Thoughts on education level for directors?

[Anonymous]

Hi -
Just wondering what other parents with kids in preschool think, re: how important it is for a preschool director to have a degree in education/child development? We're considering two programs, both 3-morning, play-based, loosely affiliated with small churches. At one school, the director is not a trained educator, but she said most of the teachers have some education background in teaching/child development. At the other school, the director has an ed-related masters, but I get the impression that most of the teachers do not have formal education related to child development/ed, etc.

I honestly don't have a sense of how much the director's specific education level really matters, as far as how much influence it has on the curriculum, etc. Again, these are play-based programs not montessori or anything. Would love to hear thoughts from preschool parents who have experience with this! TIA!

[Anonymous]

We've had experience with both and in our case the director with a background in child development and education was 100 times better. The director with no background didn't even seem to like children and she would say the most inappropriate things. It was also clear speaking with her that she had no clue WTF she was talking about. Now that may not be the case everywhere, but I would assume to be licensed the director needs a degree and background in something related to the job?

[Anonymous]

I don't know if it should be the determining factor or not, but many teachers at my son's day care and his director all have educational backgrounds in early childhood development. I didn't really care at first, but as a first time mom, who was going through some behavioral issues with my son, I found their insight and experience to be invaluable when problems arose. I found this particularly helpful when my son was 2 and 3 years old. Now, at four, it helps to the extent that the teachers and director understand that boys often develop differently than girls, have more trouble with fine motor skills (early writing), still needs gross motor skill time each day (outdoor play, running) etc. But it's not as significant as when he was younger.

[Anonymous]

As a teacher who has worked in several schools, me experience is that the directors with the background were out of touch and narrow minded, and the best directors were the ones with good communication skills, knew when to intervene and when to step back (with staff), had a sense of humor about themselves, and were NICE people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher who has worked in several schools, me experience is that the directors with the background were out of touch and narrow minded, and the best directors were the ones with good communication skills, knew when to intervene and when to step back (with staff), had a sense of humor about themselves, and were NICE people.

Interesting. At our preschool, the director has a master's in early childhood education, but also has the other good qualities you mention. Would you mind sharing which schools have shaped your experience?

[Anonymous]

We left a preschool where the director had a Masters of in ECE and talked a good game, but we weren't happy with the lackluster preschool experience (and no, we weren't expecting calculus, just an art project or two.) New school, no Masters and a FABULOUS program with lots of learning (and art!)

[Anonymous]

If you want a quality program, find a director with a background in education. The director makes so many decisions that effect the classroom; if you have a director who doesn't really understand the components of early childhood, you are likely to get a poor program. I would always go with the "educated" director. I say this as a preschool teacher with a degree and many years in the field.

[Anonymous]

I meant to say "affects" the classroom-sorry for the mistake in 21:45.

[Anonymous]

Speaking from experience, as a teacher who has worked in a few schools...

A successful/likable director is less about education level (but obviously needs some child dev education,) and so much more about the following:
Good instincts, communication skills, authenticity, personality, organizational skills, integrity, kindness.

When you add the above qualities to a director with childhood education, in my opinion, this would be ideal.

[Anonymous]

In my opinin, at this age, the MOST important thing is that your child is loved and nurtured as if she/he was the teacher's/director's own. The next most important thing is the educational experience at the school/daycare, which of course, would be better with a person who is trained/educated formally.