Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Assignment: Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level

This week, we are continuing to explore various roles or jobs within the early childhood field. We were asked to search within national or federal organizations. I found this difficult, but after searching a variety of websites, I found some available jobs.

The Ericson Institute is looking for an early childhood developmental screener. Erikson Institute is one of the nation's leading graduate schools in child development and early childhood education. The purpose of this job is to assess parents and their children birth to age three with the goal of identifying and recommending appropriate services to maximize child and family functioning. The applicant must be a graduate level professional who is self-motivated and reflective. The candidate must have knowledge of child development, relationship based practices and experience with working with children and families. The responsibilities of the screener will range from doing assessments, making referrals to Early Intervention or other necessary systems and training and consulting with caseworkers and foster parents on early development and infant mental health issues. Many of these requirements match my knowledge skills and experience. I have knowledge of child development, have worked in the early childhood field for several years and have a bachelors degree in mental health and human services. This program through Walden has expanded my knowledge of child development, communication and best practices in the field. However, I am not bilingual so would not be qualified for this specific position, but I am posting it anyway because I found the job description interesting. I am also unfamiliar with the assessment tools they use such as Denver II, Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) and Ages and Stages Questionnaire: Socio-Emotional (ASQ:SE). click here for the job description.

The National Institute for Early Education Research is looking for research assistants. “Founded in 2002, the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER) is affiliated with the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University. NIEER supports early childhood policy development by providing independent research, analysis, and technical assistance” (NIEER, 2013). This job description interested me because I would be qualified and it is a completely different role but just as important to the field. The research assistants can either be graduate or under graduate. Applicants should be enrolled in education, child development, psychology, economics, statistics, public policy or a related Field. The candidate must have excellent written and oral communication skills, the ability to meet deadlines and enthusiasm for bringing change to early childhood policy. Click here to see the job description.

The final job I thought of for this assignment is an instructor. I could complete training through Maine Roads to Quality to provide professional development workshops, apply for an instructor position at a community college or work as an online instructor or professional coach for the Childcare Education Information Institute. I thought of this because I have completed two of their certificate programs and several professional development workshops. They have regular instructors and coaches that assist students as they work through their programs. I did not find a list of requirements for this position, but I imagine that one would need at least a masters degree in early childhood education or related field, direct experience in the field and excellent communication skills. I found their career opportunities page, but it only had an opening for recruiting coordinators. Career Opportunities.

2 comments:

  1. Hi!
    I love the jobs you posted! The role as early childhood developmental screener sounds very similar to a team we had at my former job for Indiana's Early Intervention System called First Steps. This team usually consisted of two therapists from different areas who went into the homes to assess the children's current developmental levels in order to recommend services. It sounds like a very fun job!

    In my post this week I also discussed being a trainer. I think it would be amazingly rewarding to be able to share information with other early childhood educators or upcoming educators. A big difference can be made in the early childhood field by starting with the educators.

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  2. I LOVE your background on your blog!!!
    Ok back to the purpose... I like the Erikson Institute idea. I think that type of job would be absolutely fascinating. Observing children and their families to help them in the right direction would be so fulfilling and rewarding. It would make me feel great to know that helped a family from developing a downward spiral. I am actually going to look farther into that

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