Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP)
Introduction
Five early childhood programs ware identified in the selected local area. These include; developmentally appropriate practices, high/ scope, Montessori, creative curriculum and multi-age classroom. This paper will discuss the developmentally appropriate practices program at Sunrise Early Childhood Centers, Kingsway Street. Generally, the developmentally appropriate practices program is an early childhood education approach that considers the implications of age, the individual, culture and the child context to the education of the child. This center operates 7.30am and 5.30pm from Monday to Friday.
Quality of the Program
Sunrise has tried to enhance the quality of education provided to their children. Sunrise has a population of 164 children under their care. The institution has 8 caregivers which translate to that ratio of 1 care giver for every 20 children. This student to teacher ratio ensures that each student receives enough attention especially under this program which takes into account the individual attributes of every child. The caregivers are well trained with each one of them having a minimum of a bachelor degree in early childhood education.
Sunrise Early Childhood Center has also given emphasis to the health of children. The institutions follow maintains proper hygiene and sanitation standards. The rooms are well ventilated and spacious and the play ground is spacious as well. The classrooms, washrooms and eating areas are cleaned regularly as well as the outdoor compound. The center also has a rule that requires exclusion of any child with an acute contagious ailment. However, this exclusion is usually for a short term until the child recovers from the ailment. The center has developed clear procedure for handling and administration of medication to children who are in need.
All the caregivers have also been trained on administering first aid as well as in other health and safety procedures and the center is also equipped with fully functioning first aid equipment. This enables the caregivers to respond swiftly to accidents or emergency illnesses by the children. The separation of children into smaller groups according to age also reduces the risk of injuries and illnesses. The school is located in quite and less busy neighborhood. This environment provides both a safe and conducive environment for learning.
Sunrise has developed activities that are geared towards achievement of physically and cognitive developmental of the children. Under the developmentally approach practices approach learning activities recognize and respond to the children’s individual learning capacity as well as their age, cultural, context and interests. The activities are also aimed at ensuring that the child develops language, physical, social, emotional and cognitive skills. This means that children are assigned different activities based on these dimensions. Activities involved in learning include; reading, writing crafts and games.
Sunrise early child hood program not only promote the mental and physical development of the children but also their social development. The children are expected to learn how to interact and relate with others with minimal conflicts. Discipline is also emphasized; the children are expected to treat each other with respect, observe time and do whatever is required of them. In order to support the holistic development of the children, there is enhanced cooperation between the caregivers and the children’s parents. The parents are always updated about the progress of their children and are also informed about their children’s needs. The caregivers and parents work hand in hand to identify and solve their children’s mental health, social, nutritional and physical health needs.
Caregivers
Caregivers of Sunrise also contribute to the quality of care provided by the institution. Jane is the one of the caregivers in the institution as well as the administrators of the institution. She has worked as a care giver at different institutions for the 12 years and has been at Sunrise Early Childhood Center for the last 6 years. She has a bachelor of art degree in early childhood education from University of California. She has also received specific training in child development developments and safety as well as administration at different pints of her career. Apart from delivering childcare services she also has to manage the institution and the other caregivers and staffs. Jane always reports to the centers at 7.00 am on a typical day and leaves after 5.30 pm when everybody has left.
Ruth is also a caregiver at SunriseCenter. She is 31 year age. She is also experienced a caregiver as she has worked with different institutions for the last 8 years and has worked at Sunrise for the past 3 years. She has an Associate degree in early childhood education from Penn Foster College. Ruth is the assistant administrator of Sunrise Center and therefore her roles at the center are also demanding. She can be described as jovial lady who love to inspire children.
James is 27 years old is also a care giver at the center. He has a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from Ferris State University. James has worked as caregivers for 4 years. Edna, Mary, Frank, Beth and Elsie are also care givers at Sunrise. They Edna, Frank and Elsie are bachelor degree holders in early childhood education from different institutions while Mary and Beth are associate degree holders. Though the 5 are relatively inexperienced as compared to Jane, Ruth and James they are well trained and have already adapted to their roles as care givers.
Apart from the 8 caregivers, the center has got also 3 support staff, who are charged with different roles within the center. The good education qualification and the experience possessed by Sunrise Center caregivers have enhanced the quality of education provided by the center. Apart from being professionally trained, the caregivers stated that they have a passion for working with children and this provide an added advantage to the center.
What I liked most about the Program
The educational approach adopted by the institution is impressive. Developmentally appropriate practices approach provides individualized care to every child. This program recognizes that differences exist between children in terms of; individual characteristics, interest, culture and age which may also influence the ability of these children to learn or develop. By recognizing and responding to these differences in children, this programs ensures that no students is left behind and that the learning activities are tailored to respond to the need of each and every child. This approach also provides the children with the motivation to learn as the activities are tailored according to the students interest and capabilities.
Another strong point for Sunrise Early Childhood Center is the cooperation that exists between parents and the caregivers. Children receiving care at the center are at the most crucial learning stage of their life. At this stage the children have the highest capability to learn and retain experiences than any other point of the life, therefore it becomes important to regulate the learning experiences of the children at this point. Parents and caregivers are the people who spend most of the time with these children and are the people who are most likely to influence the children’s learning.
The cooperation between teachers and parents is therefore very important to ensure that the child is receiving consistent information from both the parents and the caregivers. The parents and caregivers also contribute significantly to the physical and mental development of the children and their cooperation is paramount. Sunrise caregivers hold constant meeting with parents and keep them updated about their children’s progress.
What I liked least about the Program
One weakness of the sunrise early childhood center is the high children to teacher ratio. There are 164 children who are served by 8 caregivers. This means that each caregiver attend to a minimum of 20 children at a time. In order to enhance the interaction between the care giver and the children, this ratio should be a bit lower. This is especially because the developmentally appropriate practices approach requires individualized attention for every student; more care givers are required to provide this attention more effectively.
Another disadvantage of the program is cost. The developmentally appropriate practices approach requires individualized activities and low caregiver to children ratio. This increases the cost of this program which makes it least affordable to some members.
Recommendations
The care should increase the number of care givers so as they can much the population of students and the design of the program. Increasing the number of care givers will reduce the caregiver to children ratio to about 15:1 which will improve the interaction between caregivers and the children further enhancing the quality of the program.
The institution should also consider using materials and activities that will bring down the cost of the program. Lower cost material can be used to design the learning activities and programs. Since the program requires a lot of resources, it should also seek financial resources that will support the center. These resources may be obtained from institutions such as; government agencies. Availing more resources for the program will reduce the burden from parent as well as improving the quality of the program.
The institution should also provide in-service training program to make the incoming caregivers acquainted to the program. The education approach used in Sunrise Early Childhood has many requirements that caregivers should be well acquainted to. By establishing an in-service training program.
Conclusion
Generally, Sunrise Early Childhood Center has made efforts to provide quality early childhood education. The developmentally appropriate practices approach used in this center has enabled the center to respond to the specific needs of each and every child which leads to better development. The center has also obtained qualified caregivers and has appropriately maintained the facility and the environment in order to provide conducive atmosphere for learning. Though a few limitations were identified in the program, these may be overcome by implementing some few changes.
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