Page 71 - Gateways for Early Educators

Gateways for Early Educators
2016
Successes:
 Building strong coach-participant relationships in order to impact change in participants –The Gateways Program has always identified a strong coach-participant relationship as a critical component in being able to impact change in providers and the CCALA agencies have had a long history of providing technical assistance and professional development to a wide array of early childhood educators. Coaches have been able to successfully foster relationships built on trust encouraging, motivating, and providing participants the resources they have needed to forge ahead and succeed. Coaching participants have described this through the focus groups and surveys
 Providing flexibility and individualization -- Coaching is an individualized process- flexibility and individualization have made the coaching effective as a means of professional development. Having the flexibility to work and meet providers’ needs has enabled the program to reach early childhood educators in all sectors of ECE who may otherwise not have had access to, guidance in meeting goals and navigating the systems of higher education, workforce and professional development. Serving early childhood educators who are license-exempt is notable given 58% of infants and toddler and 33% of preschool-aged children experience some form of license-exempt care each year.xlvii
 Professional and educational achievements—Over the years, participants have described the many educational (e.g. going back to school, completing a degree, earning a higher degree, etc.) and professional development (e.g. earning a permit, applying for a higher level permit, earning a credential, etc.) they have achieved.
 Quality improvement impacting the children coaching participants serve-Participants have described the many changes that they have made to their programs and practices and the impacts those changes have had on the children they serve. Many have described changes in how they interact with the children they serve, better interaction with the parents and families, and knowledge of and an increase in the use of tools (e.g. DRDP, ASQ, etc.) that have enabled early childhood educators to better meet children’s needs.
Photo Credit: Gateways for Early Educators Photo Voice Participant, 2014
“Gateways taught me that I can improve my environment without having to spend a lot of money.”
~Gateways Coaching and Photo Voice Participant
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