It has been mentioned earlier that since children under 6 years of age have particular ways of understanding the world and social relationships, have specific developmental needs, any adult attempting to work with children must be carefully and well trained in the field of early child development and care. We might think here that when young women and men become parents, they are not required to have any training in child care, why should a teacher or a caregiver require any training?

There are several reasons why even parents would also benefit from knowing more about how and why children do the things that they do. Parents would also benefit very much from knowing more about expected differences between children of the same age and also appreciate that there are individual differences. They should realise that there is often no point in competitive comparisons between children and even between siblings. Thus we must understand that ALL adults in contact with children WILL, certainly benefit from a scientific understanding of development and growth leading to realistic expectations and interactions with children.

Some of the skills an early childhood professional needs to have are:
zz An interest in children and their development
zz Knowledge about the needs and capabilities of young children
zz Capacity and motivation for interacting with children
zz Skills for creative and interesting activities with children in all areas of development
zz Enthusiasm for activities like story-telling, exploration, nature and social interaction
zz Willingness and interest in answering children’s queries
zz Capacity for understanding individual differences
zz Be energetic and prepared for physical activity for considerably long periods of time.

In order to prepare for a career in this field, it is essential to have studied about children’s development and basic principles of care. For this you will be required to have an undergraduate degree in a subject that has child/human development and/or child psychology as part of the course. However, if there a desire to enter into the field soon after completion of schooling, there is also the option of one year diploma or Open University educational courses in the field. Nursery Teacher Training is another course that offers training in this field.

In addition to the courses that one can attend, and degrees that can be acquired, it is also important to remember that having a predisposition to be open and interactive with children is a fundamental requirement if one wants to become an effective early childhood specialist. The person should also be aware of the community and culture so that the pre-school activities are in the context of the culture and regional environment in which the child is growing up.

The scope of early childhood care and education is very widespread. A person who is trained as an educator or caregiver for young children can either work as teacher in a nursery school, a caregiver in a crèche or as a member of a team of people working for programmes with young children. Additionally, several governmental and non-governmental organisations hire professionals for planning and promoting campaigns or services for young children. A person can also set up his or her own child care and education-related programme as an entrepreneur, which would mean setting up one’s own programme, either at home or in a separate space.