Teaching Philosophy

I have been an early childhood educator for about 10 years. Throughout this time, I have
fulfilled various roles and taken on various responsibilities relating to this. These include
casual and permanent assistant roles as well as acting team lead roles. During these 10
years I also completed a Bachelor of Education in Primary Education.

I believe children age birth to five have the capability to achieve more than this age range is
given credit for. For example, children as young as 12 months old can wash their own faces
and hands post meals, with face washers or at a sink, with assistance where and when
needed. This has influenced my work in early childhood as I see children as capable and
competent human beings. This will influence my teaching in that I will be able to scaffold
children’s learning and self-help skills in a meaningful way. Seeing children as capable and
competent will also support my teaching in creating programs that suit the levels of
development and needs within my space.

I believe that there is a time and a place for both teacher and child led activities.
In my experience in the industry working with children under five years old there are things
like routines and teaching children self-help and safety that are often teacher led and
directed, with some input from observations of children’s needs and development. Often
children’s activities and topics of interest or learning are created in conjunction with
children or because of children’s interests.

As an early childhood educator, I have worked in various roles and have worked with
parents and supported parents in various ways. This experience has been invaluable to my
learning this year as I navigate the different aspects of being a teacher in an early childhood
setting. When working with parents as an ECT I believe that is important to be confident in
the knowledge that you do have and in the knowledge that you don’t have be confident in
source and resourcing information that is appropriate. In supporting parents, we are at
times a source of developmental knowledge for parents. By supporting parent’s knowledge
through our own we may be able to alleviate some our parents worries and/fears. As ECT’s
it is important to work with our families in the best interest of the children we look after and
educate.

Families are the first teachers for and of our children and it is my job and privilege to work
with them and support them in this journey. As an educator and teacher part of my job is to
support families in children’s learning and support families in how they can be the best first
teachers they can be. To support families, I aim to be a source of knowledge and guidance. I
also aim to provide information in the form of brochures or another appropriate written
knowledge. If there is something that I am unsure of I would investigate the topic or support
family in accessing someone who knows about or more about the topic.

Two theories that supports my beliefs in children’s development, competencies and

capabilities are developmental and social cultural theories. Developmental theories focus on
the physical and cognitive development of the child with a heavy emphasis of ‘stages’.
Socio-cultural theories refer to the scaffolding of learning in relation to prior learning and
knowledge. Both theories can connect to standard one in the Australian Professional
Standards for Teachers. Within developmental theories I most identify with the child
centred focus of Montessori, the developmental stages of Piaget and Gardner’s ideas that
we as humans can have multiple and/or a blend of intelligences (sometimes with a
dominant one). Within social-cultural theories I most identify with is Malaguzzi’s Regio
Emilia and Vygotsky’s theory on knowledge as a socially guided and constructed.
As an educator and teacher in early childhood environments it is important to remember
that a lot of learning for children occurs during play-based experiences. The Reggio Emilia
approach outlines this.
Reference list

Marsh, C.J. (2010). Becoming a teacher : knowledge, skills and issues. 5th ed. Frenchs
Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Australia.

Nolan, A. and Raban, B. (2015). Theories Into Practice : Understanding and Rethinking Our
Work With Young Children and the EYLF. Blairgowrie Vic: Teaching Solutions, pp.5–14.

Slee, P.T., Campbell, M. and Spears, B.A. (2012). Child, adolescent and family development.
Cambridge ; New York ; Port Melbourne, Vic.: Cambridge University Press.