNDERSTAND

In the case where a teacher does not understand the stages of development of children and where the teacher fails to understand that children develop at different rates there exist a danger that a teacher will label a child as learning disabled and that the child, as a result, will be directed into special education classes thereby nulling their chance for a regular education and simply because they were developmentally different than their peers at the same age.

SUMMARY and CONCLUSION

It is critically important that a teacher understand the stages of human development in early childhood if they are to be a competent teacher of children at this stage of learning.