Recognizing the PROfessional in PROvider

Mary Vanderwert
Minnesota Head Start Collaboration Director
Minnesota Department of Education

The word professional is used in many ways but too few early childhood care and education staff use it to describe themselves.   

Perhaps the reason lies in the typical definition of professional, which is usually associated with high social status and high income.

Or is it because children learn through play so anyone can keep a child safe while playing?

Or is it because our field is dominated by women?

Or is it because we don’t believe we are professionals?

If the answer lies in our own thinking, it is time for a big change. Time to recognize the PROfessional in PROvider!

So what does it mean to be a professional?  According to Webster's New World Dictionary, a professional is a person who is “worthy of the high standards of a profession.” And a profession is, “a vocation or occupation requiring advanced training...and usually involving mental rather than manual work.” Sound familiar?

Professionals:

1. Are essential to the function of the community. Research has proven that experiences in early childhood impact a person’s long-term health, success in school, productivity in work and capacity for fulfilling relationships. Early childhood professionals lay the foundation for a vibrant, productive and healthy community, as the children they serve grow to adulthood.
2. Are service-oriented rather than profit-oriented. This means placing the needs of the children and families as the highest priority. Sometimes it means working long hours and sacrificing personal desires for the good of the children and working with other professionals to ensure that the children in care are receiving services they need. 
3. Are autonomous. They exercise judgment based on their knowledge of children and families, their profession’s principles, and their profession’s proven strategies. Careful planning and a high level of creativity are required to create environments for children and families. Many decisions must be made quickly without consulting others.
4. Have high standards of ethics. Protecting the rights of children and preserving their dignity while working and living in the larger community are duties of early childhood professionals.  Early care and education professionals must put the needs of their clients ahead of their own interests and comfort.
5. Have specialized skills and knowledge. Early care and education staff need to know how brains develop, how learning takes place, what happens when development does not go as planned and much, much more. This knowledge lays the foundation for practice. The ever-changing body of knowledge is communicated to the field by professional societies such as the Minnesota Center for Professional Development, the Association for the Education of Young Children, the Minnesota Head Start Association, the Minnesota Licensed Family Child Care Association, the Minnesota Child Care Resource & Referral Network, or others.   As children change and as the research provides more information, it is important early childhood professionals are continuously seeking professional development opportunities like T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® MINNESOTA.
6. Have standards for practice. All children deserve the same level of service. Minnesota has a set of Core Competencies that guide the practice for child care and will soon apply to all early childhood settings. The Minnesota Early Childhood Indicators of Progress have been developed to ensure that all children are exposed to learning that is appropriate for their stage of development.  

Early childhood professionals possess all of these characteristics. The title professional may be claimed proudly.

Continue seeking the skills and knowledge you need to be “worthy of the high standards of the profession!” and give yourself the credit you deserve.

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