Education in Early Childhood
Early childhood programs are the first source of information and knowledge for the young minds that have just started to explore the world. It is high time when the child's brain and thoughts would be steered in any direction as they are raw and hungry for knowledge. The future development is based on the foundations set in this age as a strong base would help in lifelong learning and social and cognitive development.

One key trend that is transforming early childhood programs is the increased use of technology, which has proved useful in current pandemic times. Children of today are already living in a digital age since the previous generation thought television was the newest form of technology (National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2012). Now, children are well-aware of mobiles, laptops, and tablets that have been increasingly used in schools for better knowledge gaining and familiarity. It is true that technology provides a learning potential, play and growing together, and digital technology is used in early education in the form of virtual games, videos, assessments, active contribution in online communities, and accessing content online (Murcia, Campbell & Aranda, 2018). However, healthcare professionals have suggested that technology induces obesity, lethargy, and resistance to outdoor games that result in less physical activity. All of these factors impact the mental health of young children as well. The early education programs are now contemplating and devising policies that should encourage the parents to limit screen time of children 2 to 5 years less than two hours a day. It has been reported that factors like teachers' own familiarity with the technology, confidence of its use, technology policies of the institute, and students' socioeconomic status impact technology during the early years (Blackwell, Lauricella & Wartella, 2014). During the pandemic, the pandemic-posed type of education, which is distance learning, has become a new norm in early education. The extent to which this form of education can be successful depends on the early educator's familiarity with Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Using technology for showing videos and pictures in online teaching has become a new trend for keeping the motivation levels of young students high. Its creative approach that could not have been possible in a traditional classroom setting with Zoom and other related applications, and the ability to teach the child from anywhere in the world have now made it popular.

The learning approach that best matches my education belief is the cognitive approach, which states that a child's learning is based on knowledge and retention. Children who are taught using the cognitive approach of learning, especially in the pre-school environment, are more responsible and responsive to themselves, older people, and their surrounding environments as they gain knowledge of things around them in a unique way (Kharrazi & Delgoshaee, 2010). It exhibits that the child's quality programming already starts taking place at a young age since the child instills all the incoming information in his mind in precisely the same way it is given to him. The child's development of cognitive and social skills is rapid, even positively impacting his IQ level that is depicted in how he interacts, socializes, and plays with his peers inside and outside the classroom.

The theory that best matches my personal, educational belief is Piaget's theory of cognitive development. Piaget believed that children adapt from the already possessed information and learn from the surrounding for building upon the already acquired information (Cherry, 2020). Early education provides a source of acquisition of new knowledge, and then the child can experiment and do practical things to understand the newly gained concept fully. For example, when an early educator teacher him phonics and teaches him that the letters C A T make "cat," which can be pronounced with phonic awareness, the child tries to build upon this knowledge with further readings. At the sensorimotor stage, from birth to 2 years, the parents are a source of early childhood education at home. They...…teachers, improve in academic performance since the teacher would notify the parents where their child needs extra hard work that would be reinforced at home, improvements in student behavior as the children would know that teachers would alert their parents of any misconduct in the class or at school and also creates value for the teachers as the early educators would know that their diligence is paid off when students perform better (Delgado, 2019).

My early childhood education plans would be to pursue my dream of being an early childhood educator after completing my degree. As soon as my program is over, I would apply for teaching young children in any nearby school as I am friendly with the young ones. Children also like to have me in their company and feel joyful when I am with them. Based on this, I can get along well with the children aging from 3 to 5 years. Even if I am unable to find a job soon after my degree is completed, I would instantly go for an internship at an early education school to get an initial hands-on experience before I professionally start a job.

The qualifications that are required for applying for an early childhood education include a diploma in caring for children and young people, diploma in childcare and education, diploma for child learning and development, diploma in playwork, and a diploma in children and young people's workforce (Kelly, 2016). The competencies that essential for this filed are enlisted as the knowledge of child care and development, curriculum formulation and creating a learning environment, doing a regular measurement of the child's progress, maintain partnerships with the parents and the community, providing a healthy and safe environment at the school, knowing the value of nutrition for the children, promoting supportive interactions, planning the programs for child's development and taking care of their implementation, and serving the children and their parents with professional and leadership traits (Washington State Department of Early Learning, n.a.).

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