Assignment: Exploring Roles in the ECE Community:

This week, we are exploring various roles or jobs that one can have in the early childhood field. We were asked to search for job opportunities in our neighborhood, community or state. As I already knew, opportunities in this area are quite limited. Two of the job postings I found are old and they have already filled the positions, but I will use them anyway because they are different roles and require different qualifications.

The first position I came across was the director of the Children’s Center at Bowdoin College. They serve children from six weeks to five years of age. They have four classrooms and I have done some substitute training there. There was a long list of qualifications which included a bachelor's degree in child development, early childhood education or a related Field. A master's degree is preferred. Applicants must possess excellent oral and written communication skills; demonstrated leadership abilities; excellent interpersonal skills; the ability to work cooperatively and communicate well with others; demonstrated administrative skills including budget management, scheduling, training, etc., in addition to strong computer skills (MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook); and the ability to maintain confidentiality. A minimum of five years' experience in the early childhood education field with at least three years in a direct supervisory role within this field is required. Extensive experience evaluating and developing age appropriate curriculum, and experience and understanding of state and federal regulations and licensing procedures is required. This job is out of my reach at this point since it requires at least three years of supervisory experience and many administrative responsibilities that I have limited experience with. The add can be seen by clicking here.

The second position available is the lead infant teacher at an agency called Opportunity Alliance. Opportunity Alliance provides early education and child care, nutrition programming, advocacy, information and referral, mental health and substance abuse treatment, as well as meeting basic needs for people living in poverty. This job sounded interesting to me because I already work with infants and toddlers and it would be the next step up. This agency provides a wide variety of programs and services which means there will be more employment opportunities in the future. This job requires a bachelors degree in early childhood education or related field, at least two years working with infants and toddlers and supervisory experience is preferred. One of the roles of the job is to supervise assistant teachers in the room. The job description is here.

The final position I found is an early head start home visitor. The agency responsible for this program is called Community Concepts. They offer a variety of housing, economic development and social services for the communities of Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford counties of Maine. The home visitor works with families with young children- birth to age three- and expectant parents, delivering developmentally appropriate activities by partnering with parents to utilize their teaching & parenting skills within the home environment. Qualifications for this position include an associate’s Degree in Social Work, Early Childhood Education or related field, obtaining or maintaining CPR and first aid certifications and at least two years with home visiting experience is recommended. The job description can be found here.