Navigating the Challenges of Teaching Early Childhood Education

Teaching early childhood education is a fulfilling career, but it’s not without its challenges. You will have days where you feel frustrated, but with the right mindset, you can navigate any of the challenges you may face as a preschool teacher.

The Importance of Setting Boundaries

Many parents aren’t afraid to let you know what they think their child needs. For many families, you are the first teacher they are encountering for their child. Parents do know their children best, but you know how students learn. Listen to your families and learn what you can do to help establish good classroom procedures and manage your expectations. Building relationships with parents can be powerful. However, make sure to set and hold boundaries. You don’t need to fulfill every request, and you don’t need to be available around the clock. Protect yourself and your work-life balance.

Get to Know Your School

Teaching is not a solo profession. When you begin your first job, you may feel like most of the challenges come from getting to know your school and your space, not the actual work of teaching preschool. Before you begin your job, prioritize forming relationships with your co-workers. Having teammates you can trust, especially those with more experience, can be invaluable. These teammates can connect you with a wealth of knowledge about the assumed knowledge you may have, including how best to contact parents, the rules of drop off, how to get the supplies you need, and more. If you’re focused on learning how to work the copier, you aren’t putting your attention on your students. Look to your colleagues to help you feel at home in your school.

Prioritize Your Planning

If you browse social media to get inspiration for your classroom, you will be inundated with images of picture perfect learning centers with themes for each season. If you go into a preschool teaching job with the goal of having a social media ready space, you can quickly become overwhelmed. In fact, many children learn better when they have a teacher who isn’t caught up in having the perfect classroom. Starting with blank walls gives your students the chance to decorate as your students take ownership of the room. All you need to get started are places for students to sit, move around, and create. Put your time into your lesson planning. As a new preschool teacher, you may find that one of your biggest challenges is creating lesson plans that are engaging and aligned with the standards, but an even bigger challenge is finding a way to be flexible if necessary. Learning to pace a lesson and adapt on the go takes time. 

Develop a “Bag of Tricks” for When Things Get Tricky

Preschoolers aren’t always predictable, and you may have times when your lessons aren’t going as planned and your kids – or you -  are having a tough day. One of the best pieces of advice new teachers get is to have a “bag of tricks” you can go to when things get tough. Maybe it’s a game, a song, or an activity that you know you can always pull out to “reset” the day. But most importantly is to manage your expectations and give yourself grace. Being a teacher is hard, no matter how prepared you are. No classroom is perfect every day. If you need help, reach out to a veteran teacher for advice and strategies. 

Put Your Knowledge From Your Degree in Early Childhood Education to Good Use

One thing that preschool teachers find when they begin their careers is that their classwork from their degree in early childhood education doesn’t always feel like what they encounter in the classroom. Preschoolers don’t always behave exactly as you expect, and you may feel unprepared. But trust in your training and your degree in early childhood education. Use the information you have to help you plan your lessons, manage your classroom, and navigate the challenges.  

If you are organized, positive, and prepared, there is no challenge you’ll encounter as a preschool teacher that you can’t face. Trust in your training, be flexible, and most of all, remember why you got your degree in early childhood education to begin with. If teaching preschool is something you feel drawn to, now is the perfect time to start your training. Contact Athena Career Academy to learn more about how to enroll.