Early Childhood Development: Professional Roles and Historical Foundations

Roles and Responsibilities of Early Childhood Professionals

Early childhood professionals are often required to wear many hats, particularly because their job description changes almost daily. As a facilitator of learning, an early childhood professional acts as a guide. Usually, a guide is tasked with leading other people down new paths by walking beside them rather than in front of them (Child Care Education Institute, 2008). The group's safety is the top priority, and the guide strives to keep people under their care free from harm.

The same ideology applies to early childhood professionals. They identify new experiences and opportunities to offer children and guide them in directions that interest them. Rather than lead a child through the process of playing, the professional allows the child to choose their own play and learning style, focusing on two key responsibilities: i) ensuring the child's safety, and ii) providing the materials needed to make the learning process run smoothly (Child Care Education Institute, 2008). In this way, the professional acts as a partner in the learning process and learns alongside the children.

Apart from facilitating learning, the early childhood professional serves as a counselor. They take time to listen to the child and to critically analyze and interpret actions, words, and behaviors (Child Care Education Institute, 2008). This ability allows professionals to identify a child's needs and to recognize any unusual behavioral changes that may indicate more serious underlying problems, enabling relevant corrective action.

Early childhood professionals also act as parent substitutes. They share their experiences with children to nurture appropriate physical, cognitive, and emotional development (Child Care Education Institute, 2008). They interact with, listen to, cook for, and tend to the various needs of children when their parents are unavailable. Additionally, early childhood professionals perform the role of educational specialist in classroom settings. They are responsible for preparing lesson plans, learning materials, and other necessary paperwork to ensure the educational component runs smoothly.

Beyond these primary roles, early childhood personnel have several key responsibilities: i) serving as a positive example to children by engaging in ethical conduct; ii) pursuing continuing education to remain professionally relevant in the face of changing trends; and iii) attending to the welfare of children and families while maintaining constant communication with administrators, the public, children, and parents.

Standard 1: Promoting Child Learning and Development

Early childhood professionals are equipped with a child-development knowledge base, giving them clear understanding of i) how to create supportive, respectful, and healthy environments for children; ii) how to identify a child's needs and characteristics; and iii) how environmental and genetic factors influence a child's growth and development (NAEYC, 2010).

Standard 2: Building Community and Family Relationships

Key Standards in Early Childhood Development

The success of an early childhood education program depends in part on how well educators can build and maintain partnerships with their communities. Early childhood professionals recognize this and use their knowledge to i) engage families in the learning and development of their children, and ii) establish healthy relationships that support and empower families (NAEYC, 2010).

Standard 3: Child Observation, Documentation, and Assessment in Support of Families and Children

Early childhood professionals appreciate the importance of observation, documentation, and assessment in child development. They understand i) how to engage families and communities in children's positive development; ii) how to use observation, documentation, and assessment to influence positive development; and iii) the benefits and purposes of such procedures (NAEYC, 2010).

Standard 4: Employing Developmentally Effective Approaches

Early childhood professionals recognize that children at different developmental stages have different learning abilities. Toward this end, they i) engage different teaching approaches based on a child's developmental level; ii) employ a wide array of instructional tools and developmentally appropriate strategies to connect with families, children, and communities; and iii) use supportive interactions and positive collaborations as the foundation for their work (NAEYC, 2010).

Standard 5: Becoming a Professional

The Child Study Movement: Historical Context

Early childhood professionals i) are knowledgeable advocates for effective childhood educational policies and practices; ii) base professional decisions on relevant knowledge from a variety of sources; iii) are collaborative and continuous learners who demonstrate critical perspectives; and iv) are guided by professional standards and ethical guidelines of their practice (NAEYC, 2010).

Child study, also referred to as experimental pedagogy or paidology, was a 19th-century attempt to use methods and concepts of practical science to understand the process of child development (Humphreys, 1985). The Child Study Movement was initiated at the end of the 19th century by psychologist G. Stanley Hall, who was influenced by Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory and the recapitulation theory. This theory postulates that a child's development repeats the cultural and physiological development of the parent species.

The movement aimed at improving the welfare and health of children, with the educational system widely viewed as a promising avenue for i) understanding concepts of modern science, and ii) applying these concepts to child development to determine how children's health and welfare could be supported throughout development (Humphreys, 1985).

The movement began as an inclusive effort involving psychiatrists, physicians, educational administrators, psychologists, ministers, parents, teachers, and other stakeholders. However, by the beginning of the 20th century, lay researchers were excluded from the movement. Child study evolved into the science of developmental psychology and child development, becoming a field of academic research independent from educational and social reform.