Articles :: Alternative Career Articles :: For the Love of Little Ones: Child Care Education Leads to Child Care Careers
For the Love of Little Ones: Child Care Education Leads to Child Care Careers
by Paul D. Rosevear
If your passion for teaching is matched only by your love of children, a child care education can prepare you for child care careers that allow you to help young people learn and develop as healthy young people in general. Child care careers not only offer the reward of watching children rapidly acquire a tremendous amount of experience and knowledge on a daily basis, but it affords them the opportunity to lay the foundation for other related professions, like elementary education.
"A good candidate for child care education has to have patience, solid communication skills, and obviously a love of children," says Scott Lerner, director of Little Learner Academy, a New Jersey-based child care facility. "Our children range from 6 weeks to 10 years old and one of the main rewards is watching them learn during those early years because they're like little sponges. They achieve things and move forward so quickly."
The first order of business in launching child care careers is acquiring appropriate child care education. "All of our teachers here are certified," explains Lerner. "They have a degree in teaching or some sort of equivalency certificated, like the Child Development Associate credential. One of the local county colleges offers a two-year group teacher program, which some of our workers attended." Courses within a child care education cover topics ranging from arts and crafts, music, physical education, children's literature, and even child psychology, providing the well-rounded knowledge necessary for child care careers.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, people with child care careers totaled about 1.3 million jobs in 2004, with 17 percent holding jobs at child day care centers, and 21 percent working for private households. Those with child care careers were employed in places like government educational services, nursing and residential care facilities, and civic and social organizations.
Furthermore, child care careers aren't necessarily always at a day care facility or a school - there are opportunities to apply your child care education elsewhere. With a bachelor's degree, child care careers can lead to a job teaching in a public school, and with a graduate degree many child care workers find themselves in policy or advocacy work related to child care or early childhood education.
But ultimately, child care careers have to stem from a simple love of helping young people. "Child care careers do not pay as well as public schooling, and it's a very competitive job market," says Lerner. "People don't go into this for the money -- they do it because they love it."
"A good candidate for child care education has to have patience, solid communication skills, and obviously a love of children," says Scott Lerner, director of Little Learner Academy, a New Jersey-based child care facility. "Our children range from 6 weeks to 10 years old and one of the main rewards is watching them learn during those early years because they're like little sponges. They achieve things and move forward so quickly."
The first order of business in launching child care careers is acquiring appropriate child care education. "All of our teachers here are certified," explains Lerner. "They have a degree in teaching or some sort of equivalency certificated, like the Child Development Associate credential. One of the local county colleges offers a two-year group teacher program, which some of our workers attended." Courses within a child care education cover topics ranging from arts and crafts, music, physical education, children's literature, and even child psychology, providing the well-rounded knowledge necessary for child care careers.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, people with child care careers totaled about 1.3 million jobs in 2004, with 17 percent holding jobs at child day care centers, and 21 percent working for private households. Those with child care careers were employed in places like government educational services, nursing and residential care facilities, and civic and social organizations.
Furthermore, child care careers aren't necessarily always at a day care facility or a school - there are opportunities to apply your child care education elsewhere. With a bachelor's degree, child care careers can lead to a job teaching in a public school, and with a graduate degree many child care workers find themselves in policy or advocacy work related to child care or early childhood education.
But ultimately, child care careers have to stem from a simple love of helping young people. "Child care careers do not pay as well as public schooling, and it's a very competitive job market," says Lerner. "People don't go into this for the money -- they do it because they love it."
Facebook
StumbleUpon
Delicious
Tweet This!Sound Off! Post Your Comments
You are not currently logged on. Please login to add a comment.
Request Free Information
on Colleges Near You
Find