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Formal Education and Quality
September 21, 2007
You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.
-Eleanor Roosevelt

A study, “Teachers’ Education, Classroom Quality, and Young Children’s Academic Skills,” reported in Child Development (March/April 2007) found no evidence of a significant link between teachers’ formal education and classroom quality and academic outcomes for 4-year-olds. The researchers' conclusions were based on an analysis of seven recent studies on how teachers’ education affects 4-year-olds’ learning and classroom quality.

The authors of the report suggested three possible reasons for the lack of association between teachers’ education and quality:

  1. Preparation and education for preschool teachers may not be adequate.
  2. Teachers may not be receiving enough support to be effective.
  3. Higher wages may be attracting the highest quality teachers with Bachelor’s degrees into classrooms with older children. Also, school systems may be placing high-quality teachers in higher grades where accountability testing is more likely to occur.



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Comments (16)

Displaying 5 of 16 Comments   [ View all ]
Amy C · October 14, 2007
United States


Although I agree that it takes more than a degree to make a good quality early childhood educator, I think a degree definitely helps. Sure all the formal training in the world cannot even give you a glimpse into what you are going to experience, or even help you finding ways to deal with these issues, but it can help to prepare you for what you may face. Getting a college degree does not mean that you are going to be the perfect educator, and I do not know of any college that makes that claim, however, it's goal is to help prepare and enable you to become a teacher through courses on research based learning strategies and other developmentally appropriate activities and learning opportunities.

Even though working in the field of early education does not require a degree, I believe it benefits both the educator and the children. Trainings that are given to staff members are great, but they cannot go as in depth as a course in that particular subject manner. Lack of time contributes a lot to the reasons that many educators in the early education field do not have a degree at this time, but it is important to think about how that time well spent in a course can affect the quality and outcome of your own classroom. We, as early educators, are responsible to prepare these young children for school and life. I think it's about time more emphasis is placed on ensuring all educators have a degree from a quality higher educational institute.

Kristi · October 12, 2007
Harvest CDC
Fort Worth, TX, United States


I have been in EE for 23 years. 14 years ago I received my CDA and began directing a child care center. As a director of a very large program, I know that a degree does not make an EE professional. I will hire someone with developmentally appropriate lesson planning experience over someone with a degree every time. BUT, I do know that my staff that obtain their CDA or an equivalent are better early educators.

I went back to college in 2000 with the intention of letting my working knowledge be validated with a degree. I received my Bachelors in 2003 and my Master of Education in 2006.

I used to be one of those EE professionals that would say that I didn't need a degree because I had a working knowledge that surpassed most with a degree. I look back know and can truly say that I had an inappropriate attitude. My prayer is that every early ed professional will pursue higher education in the EE field. I feel that every administrator in the EE field should be working on obtaining a Bachelor in Early Education.

I have just been accepted into the Doctorate of Ed program at Liberty University. I am excited to start this new quest and learn how to advance the early education profession that I love so dearly.

Kristi

Toni Healey · October 01, 2007
Huntingtown, MD, United States


I also agree that education does help early childhood teachers perform at a higher level. I will debate of what that education should consist. I have been in the profession for 25 years and a director for 18 of those years. I have hired people with early childhood degrees and must honestly say that they have not been my best teachers. I have found that those with degrees deal with preschoolers as if they were kindergardners and they certainly are not. I prefer the person who comes to our profession with a love of children, hungry to learn what makes them tick, with a open willingness to learn all they can on how best to teach their young charges. If these individuals go on to get their degrees they are a much better prepared preschool teacher.

Lisa Grant · October 01, 2007
Waypoint Services
United States


I agree with many of the sentiments out there. Education or experience alone is not enough for a quality teacher, but some combination of both is critical. There are some studies out there that say an Associate's Degree in this field can be just as valuable as a Bachelor's Degree. I happen to agree. Many early childhood programs at the bachelor's level are focused on pedagogy and not actual child development. Teacher's in this field need to know why they do what they do, not just what to do. As an instructor at a community college in early childhood, I know that many of my students leave with the practical skills and knowledge necessary to become succesful teachers. The second part of this debate comes from who will fund this movement? We do need quality teachers in our programs. Who is going to pay for it? We need to pay teachers more in order to get the quality we need, but parents are not able to solely handle the economic impact of this. Government has to step in somehow...and subsidize existing programs, rather than create new ones through the departments of education across the country.

Diana Atwell · October 01, 2007
West Palm Beach, FL, United States


I have found that teachers with experience and training through in service and conferences are just as effective or more effectivie than those who come with a BA degree. How can we as small private schools afford to pay teachers to get a BA and then pay them enough and offer benefits that would keep them from going to the public system. This is prospect is scary for those of us who wish to keep our preschools.



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