Early Childhood Educators: A Workforce Behind a Workforce | Lindsey Ramsey | TEDxPointParkUniversity

[@followtheproven4558]

I always wanted to be educator

[@ravinhairgirl88]

It is hard work. It does not pay well and you have to deal with a lot personalities as many of the children have to deal with dysfunctional households which you are not taught to deal with in your training

[@jackieswalker]

@@ravinhairgirl88 it doesn’t pay well but someone need to teach kids that have the passion to do so. I understand I want to be an educator as well but the pay is turning me off from it but it’s not always about the money.

[@atillagoktan2119]

👀.

[@Color-Me-Petty]

You should have never put the child into that classroom without first providing support for him and the teacher. You are a leader. You should not just throw things at your teachers and expect them to work it out. A lot of stress could have been available. You praise Grace now but you took advantage of her.

[@ssjup81]

I agree with this. Some kids need that one-on-one time or need those extra teachers or providers to work with them due to their condition. The story about how the other center had to keep the child strapped in a highchair was sad to hear, but if the that one child is a danger to the children around them, what else could they have done besides not accept that child in the first place? It's awful that this is a thing. There's also an overcrowding problem in some instances, so I can also get why they'd keep the child in the highchair (not condoning, just understand why the teachers did it). They have to divide their time amongst multiple students and there's also safety to keep in mind. In my case, my room is just too small, and since we are so understaffed, my class has to stay combined with the other class. IF they all show up, the most we could have in a day is 22. Even with my max, which is 14/15, my classroom is too small for the amount of kids I have to really do anything. Most of my activities have the students doing as little movement as possible since I worry about them accidentally getting hurt or harming one another. There are some kids in particular, I tend to keep at the table, much to my dismay, because of safety issues and worry about them falling or hitting a kid. With only two teachers, there's just no way you can catch everything with that amount. When working in Japan with that age group, they would have three teachers always in the classroom to help out more. A lead with two assistants. It's like, if you're in a one-ratio, you'll have two teachers. In a two-ratio, three teachers. I have a class of two-year-olds and the other class is a two-year-old class. I can't teach my curriculum much because we need that extra help and the other teacher can never have the opportunity to keep her kids in their own classroom. She's the reg teacher, I'm the Montessori teacher and I can't do that at all at this point. Money really does need to be invested more into ECE and more incentives need to be offered to get more people interested in the field. There's such a high turnover rate due to lack of good benefits, low wages, over crowdedness, lack of resources to support the students who *really* need that extra care and supervision to help the teachers already juggling their attention between the other multiple students they have, centers only concerned about numbers and getting butts in seats, people who don't work in ECE only viewing ECEs as glorified babysitters, etc.

[@lindseyramsey6928]

Hi, Thank you for your comment and concern, Grace and I had a conversation prior to the enrollment of the child, and frequent check ins during his enrollment. Grace also is an educator who came with EI experience, and she had a passion for it :). Grace was provided with extra teaching staff and support in her room while that family navigated through the process of getting one on one early intervention. Unfortunately, access looks very different in different areas, and in our area at the time, access to early intervention services were very limited. This leaves children and families at a loss. We took a chance and made a difference for a child and a family. I would never "throw" anything at my teaching team, and I was there for them with every journey they embarked on. My respect for the early childhood workforce is my greatest passion and by sharing stories from the field and the reality of challenges we face; I will continue to fight for greater investment that improve access and create equity. Stay Blessed!