Education creates various opportunities that shape the future of a kid and also helps the society at large. It teaches them how to interact with people of all ages, genders and cultures.
Children’s development and learning advance when educators challenge them to achieve goals that are just beyond their current mastery. These include group projects and collaborative activities, exploration of new cultures and languages.
Adaptability
Children can develop adaptability when they are provided with challenging yet achievable goals. These skills help them to cope with stress, build self-confidence and be more empathetic towards others.
These skills also improve their ability to work well in groups, as they can adjust their tempo to match the energy and pace of their colleagues. This helps them to complete tasks more efficiently and is a useful skill for any career path.
Having the ability to adapt to changing circumstances is especially important for early childhood educators. With the pandemic, early childhood settings have been forced to implement new drop-off and pick-up procedures, mask-wearing policies and manage prevention and control. Educating girls is a crucial way to support communities’ adaptability and resilience, as girls who complete a secondary school education are more likely to live independently and be employed. Moreover, they are more protected from violence and discrimination, which benefits their families, the economy and society as a whole.
Communication
From birth, children are active learners, constantly taking in information to make sense of their world. This takes place through a variety of ways including language, human interactions, physical movement, counting and quantitative understandings, spatial reasoning, the capacity to adopt another person’s perspective, the ability to sort objects into categories and more. Even preverbal infants demonstrate surprisingly sophisticated levels of understanding in these areas.
Support communication development by incorporating warm teacher interaction strategies that follow and extend children’s interests and attempts to communicate. This can be achieved through intentional and unhurried teacher response such as watching, waiting, observing, copying, using gestures, providing eye contact and speaking softly.
Ensure that a diversity of home languages are valued and reflected in the learning environment by providing language games, songs and rhymes. Provide reading materials that reflect a variety of cultures, languages, abilities, family structures and life experiences. Encourage the use of different forms of technology to engage children and youth in reading, as well as provide a range of print and electronic books that offer varying levels of challenge and complexity.
Social skills
In a healthy learning environment, children develop social skills as they interact with other students and teachers. Those who struggle with socialization may benefit from explicit instruction and practice on a regular basis.
For instance, teachers can help students improve their verbal and nonverbal communication skills by promoting positive reinforcement during daily activities. Educators can also encourage teamwork and cooperation through group activities, board games, and playdates.
Social skills development begins in early childhood, when kids experience their first interactions with other children. During childcare and preschool, they learn about respecting the differences in gender, age and family background of their peers.
Kids who are taught social skills at a young age are better prepared to adapt and deal with negative life situations. They are also better equipped to make healthy friendships. Teachers who have extensive work experience and training can teach children about effective communication and problem-solving skills. They can use this knowledge to provide guidance to students who need it most.
Self-esteem
Children need positive self-esteem in order to be resilient and learn. This means that they need to be able to like themselves, believe in themselves and know what they do well. They also need to be able to face challenges, try new things and be able to recover from setbacks. A loving relationship, balanced feedback and encouragement are all important for this.
Self-esteem is developed through the picture a child creates of themselves based on their interactions with key adults and experiences. For example, a child who gets praised for their success in learning, feels loved and supported by family members, or has friends with whom they can communicate easily will develop good self-esteem.
However, children who experience repeated failures, are bullied or feel they have no place in their family will develop a low sense of self-esteem. This is why it’s important to nurture family pride and encourage activities that help kids see how they are achieving – even if they are only just beginning.