Childhood educator

Childhood educators are educational professionals who have completed an undergraduate or part-time course in childhood education , early education , early childhood education , childhood education, elementary education, education and upbringing in childhood.

Education

The practice-oriented study takes place at colleges or universities of applied sciences or in Baden-Wuerttemberg also at teacher training colleges and closes to seven semesters with the six Bachelor of Arts from. Part-time courses are also offered in some cases, e.g. B. as an academic further qualification for professional educators . There are also study opportunities within dual study programs .

In view of the new educational and socio-political significance of early childhood education, the previous technical school training for child and youth welfare has since been supplemented in Germany by a higher education specializing in early childhood educational tasks. In cooperation with several universities that offer courses for education, care and upbringing in childhood at Bachelor and Master level, educational content and teaching methods for the professionalization of early childhood teachers are developed across universities.

Content

Basic course contents are:

• pedagogy
• Developmental Psychology, Child Psychology
• Elementary didactics (comprehensive presentations on specific learning in preschool age)
• anthropological prerequisites or foundations
• in particular the theory and practice of the attachment approach (e.g. the attachment approach according to John Bowlby )
• Infant and parent-child observation
• Methods of assessing child development
• Educational approaches and early intervention
• Social education (including social learning , social relationships )
• Observation, documentation (e.g. portfolio and analysis)
• Family development, specific parental work
• legal and institutional framework for upbringing in early childhood
• International comparison of preschool education
• Specializations (in various areas of education - e.g. science, language, music, sport)
• Observations and internships , which are usually completed in appropriate facilities.
• Depending on the university, humanities, cultural and social sciences such as sociology, philosophy or anthropology etc. are elementary components of the training.

Occupational fields

Occupational fields in which childhood educators work are also the traditional areas of activity of the educators such as crèches , kindergartens , school after-school care centers , integrated kindergartens and after- school care centers, all-day schools , facilities for the disabled, youth welfare facilities , homes and children's and youth leisure facilities .

The degree also qualifies you for management functions and specialist advice, for educational advice and research or for conceptualization. After completing the bachelor's degree, a research-oriented master ’s degree can be taken.

Historical background

Work in the elementary sector was, unlike in the primary sector , more determined by educational and care tasks.

Up to now, Germany has had an academic share in child day care facilities which is in the single-digit range in all federal states. The employed academics have so far mainly been social pedagogues / social workers who - if they were employed in this rather “atypical” occupational field - were often in charge.

In a European comparison, professional qualifications often or even exclusively take place at an academic level. Only in Germany, Austria and Malta is or was the training organized outside the university.

As early as the 1990s, there were discussions about the academization of pedagogical specialists: In 1993, for example, the education and science union took the decision on “educator training at the university” at the union day.

Due to the comparatively poor performance of German students in the PISA studies , early childhood education was given a higher priority and should be implemented conceptually and in practical work in day-care centers.

This also made the work in the day-care centers significantly more complex, and very different needs had to be satisfied: care, upbringing, education, work with parents, community work and, increasingly, the "individualization" of the child had to be connected with one another and positioned in the field of tension .

The educators were supposed to do this, but were hardly trained for it.

Thanks to the Bologna Process , which was running roughly at the same time , the implementation of higher education courses tailored to the elementary level enabled the long-demanded professionalization and academization to be advanced.

It was hoped that the academization would also go hand in hand with a higher level of professionalism. It was also hoped that new target groups would be developed who are interested in working with children in the elementary sector, but would like to complete a university degree, possibly speculating on higher wages.

In 2004 the first specialized courses were created in Germany. This should go hand in hand with a higher qualification of the specialist educational staff and an upgrading of the activities.

These courses of study were given names such as “pre-school education”, “elementary education”, “early childhood education”, “family and elementary education”, “small child education”, “elementary and primary education”, “education and childhood research” or “ Pedagogy of Childhood ”.

The Federal Working Group on Education and Upbringing in Childhood decided in 2009 to use the designation of state-recognized childhood educators for graduates of these courses . In 2011, the Youth and Family Ministers' Conference recommended that universities use this job title, which has now become established.

In 2010, the Pedagogy of Childhood Study Course Day was founded in Cologne under the joint umbrella of the Social Work Faculty Day (FBTS) and the Faculty Day of Education (EWFT), which represents the university-political interests of childhood education courses.

income

→ Main article : “Pay” in the Social and Educational Service article

To date (as of October 2013) there is still no fixed tariff grouping for the public service, and the childhood educators are grouped according to their activity.

This means that childhood educators who hold a group management position receive the same classification as educators (usually salary group S6 or S8). Graduates employed in the public service are usually assigned a group from pay group 9.

Employment relationships

On March 1, 2013, 1664 trained childhood educators were working in German day care centers for children, 110 of them men.

Web links

• Database of early childhood education courses of the advanced training initiative for early childhood education specialists (WiFF)
• "From educator to childhood educator": Lecture by Prof. Dr. Hilmar Hoffmann on October 7, 2011
• Qualification profiles in fields of pedagogy in childhood, an overview of training paths (PDF; 1.7 MB)
• Legal introduction of the job title "State recognized childhood educator" in the federal states
• Day of Education Education of Childhood
• German Professional Association for Childhood Education eV (DeBeKi)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Map of the childhood education courses
2. ↑ Studying early childhood education! (No longer available online.) In: www.profis-in-kitas.de. Robert Bosch Stiftung, archived from the original on August 23, 2009 ; Retrieved October 11, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ^ Norbert Kühne : Early development and upbringing - The critical period, in: Teaching materials Pedagogy - Psychology, No. 694, Stark Verlag, Hallbergmoos
4. ↑ Country monitor: Percentage of staff according to qualification level ( memento of the original from June 11, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ Peer Pasternack: Elementary and early childhood education at German universities. (PDF; 1.3 MB) August 2008, accessed on October 11, 2013 . 
6. ↑ Kinder-Land needs new educators ( memento of the original from October 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ↑ ^{a b c} Werner Thole and Peter Cloos: Academisation of the staff for the field of activity Pedagogy of Childhood - For the implementation of childhood pedagogy courses at universities. (PDF; 114 kB) 2006, accessed on October 11, 2013 . 
8. ↑ Hermann Schöler: Vertical Permeability in the Bachelor's Degree Programs in Early Childhood Education? Yes! - But how? (PDF; 129 kB) (No longer available online.) April 2009, archived from the original on October 12, 2013 ; Retrieved October 11, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ↑ ^{a b} Childhood Education as a Profession
10. ↑ Youth and Family Ministers' Conference : Resolution: State recognition of Bachelor degrees in the field of child day care and job title. (PDF; 25 kB) (No longer available online.) May 2005, archived from the original on October 12, 2013 ; Retrieved October 11, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
11. ↑ GEW: For a better EGO - three year collective agreement for social and educational services. (PDF; 710 kB) January 2013, accessed on October 11, 2013 . 
12. ↑ http://oeffentlicher-dienst.info/tvoed/sue/entgeltordnung-s6.html
13. ↑ TVöD - pay groups and qualification key points
14. ↑ Federal Statistical Office: Children and people working in day care facilities and in publicly funded day care