In what way are the challenges faced by today’s early childhood educators rooted in the historical foundations of the profession?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The early childhood education profession and the teaching profession in general face a number of related issues. These include low pay and lack of social status, high turnover and frequent burnout, and shortages of qualified teachers. The causes of these issues can be traced back to the early days of the profession. Kindergarten became firmly established as an American institution in the latter half of the nineteenth century, a time in which women were becoming increasingly linked to the role of child rearing and socialization but were not considered fully-fledged members of society. By the early twentieth century, women were considered guardians of the young, with a moral responsibility to uphold cultural standards that superseded concerns for economic and material comforts. Thus, a mismatch between the perceived importance of the role played by teachers and the compensation they received for that role became firmly established. Today’s low pay and lack of social status for teachers, which in turn create issues such as staff turnover, burnout, and teacher shortages, are a direct result of the historical conditions surrounding the establishment of early childhood education in the United States.