What mental factors influence and impact on teachers work in Early Childhood Education?
Stress, yes. Lack of adult contact- you work predominantly with the children and get little interaction with fellow staff. The 0-5 year age group are at various stages, so arranging an activity particularly in a mixed-age centre can be frustrating for a teacher, who finds activities they have organised don’t work as planned.(children eat the planned activity for example- lol) There is a lot of supervision required which affects the teacher’s time available to interact with children.(also a lot of tidying/ sleeping/ eating routines which can make you question why you need a degree to work in one on a bad day!) Parental expectations- some want their child to read, write, speak 6 languages. Others are happier with a free play philosophy. Teacher’s have to try to accommodate these expectations .
