Passing The Torch

 Hi, I'm Greg & I am an Early Childhood Teacher from Australia. I write a blog called Males in Early Childhood which you can find by clicking here.

One of the things that I appreciated most of all while studying was the support and guidance offered by experienced educators while I undertook my professional experiences during my studies. These placements can be quite daunting for beginning teachers and if the environment is not willing to accept you as being at the beginning of a journey then it can go terribly wrong.

Fortunately I was lucky enough to have some amazing mentors who I could observe paracticing high quality education to young children and who supported me in so many ways. from providing constructive criticism, promoting my individualism and encouraging me to take on roles above and beyond my comfort zone.

As a result I embrace my duty to the next generation of educators and want to give them the opportunities to become the best they can be for themselves and the future children they will be charged with.

On my own blog I interviewed an intern I supervised last year. That experience showed me how far I had come since my graduation, but beyond that, it highlighted my delight in helping the next generation of teachers on their way to the joys of early childhood education.

Recently I had the privelidge to mentor a 2nd year student. I rememberr my time at the same point in my studies feeling insecure and not very confident in my abilities to do what was expected at an acceptable level. I got through it however, with flying colours as it turns out.

My student confided in me that she had similar doubts leading into this placement. However, those doubts soon passed as she quickly settled into our world. I am full of praise for her as she demonstrated skills beyond what I would ever had exxpected from a 2nd year student. The children loved her, the staff loved her and I found myself thinking that I could easily have left her alone (if regulations allowed) to run my room without any hesitation and be confident she would have coped brilliantly.

What I disccoverd from her was that I had given her the confidence, tools and freedom to be able to display that level of competence. here I was thinking my job was quite easy, yet I had done so much without even knowing it.

I hope that this future teacher will look back at this time as a key landmark in her career. What I do know is that each time I have the task of overseeing a student teacher, it provides me with excellent opportunities to reflect on my own teaching practices and philosophy. There's no better time to be introspective then when someone full of new ideas, knowledge and enthusiasm is around you.

I can't wait for the next opportunity to join someone on their journey into early childhood teaching.