In South Africa 80% of children from the ages of 3-6 are not in accredited early childhood development schools as stated by statistics. This is due to several reasons, including a general lack in qualified early childhood development teachers as one of the major factors. In South Africa Early Childhood Development (ECD) is a priority and is supported by legislation, national policies and strategies. Let’s take a closer look at the significant benefits of early childhood development.
Helps with Concentration:
Children’s minds are full of curiosity; their minds and bodies are never still. This makes it hard for them to listen and complete tasks. However, their attention span improves tremendously once they start attending ECD schools. Which results in the children being able to listen better, improved effective communication, follow instructions, concentrate on their tasks and participate in group activities.
Patience & Teamwork:
When children interact with their peers in group activities, they gain not only patience but also a respect for the opinions and ideas of others. Through teamwork they experience socialization making them open minded on issues of diversity and fosters cooperation and equality.
Encourages Holistic Development:
A child’s foundation is very important and should not be taken for granted. The overall wellbeing of children’s cognizant and mental development, their physical and emotional development and social skills are important founding factors in ensuring their success for the future.
Makes Children Open for Learning:
Trained early childhood development educators can effectively support children individually in areas where they struggle, which in turn makes children confident in their skills as they grow. Building confidence is an essential ingredient for all aspects of your child’s healthy development and a key ingredient for their adult success.
Early childhood is a crucial part of a child’s development and quality training will ensure a child is confident and ready for school. It takes a trained ECD educator who has gone through a professional development course to be able to facilitate the all-round development of young children in a manner that is sensitive to culture and individual needs (including special needs).
A trained teacher will be able to provide quality early childhood development services for children in a variety of contexts, including community-based services, ECD centres, at home and in institutions. There are institutions like Caversham Institute that are tackling the issues of unqualified ECD teachers by providing teacher training, education training and psychology qualifications.
Registrations for the higher certificate and diploma in Early Childhood development for 2020 are now open at Caversham Institute in Durban.
