TITLE:
Children Should Not Be Silenced
AUTHORS:
Alina Georgeta Mag
KEYWORDS:
Children’s Wellbeing, Children’s Voice, Professional Training, Reflective Practice
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.5 No.11,
June
23,
2014
ABSTRACT: Early Years
services in Romania have, until recently, lacked any form of national financial
support. Early childhood practitioners are very low paid and the investments in
training programs are insufficient. The impact on children should be considered
and policy decisions should be taken, in order to grow the opportunities for
training. In a world affected by financial crises, attitudes about children’s
needs are very important. This research evaluates if the voices of children in
Romanian preschools are heard and proposes new educational policy in order to
train practitioners for preschools. The purpose of the study is to involve
practitioners and parents in the Early Years in an experimental training
program called: “Voices of Children in Romania”. We discovered that according
to the traditional attitudes of Romanian parents and practitioners, children’s
voices are rarely taken into consideration. After the new training program was
put into practice in preschools and homes, teachers and parents started to give
more attention to children’s voices and children’s wellbeing was improved. The
study is relevant in order to increase public attention to the professional
development of the early childhood workforce as a factor that can contribute to
a healthy childhood.