ece teachers

Hi there,

I'm a freelance writer and I'm writing an article about non-qualified ece teachers and what they can bring to an ece centre, home based care, kindy etc. I'm looking for comments from parents and ece teachers or centre owners as to whether they think non-qualified staff can make a contribution to an ece centre/home based care, or whether all staff should be qualified.

You don't have to be named but if you are willing some brief (not too identifying) details about yourself would be helpful. Eg, I own an ece centre in the South Island, or I'm a parent of a 4 year old attending home based care.

The article will be published on a website called ChildForum (www.childforum.com), with the exact date to be scheduled.

I would appreciate replies before the 15th December 2010.

Thanks in advance

you don't need a certificate to be a mum....
you need love, understanding, patience, to be caring and understanding and to have common sense.
IMHO the same rule applies in ece, you give a child all of these things and more while teaching them about the world around them and giving them the freedom to explore and learn.

I work in childcare and am studying as well. I also have a 4 month old. I don't believe the qualifications are THAT important, as everything you learn is on the job and it is the same with or without the certificate. What I think would be more beneficial is to have someone come out and assess whether or not you are competent working with children.
I do believe a qualification in First Aid and CPR are a absolute MUST though..

I work in childcare and am studying as well. I also have a 4 month old. I don't believe the qualifications are THAT important, as everything you learn is on the job and it is the same with or without the certificate. What I think would be more beneficial is to have someone come out and assess whether or not you are competent working with children.
I do believe a qualification in First Aid and CPR are a absolute MUST though..

If you work in child care and don't think you need qualifications why are you studing? are you studing for a ECE degree or something else??? have you not learnt anything from working in childcare are the people you work with qualiflied? In New Zealand they are trying to get 80% trained....

i beleive that you do need untrained and trained teachers in childcare or pre school to keep the standard of care up. looking at why children do different things.... personally I love the pikler theory with babies but don't think it should be taken to the extreme though