Need For Enhancing Sensitivity Among The Early Childhood Educators
By Swaleha Sindhi
20 December, 2013
Countercurrents.org
Introduction
Lack of sensitivity of teachers towards the needs and classroom dealing of the young children in school is a serious problem. The parents are worried about their child's performance, low self-esteem and losing interest in going to school. It is a fact that the teachers' behavior towards all children is not same and they are bias in dealing with them. This affects the socio-emotional development of the child. The personal relationship a student has with a teacher plays a major role in making a child. A positive remark, an insensitive one, a revengeful one - all have an impact on a child. There have been children that have risen to great heights because of positive encouragement from a teacher, and there have been those that have gone into acute depression because of victimization.
Theories of best practice and current research findings support the need for early childhood educators to be actively involved and sensitive when interacting with young children. A school is meant to be a place where learning has to be holistic, where fairness, justice and values are to be emphasized in action. Parents and teachers are often concerned about children who are aggressive or have challenging behaviors in school settings. Children identified as inhibited or "slow-to-warm-up" on the other end of the spectrum have the temperament characteristics of withdrawal, high sensitivity, and low intensity. They are quiet and subdued in social situations, offer fewer spontaneous comments, smile less, and interact less with peers. Teachers may perceive them as anxious, frightened, or aloof. These children are often overlooked. It is very important for the teachers to create a friendly relationship with the children to motivate them and bring out their creativity. The role of a teacher is like a bridge between the child and the parent to make the parents realize the child's innate talents and behavior and guide the parents to work with the child. But this is a challenge in schools today as few teachers are unable to understand the importance of child's needs and their role in overall development of the child.
Role of Schools for young children
The schools for tiny toddlers have to take care of the following:
• To create a stimulating environment that encourages continuous & learning, reflection and self assessment; one that engages children in a network of emotionally safe relationships and experiences.
• To devise and implement programmes that is based on the latest scientific theories of learning & child development.
• To promote the art of story-telling in both traditional and modern formats to enhance expression through varied forms & languages.
• Consider Parents as Partners in Education and with their support unleash a child's real potential.
• To provide holistic education that allows children to develop and grow – physically, mentally, emotionally & spiritually.
• To have an attractive infrastructure and facilities for the student and the staff like; a library for students and staff
• To have a computer lab for teachers with internet facility and the appropriate software installed.
• To have a sandpit area and play ground for children to play.
• To have a good ambience.
Last Word
It is important for the school authorities to help the teachers to understand the child psychology and the consequences of handling children insensitively. The school management can time and again conduct the workshop and the training programs for the teachers to help them understand children's needs. It is observed that schools for young children do not take care of recruiting well qualified teachers i.e. a teacher with a degree of Early Childhood Care Education (ECCE). They tend to recruit the available teachers in the market and then train them to the school needs. Thus, many a time the newly recruited inexperienced teachers fail to understand child psychology, handle the child's emotional needs, and are not successful in making school a happy place and learning a joyful experience for them. Such a grave problem must be taken care of or else it can affect the reputation of the schools and make parents unhappy with the school management and the teachers which may result into student withdrawal from the school.
(Swaleha Sindhi is Assistant Professor at the M.S.University of Baroda, her area of interest is Educational Management, Quality Assurance in Education and Secondary Education. She can be mailed at;[email protected])
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