Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State
Levels.
Each week we come across interesting topics that enriches us
both professionally and in our daily lives. Without a doubt we all need support
systems that make both professional life and personal life easy. No man is an
Island so we all need to rely on each other for information and collaboration
is a huge part of giving and receiving assistance. “Communities of practice are
groups of people who share a concern for something that they do and learn how
to do it better as they interact regularly”. (Wegner, 2006).
Communities of
practice are not defined by a particular uniform look or shape but what binds
them together as a group is the shared interest. The three communities of
practice that appeal to me include Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), National
Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and Association of
Early Childhood Educators Ontario AECEO)
I chose these three
organizations because they all are linked to education, the first is Nigerian
union of teachers, this is a group that all teachers in Nigeria belong to and
new and upcoming teachers are mandated to be part of. The second is a
professional membership organizations in the United States that works to
promote high quality early learning for all young children, birth through age 8
by connecting early childhood practice, policy, and research. The last I chose
is the Association of Early Childhood Educators Ontario (AECEO). This
association is located in Canada and they develop and implement activities in
early childhood settings for children from infancy to twelve. They are also
responsible for planning and organizing activities that protect and promote
children’s intellectual, and physical, social and emotional growth. This
association consist of Preschool teachers, childcare workers, Day care workers,
child Care Practitioners, Home child care visitor/consultant, Nursery school
teachers, child care assistant supervisors, Day care supervisors and child care
coordinators. Just like Helm (2007) said “members of a COP develop
relationships and learn from each other. They enjoy sharing their knowledge and
engaging in joint activities and discussions. The members may or may not work
for the same organizations or positions”.
Association of Early Childhood Education
Ontario is a typical organization that has members from different organizations,
just like Helm (2007) described. They stay active in the COP even when they
organizations or positions.
I chose these three organizations because the Nigerian union
of teachers is the first communities of education I belonged to as a teacher in
Nigeria, the second National Association for the Education of Young Children
(NAEYC) is the one I got to know because of my online study in Walden
University the third one which is Association of Early Childhood Educators in
Ontario is the organization I intend being part of when I eventually get to
Canada for my second masters.
There are no job opportunities currently available that
interest me but if there is an opportunity for me to work there I would probably
go for a position as a nursery school teacher. The skills and roles I need to
competently fulfill each of the roles in this organizations is to have a
teacher’s qualification to be able to teach and also share a common interest
that they all share to be able to make difference in a child’s life by keeping
abreast with the latest trends on how to teach children, problem solving and
knowledge sharing with each other.
References:
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