Daycare Teacher Working Conditions

Video Transcript

"Hello, I'm Sarah Norris with Total Childcare Center in Wilmington, North Carolina and today we're going to talk about daycare teacher working conditions. Being in a classroom with children all day is a very hard job. It is. It's not easy and you have to really have the knack and the desire to teach young children in order to remain in the classroom. But within that, the provider that realizes that conditions under which a teacher works are very important, and the provider that is willing to have conditions that are more conducive to the teacher certainly is ahead of the game and will retain staff at a much greater level than those that do not. Working conditions in the classroom for teachers do incorporate a lot of noise. It is a very, very noisy place in which to work, because children are noisy. That's just the way they are. They're supposed to be that way. The only time that's normally quiet within a childcare setting is at nap time, and so you need to try to work with the noise level within the classroom -- helping the teacher to get out if she needs a break from that for a short period of time. Scheduling them probably for at least a lunch break is a good idea, as well as other morning and afternoon breaks, if possible. Providing what the teacher needs within that classroom is also important. She needs materials to work with. She doesn't need to buy those out of her pocket. Teacher salaries are not very large in most areas of childcare, so they cannot afford to purchase materials out of their pockets, yet they will do that if they don't have what they feel like they need to teach properly. So you need to provide the materials that they need without having them to take the money out of their pocket. Ask them for what materials they need. On a weekly basis I have my teachers put down weekly needs, not only just we always are replenishing equipment and toys and that type of thing, but there may be a specific thing they're working on that they need some particular item for, and we want to be able to provide that on a weekly basis. You need to understand that they have difficulties in their life, just as we do and so you need to be sympathetic and empathetic and help them work through days that are harder than others. You need to provide an adult bathroom so that they have a place to go. You need to provide a lounge so that they have a place to go. You need to provide either the food or time for them to get food during the day, because they need to eat too and nourish their bodies. So we need to be as aware of teacher conditions as we are of children conditions when we're working in the childcare industry, and we need to provide an environment that is conducive to the teachers teaching her best everyday within that classroom and so that she will be the most effective teacher that she can be. So today we've talked about teacher conditions, try to keep that in mind as you work with your staff, being sure that they have what they need, that their room is as well-equipped as possible and that they have an environment that they are happy to be at work in."