Early Childhood Education

1. 10 Common ChallengesFaced by Preschool
Teachers in 2022
As a preschool teacher,youface severalnew andunique challengeson
an everydaybasis.Youoftenfindyourselfstruggling withestablishing
the rightcurriculum,dealing withthedifferent needs oftoddlers at the
same time,andcommunicatingminordetailsabout thekids withthe
parents.
The classroom is a completelynew world and paradigm for the kids,
so striking a balance between conducting the classes successfully and
providing answers to the curiosities ofthe kids becomes crucial.
Many complexities come along with being an early childhood
educator. Let us take a look at a few of them.
1. Managing thekids
Handling a classroom full of toddlers is never an easy task. Although it
brings its own set of delightful moments,it can very well be
exhausting.Every kid in the class has a different need, and catering to
each of them while trying to instill productivityand creativitycan be

2. quite challenging. It takes a lot of patience and effort in retaining the
attentionof the kids, who tend to get distractedeasily.
2. Executing the school curriculum
Along with struggling to teach the lessons and get the message across
while managing several kids at once, preschool teachers face several
other challenges in terms of effectivelyimplementing the school’s
curriculum.
Lack of technology availability
The emphasis on teaching with modern technology is more than ever
right now and most preschools are not equippedwith the right tools
to enable digital educationfor toddlers. This results in teachers
struggling to figure out ways to make up for the lack of technologyand
having to make do with imparting bookish learning.
Lesson planningis tedious
A huge chunk of a preschool teacher’s time goes into understanding
the prescribed curriculum, making arrangements for various
activities,andobserving and documenting the kid’s progress. Planning
lessons is not an easy job, given one needs to consider the
development needs of several students in a class. Hence, figuring out
lesson plans that would work for everyone becomes difficult while
also having to simultaneouslyhandle day-to-dayactivities along with
taking care of all the paperwork.
Preparing assessment reports is time-taking
Formulating the assessment plan and then preparing reports basedon
the performance of the kids is just anothertask that preschool
teachers are responsible for. Since curriculum planning takes up most
of the time of the teachers, it becomes a struggle for them to go
through all the paperwork and create a child’s development report.
How can Illumine help?

3. Illumine’s assessment toolis one of the best preschoolassessment
tools you can find out there. It is built to help teachers lay down
assessment formats that are quick and easyto work with. It gives
teachers the freedom to eitherwork with the pre-existing framework
or customize theirown to cater to the individualneeds of the children.
It helps them clearly define the developments of each kid against each
of the given skillset – making the process of assessment simplifiedand
paperless, consequently saving them time and energy.
This way, it also becomes easyto update parents on the progress of
their child, making the areas of each child’s strengths and weaknesses
clear.
3. Communicatingwith the parents
Keeping parents at par with their kid’s everyday learning and growth
is one of the most important steps in the process of teaching toddlers.
In other words, clear and transparent parent communicationis
another essentialresponsibilityofthe early educationteachers.When
parents are in the loop with theirkid’s learning curve, their strengths,
and weaknesses, they are best equipped with informationto support
the kid to grow to their best potential.
It’s the teacher’s responsibilityto make sure parents know the ins and
outs of theirchild’s early educationstage, as this is what makes up the
foundationof how and what they grow into.
But equipped with so many other tasks at hand, it is no easyjob to
update parents of every child in their class with the developments in
the class eachday. This part of their job requires a lot of time,energy,
and patience.
How can Illumine help?
With Illumine, parent-teachercommunicationis no longer a difficult
task. The platform has features for parent communication withthe
help of which, teachers can update parents on every activitytheir kid
does in the classroom in real-time.

4. From updating nap, meal, and pottytimes,to sharing real-time
pictures and videos – it enables them to do everything – all at a touch
of a few buttons.
4. Handling paperwork
Preschool teachers need to maintainand update piles of paperwork
daily. These documents usually include attendance records, meal
plans, lessonplans, class activities,amongst otherthings.On average,
early childhoodeducators spend 45 minutes each day on
documentation.This accounts for a huge amount of time,when we
take the various otheractivities theydo daily such as teaching,
managing the kids, taking care of, and recording their meals and nap
times into consideration.
How can Illumine help?
Gone are the days of paperwork. Everything is digitalwhen you’ve got
Illumine deployed at the school. Everything that a teacher possibly
needs to take care of, can be done with the help of the platform.
Teachers can record real-time attendance,plan lessons,make
assessment reports,and update and communicate with parents all
from a single place.
This saves them an incredible amount of time and gives them the
peace of mind they deserve after working so hard eachday.
Additionally, its daycare daily report feature helps them create
activityreports effortlessly, with a push of a few buttons.
5. Low salaries
One of the reports by the Center for the Study of Child Care
Employment of the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment
at the Universityof California, Berkley states that on average, an early
childhood educatorearns just about $22,000 annually. This figure,
when comparedto the other jobs out there, is almost shocking and
demotivating.The uneven balance between the pay and the amount of
workload is just another pressure point for the teachers.

5. 6. Lackofrecognition and value
The work that preschool teachers do is honest and humble, but also
very crucial. Some of the most important cognitive developments in a
child happen before the age of 5, hence, by investing time and energy
into making sure the toddlers grow into their best version, the
teachers are not just helping out the parents but also laying the initial
bricks that will form the foundationof the skills and intellect that a
child develops upon growing up.
But even thoughthe work they do is important, early childhood
educators are often underestimatedand for most parts unrecognized
and unappreciated for the amount of effort they put in.
7. Inability to seeknew opportunities
Most of the time,a preschool teacher is occupiedwith taking care of
all the commitments theyhave at theirrespective childcare
institutions.Hence,they barely have any time to focus on themselves
or their careers. This often gets stuck at where they are in their lives,
with no time or opportunities to grow.
8. Hinderedcareer growth
Since because of their hectic schedules and already preoccupied lives,
preschool teachers don’t get a chance to look out for or go after new
opportunities,the room for growth is very little for them.
This is what results in early childhood teachers being frustrated with
their jobs, and is also a factor behind why many people, even if
interested,don’t pursue this career.
All in all, being a preschool teacheris a work of passionand
commitment.The workload of the teachers is enormous and is also
very challenging daily. As easyas it might sound, it’s not. It is truly
time and effort-consuming work, but it also is rewarding in its ways.