Early Childhood Care and Education is a branch in the education sector that deals with the formal and informal teaching of young children. The kids in these institutions which are commonly known as nursery are usually between the age of two and eight years. Due to the setting of these institutions, effective communication is very essential. The way we communicate is very necessary for building positive relationships and expressing ourselves. Thus, if the language used in the Childhood Care institutions is rich in stories and discussions, the children in these institutions will grow and become effective and successful in their communication. Also, non-verbal communication among the teachers and parents is also necessary because the children in these institutions learn from them. Therefore, it is very important how everyone who interacts with children in these institutions expresses themselves because lack of proper communication skills may affect the effectiveness of the overall communication program. Thirdly, language is the main way of learning. Thus teachers with poor communication skills will have a negative impact on children’s education. This is because the children are learning and trying to process new information that the teachers are impacting them. This makes it very vital for teachers to have good communication skills. Also, learning mainly depends on what we hear. Hence, the teachers at Childhood Care institutions should have good communication skills. The children at the institutions are at great risk of having difficulties with reading, spelling and also writing. If a teacher has poor communication skills, the children will have difficulties and have to struggle to understand what they are taught or what they have read (Olowe, and Kutelu, 2014 p 123) . Lastly, the way communication is done at ECCE will determine the kind of friends children make. Impacting bad communication skills on children will make them have poor communication skills and eventually lower their self-esteem and confidence. Children often choose friends who are good in their communication thus those with poor skills will be at a disadvantage .
Rules and legislations are very important in any organization because they serve as the norm of conduct for parties that are involved. They also provide guidelines on what is expected of every individual in an organization. They also help to reduce conflicts between the parties involved. Also, they state the consequences that an individual may face if they violate them. Due to this, legislations are very important in ECCE because they help regulate the behavior of teachers, parents, workers, and children in these institutions. These legislations affect different sectors in these institutions.
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Health and Safety
It is one of the most important tasks of Childhood Care institutions. The child care providers must ensure that the children are safe inside the childcare setting and also outside. The children must be prevented from injuries or illness, and there have to be ways of handling emergencies if something happens. While transporting children, safety measures have to be taken into account to ensure that the children travel safely to the child care and back home. Also, only a guardian or a parent should collect their children from the childcare learning program. If the parent or guardian cannot manage to collect the kids, authorized personnel should collect them to ensure that the children are safe. Contact details of parents and guardians should be kept up to date in these institutions so that they can be contacted something happens to their children.
Children’s Welfare
Children’s well-being and learning must be facilitated by the providers of childcare services. This is by giving the children proper learning materials and equipment’s, proper interactions and handling them with appropriate, suitable practices. There should be a well-equipped first-aid kit and a person well trained in first aid to assist children in case of emergency. Also, there has to be a sufficient and competent personnel who work directly with the kids all day long. The staffs and volunteers at the child care institutions must be appropriately vetted to ensure they will properly handle the children. Children should not be exposed to corporal punishment, and anyone who inflicts corporal punishment should face the law. Instead, the child care institution should have policies and procedures that will be used to handle children with challenging behaviors and assist the children in managing their behavior. The food and the drinks provided at the learning facility should be nutritious and balanced and comply with the dietary requirements to ensure that children grow healthy and immune from diseases.
Communication
Children’s experience in their early life has a lot of impact in their future life. Thus what a child hears at his or her early age will have a lot of influence in the way he/she expresses himself or herself. Also, the way teachers and other children interact with them will have a great role in the way he or she interacts with others. Due to this, interactions should be encouraged in the childcare institution. It may include child to child interaction which can be practiced by encouraging small group activities in the daily program. The activities practiced should promote interactions among the children. This will make them closer to one another, and their relations with one another developed. The teachers should assist them in developing the skills of positive interaction. For instance, a teacher can make them circle, use games, assist them in taking turns and help them when they are solving their issues independently. Children of different ages can be involved in programs that will enable them to work together. Also, those children who like to play alone should be encouraged to interact with others by making them take part in activities that involve other children such as the circle time.
Secondly, it may include child-adult interaction where teachers are required to have regular interactions with each child to develop a close and warm relationship with them. They can also warmly greet each child after they arrive, recommend them due to their efforts and comfort them when they are having hardships. The children caretakers should always listen to what they are saying and show concern. They should humble themselves by bringing themselves down when they are speaking to children or addressing them. Also, they should involve themselves with verbal communication with children such as discussing what a child was doing and why encouraging them to use advanced vocabulary and address them with open-ended questions. The teaching personnel should also encourage the use of the non-verbal method of communication and show them what they mean.
Supervision and Leadership in Childhood Cares
Supervisor in a childcare should ensure that he or she sets good leadership in the institution. He/she should ensure there is clear communication among the people involved in taking care of children. Also, he/she should create positive relations with the wider community such as the parents, ensure that the childcare is financially stable and should be sensitive and responsive to the need of his/her staff members. Lastly, he/she should provide guidelines that will ensure quality childhood services are provided.
Methods of Communication
The standard methods of communication include speaking and writing. When communication is done oral, one of the party speaks while the other listens. When it is done through writing, there had to be a sender (the one writing the message) and a receiver who reads the message sent to him/her. In addition to verbal and written forms of communication, there are other forms of communication which include the use of non-verbal (body language) means such as gestures, actions, and even the physical appearance. Also, technology can be used in communication.
Communication Technology
It involves unified communications such as the use of telephone, computers, and audio-visuals. Communication technology has been applied in early childhood care and education for educational purposes as well as entertainment and communication. The telecommunication equipment’s and gadgets are also used in managing child care programs. This is because a lot of complex activities take place in the children’s care. The use of technological gadgets makes the tasks at early childhood care and education more manageable. The application of internet makes it easy to link the child care with parents, teaching staff, non-teaching staff, and other child care professionals electronically. In teaching, technology has helped in research and summing up the teaching materials. Teachers can also document their teaching materials in CDs, digital cameras and scanners. Digital photos are also sent to parents to create a digital link between parents and their children.
Reading and Writing Communication Skills
As children grow, their speaking skills become more complex. They learn how to use language to express their ideas, feelings, and emotions as they communicate with others. They interact with printed materials such as books and magazines. Gradually, they combine what they have learned through speaking and listening with what they have seen in the printed material and become ready to read and write. Reading and writing are strongly connected to the ability of a child to recognize words which are made of separate speech sounds. Hence, teachers at childhood cares should engage children in sound play so that children can learn how to segment words ( Pinto, Pessanha and Aguiar, 2013, p. 99) . For this reason, children who perform extemporary well in sound play eventually become successful in reading and writing. For this reason, teachers at early childhood care and education institutions should talk to children and name objects that are around their environment. They should also engage children in vocabulary and singing, rhyming games and nursery rhythms. Lastly, they should provide materials for drawing such as papers, pencils, and crayons
Non-verbal and Visual Communication
When communicating with children, a lot of communication is usually non-verbal. This includes facial expressions that one make while speaking, eye contact, body movements, and the tonal variation. Positive non-verbal cues of communication in child care improve relationships with children. On the contrary, negative non-verbal forms of communication such as a harsh tone in the voice make a child feel unloved, rejected and unvalued. This implies that the non-verbal speaking is essential in strengthening the verbal messages. They help children relate and interact with other people. Example; if a teacher stops what he/she is doing and listens to what a child is telling him/her, the child will learn how to pay full attention to others too. Teachers can use non-verbal methods of communication while interacting with children in various ways. They can bend down to the child’s level to show the need to be close to the kid as well as maintaining eye contact. Secondly, they can use pleasant tones while speaking and addressing children, maintaining a relaxed body posture and having a good facial expression when talking to them. This will enable children to see teachers and other people open, willing and ready to listen to them. When speaking to children, teachers should maintain eye contact to show the kids they are interested in what they are about to be told.
Listening and Speaking Communication Skills
It is very important to know the meaning of words so that you can use them while speaking. Children learn new words at schools and child cares. What children hear and listen becomes the first experience to learning about language. Thus early childhood assistants should have effective communication skills because they are required to communicate with children, parents and their fellow workmates. The way they speak to children cannot be the same manner they speak to the children’s parents. While communicating with children, they have to use positive language. This will encourage children to do good all the time. Example; if a child falls, and another one picks him up, the childhood assistant should praise the one who has picked the fallen child. She can say “It was very nice of you Joy to pick Robert up.”
When teachers ask children questions, children respond to their vocalizations. As they engage in more talks with other children, they learn how to use words. Thus teachers are very vital in the development of children’s listening and speaking skills. In addition, the interaction children have with adults supports children’s growth mostly their language and communication skills. There are ways in which attendants at early childhood care and education institutions can use to promote and support the development of listening and speaking communication skills among the children they handle. The practices can be practices to individuals or arranging the kids in small groups. The methods include; responding and reacting positively to children’s vocalizations and speech, encouraging children to talk to one another, using language that is rich in grammar while addressing children, providing the children with a lot of information about objects around them, emotions and other things that they encounter in their day to day life (Liao, 2007 p.37) . It will provide the children with a lot of information which they will use when communicating with other children and their parents. Music also helps children remember a lot of information thus promoting their listening and speaking skills
In conclusion, the attendants at the early childhood care and education have a vital and crucial role in promoting and developing the listening and speaking skills of children. Hence, the people who should be employed to take care of the children should have great skills in listening and speaking, be patient and handle children positively.
References
Liao, Y.F., (2007). Investigating the construct validity of the grammar and vocabulary section and the listening section of the ECCE: Lexico-grammatical ability as a predictor of L2 listening ability. SPAAN FELLOW , 1001 , p.37.
Olowe, P. K., & Kutelu, B. O. (2014). Perceived Importance of ICT in Preparing Early Childhood Education Teachers for the New Generation Children. Institute of Advance Engineering and Research Education: International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education. 3, 119-124.
Pinto, A. I., Pessanha, M., & Agular, C. (2013). Effects of Home Environment and Center-Based Child Care Quality on Children's Language, Communication, and Literacy Outcomes. Elsevier: Early Childhood Research Quarterly. 28, 94-101.Bottom of Form
