Early Childhood Educators: Who are they and what do they do?

What’s in a title?

Back in 2012, Cathy Nutbrown proposed the idea that ‘We need to move towards a greater sense of professional roles and identities, ensuring that early years staff have clear and intelligible roles, responsibilities and status, which are understood and adopted across the sector’ (Nutbrown, 2012, p.45).  As part of her review, Nutbrown (2012), also suggested a collection of titles that were linked to the level of qualification in the UK. This ranged from an Apprentice who could be working towards a qualification, to an Early Years Practitioner at level 3 and a Senior Early Years Practitioner at Level 4. From this, there was also the Early Years Professional (with Early Years Professional Status) and the newly proposed Early Years Teacher (with Early Years Teacher Status). However, little seems to have changed in the adoption of these titles in the years following the report.

As it stands, in the Uk the early childhood sector is still flooded with a wealth of job titles, including Nursery Nurse, Nursery Assistant, Preschool Assistant, Room Leader, Early Educator, Teacher and Early Childhood Educator. This can lead to confusion with the individual themselves, as well as those in and outside the sector, unclear on what their role actually means. Additionally, this can lead to confusion over professional identity. 

To teach or not to teach…

When children first start at a setting, you might hear a parent tell a child to ‘say thank you to your teacher.’ But if you aren’t qualified as a teacher, should you be addressed as one? It really is a conflict of opinions and your preference is likely to be based on your experience, knowledge, values and qualifications, amongst other things. Some might prefer a title that reflects the ‘care’ element of the role, recognising that the sector is more than teaching. Would this, though, undermine the skilled and professional role of the early childhood practitioner? Perhaps educators might feel that the title of teacher is more aligned to the responsibility, accountability and professionalism of the role? It’s an interesting reflection point – would the term ‘teacher’ offer an individual more self worth? With such a wide range of duties in early childhood, perhaps ‘teacher’ does not adequately convey this. Undeniably, the role includes an ethic of care, with practitioners needing to emotionally engage in order to provide the best level of care for children.

Would the title of ‘teacher’ imply a focus on education, and school readiness, rather than acknowledge that early years is more than teaching and learning? However, it could also be argued that if educators were all given the title of ‘teacher’, this would bring further confusion to the role. A ‘teacher’ in early childhood would be an entirely different role than what one would usually associate with a teacher in a primary school, for instance.  In a day nursery or preschool environment, a ‘teacher’ would be changing nappies, carrying out 2 year old checks, potty training, supervising sleep times, serving meals etc. Additionally, we must question how giving practitioners the ‘teacher label’ would be viewed by teachers who have spent time and money gaining their qualification.

The diversity of the sector

Perhaps an element to be considered is the diversity of the sector itself, in terms of the range of setting types, but also the roles of those employed in them. Some will be working with babies, others might be leading specific rooms, some working with preschoolers who will be leaving to start school.  Similarly, some settings will be urban, others rural. Some might have a high level of disadvantage, others not. It highlights how adaptive we need to be as a sector, understanding that we can never employ a ‘one size fits all’ approach to policy making. This diversity could well influence the titles given to educators. For instance, a parent or carer of a baby is more likely to prefer a title that reflects the care element of the role. In comparison, a educator in a maintained nursery school might be expected by a parent or carer to be more focused on the teaching element in order to prepare their child for school. 

When we consider the role of an early childhood educator, it quickly becomes clear that the role is multifaceted and all encompassing, giving additional confusion to the conundrum of titles.

A practitioner perspective

Let’s take a look at the perspective of a practitioner…

‘Just playing with kids all day’

A day in the life of a practitioner is not for the faint hearted. Of course, it can be highly rewarding, and we must treasure these magical moments. Only last week a little boy said he ‘liked my face’ and I forget how many verbal birthday party invites I get a day. But, it is mentally demanding – you can go from leading a circle time to wiping noses, to trying to sort out a distraught child who’s brother’s name doesn’t begin with the sound of the week, all in the space of a few minutes. It’s never not busy. You have just shown a potential parent around, the next minute you are unblocking the sink which is full of expanded water beads or changing a nappy explosion, then washing your hands to go straight into a 2 year old review meeting. Not forgetting buzzing with enthusiasm about everything, sharing in children’s wonder and joy – every picture, painting, artwork, mud kitchen creation that is proudly shown to you. Ah and don’t forget to eat all of those mud kitchen pies, cakes and jellies as though they have been cooked in a Michelin Star kitchen. How do you possibly put all of this in a job description or reflect it in a job title?

– Jodie Smith, Busy Bees Ledbury.

Finally…

What we do need to recognise is that whatever titles are allocated to staff, the early childhood sector is in desperate need of an overhaul. Government policies which are implemented without sector involvement, poor pay and terms and conditions and the inferior status of those employed in caring and teaching of 0-5’s must be addressed. If not, whatever titles are allocated to practitioners will be irrelevant.