Early Childhood Teacher

Hannah: Kia ora, I’m Hannah Vickers, I’m 16 and I’m from Otago Girls' High School. And I’m here to find out what it takes to be an early childhood teacher.

Clinton: So at Dunedin’s Grants Braes Kindergarten, Hannah will be teamed up with early childhood teacher Claire Wood to learn what it’s all about.

Hannah: Hi Claire, nice to meet you.

Claire: Hi come on in!

Claire: The thing I love most about the job is really getting into great conversations with the children. The children they give you such a buzz because they’ve got great energy and you just really want to be around them.

Claire: Don’t be afraid, just get in there and ask them questions, see what they’re doing.

Clinton: Early childhood education differs from standard schooling in that the child chooses the activity and the teacher participates, injecting their learning into their play. If children are to grow and prosper they need to become independent, and ensuring that happens is an integral part of the teacher’s role.

Michael: I can’t do it.

Claire: What can’t you do Michael?

Michael: I can’t climb up and then go down.

Claire: I think you can give it a go!

Marcello: I’ll do it!

Claire: You ask Marcello. How did he do it?

Claire: What we really want for our children is we want them to be confident, we want them to believe in themselves as learners, to be aware that they’re really capable of doing things for themselves.

Claire: He used his knee!

Marcello: Yes!

Claire: I wonder if you could use your knee?

Claire: So obviously when they first start in an early childhood centre, they may not feel very comfortable so what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to give them a sense of belonging and over time one of the most exciting thing is seeing the change in the children to becoming really confident learners.

Claire: You’ve got one knee on, Michael! Look at that! You did it! See you can climb up!

Michael: I’ve got up!

Claire: And you showed him how to do it Marcello! He used his knee!

Claire: So every child is different. They’re learning in different ways, they’ve got different interests and different ways of learning so you might have children that are really creative and spend a lot of time working through different art mediums, and then you get other children that want to be involved outside in big group play and that kind of learning we’re really encouraging because it’s getting them thinking.

Hannah: What do you make in your factory?

Child: Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate!

Hannah: Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. Do you make it into bars or Easter eggs?

Child: We make it into Easter eggs and send it to the Easter bunny!

Hannah: Do you? And then the Easter bunny sends it back to you!

Clinton: You can train to teach in te reo Māori or Pasifika services as well as English mainstream. Whatever you choose, the ability to adapt your teaching to the changing interests of the children is an essential trait for an early childhood teacher, as is the ability to relate to them on their level.

Child: All the chocolate's coming out!

Hannah: Did it come out?

Child: No.

Hannah: I wonder why it didn’t come out? Do you think it has anything to do with this pipe being a little bit upwards?

Child: It is a little bit upwards!

Hannah: A little bit upwards. What do you think we could do to make it go down a little bit? Oh you’re pushing it down! That’s a good idea!

Clinton: Early childhood teachers may work up from entry-level teaching positions to senior roles, such as head teacher. They may also move to youth and community work or general training, using the organisational and interpersonal skills they have developed as teachers, while some may move into policy work and teacher education.

Claire: As a teacher I think one of the most important things you can be with the children is really positive. You’ve got to be positive, enthusiastic and you’ve got to make things fun because that makes a great learning environment.

Hannah: Wow look! It worked just like we thought!

Child: Yay!

Hannah: Look you’ve done such a good job! Look!

Clinton: Getting children hooked on learning is what it’s all about. If it’s fun then the child will enjoy it and if they enjoy it they’ll come back for more. Creating that fun learning environment extends all the way though to even the more traditional topics of literacy and maths.

Claire: Literacy can be about so many things – it can be about maths, and it can also be about children that are drawing maps is another kind of literacy. So we just like to make sure that they’re exposed to a huge range of those kind of ideas and experiences.

Hannah: Reading to children.

Claire: In an early childhood environment what we’re really trying to provide is a real rich variety of literacy, so as well as being passionate about reading with children we’re providing literacy in so many other ways – through song and music, through the conversations that we’re having all the time with children.

Hannah: How did you start getting involved in early childhood?

Claire: You have to go to university and do a degree. At the end you have a teaching qualification, the same as a primary or a secondary teacher. It sounds like lots of hard work but it’s actually also a lot of fun. You get sent to different kindergartens and early childhood centres and the other thing that is really rewarding is being involved with the children and their families – getting to know those families – and being part of a great team of people.

Hannah: Hi Kay, how are you today?

Kay: Hello, great!

Hannah: Good! Brodie has been having a good day, he was out playing in the sandpit, got a little bit wet.

Claire: It’s really important to work in partnership with the parents, families and whānau that we have here because if we know the children really well and we’ve got the parents on board, then we can work together. So one of the key roles of an early childhood teacher is to really engage with parents.

Clinton: So with a few fond farewells Hannah’s day has come to an end… But does Claire think it could be the beginning of her career in early childhood teaching?

Claire: Hannah was really fantastic. She had a great day being here because she got down and got involved with the children; she was having really good conversations with them. Yeah she was great, she did really well.

Hannah: It’s definitely something I could see myself doing in the future.

Clinton: To begin your career as a qualified registered early childhood teacher you’ll need to complete either a Bachelor of Teaching, Diploma of Teaching or Graduate Diploma of Teaching in Early Childhood Education.

As a qualified and registered early childhood teacher you’ll be able to work in any of New Zealand’s early childhood care and education centres, working as part of a team with a diverse range of children who provide a unique and exciting experience every day.

Further study in kōhanga reo kaiako will allow you to diversify your employment options further and as early childhood teachers are in demand, your employment prospects are high.