The Role of the Teacher
As the “coordinator in chief,” the early childhood educator has substantial responsibilities, including setting up and maintaining the environment, arranging equipment and materials, planning, implementing, and managing activities, and then assessing, communicating, and documenting how learning takes place.
The degree of flexibility that the teacher has in terms of how to structure the day or how detailed to make the lessons depends in part on the type of early childhood setting within which the teacher works. Working in a federally funded preschool program like Head Start, for example, usually involves a selected curriculum and clearly described procedures and expectations about how it will be implemented. On the other hand, teachers working in a private child-care program might get to select or develop the curriculum they use, while teachers in public schools have very different kinds of choices to make, as they navigate a complex system of curriculum standards, resources, and accountability.