Integrated Literature Review
Directorship on Child Care
Introduction
Childhood is an important stage of human development in which proper guidance are necessary in order to ensure that a child’s welfare is being addressed. In many ways, the work of a program director encompasses a difficult role in terms of regulations and program strategies that aims to have a positive influence towards child development. In this discussion, the role of a director in child development will be explored by examining literatures that articulates the topic on teacher’s needs, ethics, leadership, roles and responsibilities, and best practices. Directors are institutional leaders that take on an important role of ensuring a positive child development by overseeing and implementing care programs, curriculum development, facilities management, regulation, and educational development.
Directing Child Care
Directorship is not only limited to project implementations and overseeing the operations of the child care facility or academic institution because directors are also viewed as important figures of influence for educators such as teachers. According to Carter (2000), teachers want their directors to work with a vision, share decision-making process, rejects scarcity mentality, and tend to the physical environment. Furthermore, the article also suggests that directors are not only the influential model of leadership and behavior for teachers in the educational settings, but also the model of trust and respect (Carter, 2000).
When articulating the purpose of director leadership, it corresponds to embodying organizational vision particularly when implementing care program that aims to improve child development. In addition, Carter (2000) also emphasized the importance of setting priorities and goals in terms of creating organizational culture, work environment, harness resources, and facilitating productive human interactions. Going back to having organizational vision, going for bigger dreams should part of a director’s initiative, which was articulated in another article by Carter (1998).
Every organizational leader particularly for a director, having a strong vision implies developing oneself to becoming a leader that is engaged in decision, activities, and behaviors that inspires the other members of the organization (Carter, 2008). For instance, child care programs requires a director that keeps the organization’s hopes and aspirations alive by cultivating one vision through conversations, staff development efforts, and parent orientation. In addition, incorporating the director’s vision in childcare programs by regenerating positive aspects of neighborhood enables the program strategies to be effective (Carter, 2008).
Of course being a director of childcare program is only about having the right level of leadership skills, but also demonstrating good ethics. In one of the examples in the article by Feeney and Freeman (2012), ethics among directors was highlighted on the issue of establishing a strong relationship with the family members of a child in the center. On the other hand, the directors should also observe strict adherence to the Program Administration Policies and guidelines. For example, if the policy on child health requires regulation of sweets served to the children, the question is whether a birthday cake would be an exemption when the policy says it is not permitted as per the guidelines.
Feeney and Freeman (2012) addressed this dilemma by stating that it is the obligation of he director to implement policies and at the same ensure adherence. If the director allowed the birthday cake to be served to the children that would be an apparent violation of the policies, which affects the way directors, demonstrate their ethical responsibilities. Furthermore, Feeney and Freeman (2012) emphasized the importance of balancing responsibilities between the child and the family, which can be achieved through problem assessment. This is because in situations were ethics is in question that a director’s effectiveness as an administrator of child care program can be measured (Neugebauer, 1995).
The article by Neugebauer (1995) explored the characteristics of a well director not only in terms of effectively administrating childcare programs, but also in achieving results by directing the staff to accomplish the organizational goals. Furthermore, the author also emphasized the importance of continuous assessment of the organization’s performance in which the failure to meet the KPIs is an indication of a problem in directing (Boulton, 2008). This is when the directors should focus on areas of their superior performance that has the greater impact towards the organizational and program goals (Neugebauer, 1995).
According to Boulton (2008), not everyone can do the job of a childcare director because the responsibilities involve ensuring the positive development of every child in the center. One aspect of a director’s responsibility that the author emphasized in the article is being the gatekeeper of quality. One of the reasons attributed to this claim is that the decisions made by the directors of childcare centers impacts child growth (Boulton, 2008). Being involved in child development projects requires the director to have expertise on childcare administration, which can be achieved through training.
Conclusion
In this discussion, the role of childcare center and program director was explored. It was found that directors are institutional leaders that take on an important role of ensuring a positive child development by overseeing and implementing care programs, curriculum development, facilities management, regulation, and educational development. Therefore, the decisions and responsibilities of a director encompass an impact towards child development.
References
Boulton, P. (2008). The Child Care Director: Not Just Anyone Can Do This Job!. Exchange: The Early Childhood Leaders' Magazine Since 1978, 16-18. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ782780
Carter, M. (2000). What Do Teachers Need Most from Their Directors? Ideas for Training Staff. Child Care Information Exchange, 68-70. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ625332
Carter, M. (2000). What Do Teachers Need Most From Their Directors?. Child Care Information Exchange, 98-101. Retrieved from http://mccormickcenter.nl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/The-Visionary-Director.pdf
Feeney, S. & Freeman, N. (2012). The Birthday Cake: Balancing Responsibilities to Children and Families. Young Children, 67(5), 56-57. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ997252
Neugebauer, R. (1995). The well director. Child Care Exchange, 30-33. Retrieved from http://www.childcareexchange.com/library/5010130.pdf
